To cut a long story short my car was bashed by an 'alleged' drunk driver who didn't stop at the scene but has since been arrested for the incident. At the moment I do not have any of the driver details. Damage isn't much to the eye as the main point of impact was alloywheel. From my limited knowledge and from what I can see damage asfollows:

Alloy either buckled or maybe the hub is bent as no longer spins 'true'when jacked up and spun round.

Plastic cover off shock is broken and rattling (Annoying but not a biggie)

Minor dent in bodywork along with scratches to panel, bumper and alloy.

At this point in time I'm not sure if the driver is insured as the police so far haven't been able to tell me, although I suspect not. I have fully comp insurance and I'm not sure how it all works with the Motor insurance Bureau. If I was to claim against the damage can my insurance company then claim their costs back from the MIB or do I haveto suffer a claim on my own insurance with the costs not recovered?It's all very confusing!

My insurance have arranged for an assessor to take a look.

Thanks.

From (bitter personal) experience involving a drunk Polish guy in a stolen car with no tax/insurance writing off my Octavia II if you claim you pay your excess and it goes as a fault claim till it's settled and recovered. Your renewals are affected till this is resolved and it can easily be 1-2 years. Also the MIB only do a % payout, not the full claim value so you'll be short. I'd suggest speaking to the police, you need to know if he has insurance and if not then you can decide what to do next.

With any luck your car doesn't look like my car did afterwards. The gouge in the pavement is where the p/s rear wheel lost the tyre, folded as it went up the curb and then got pushed for circa 2 meters.

Blimey avalon, I bet that made you jump!

I agree with Avalon- first thing, talk to the police & explain your situation...hopefully, they'll help you out (although they are not legally bound to).

Eons ago, I had the same kind of incident with a drunk driver who ran into the back of me then took off. I chased him (great fun!) and he stopped a few miles further on but when I smelled the booze, I told him to stay where he was & went to a nearby house to call the police...he took off again. The police caught him two days later & advised me he had been caught & that I may be called as a witness, to prove he was actually driving that day he hit me. No insurance, no MOT on his car & no tax.

I asked one of the police if I could claim for the damage to my car & was given the guy's address. I was warned not to cause trouble & to tell the guy that it would look better for him when it went to court, if he paid me for the damage he had caused. He was very ashamed when I told him all this & offered to pay for fixing my car. He gave me £100 over two weeks & I contacted the police to say I was happy & sent a letter to his solicitor confirming I had been paid in full.

My car was an old Sunbeam, with chrome bumpers....£1.00 from a scrappy, welded on by me & a £5 tin of black smoothrite fixed the rear damage...he got a lighter fine & only a year's ban, I got a payment for my trouble, so everyone came out a bit happier!

Thanks for the replies. Police have been in touch tonight and the guy is not insured so thats not good.

My insurance excess is £400 so looks like I'm going to lose that but I just want my car back it how it was before the incident. It's possible the damage isn't much more, but by the same token if something other than the Alloy is bent it could be more. I guess I'll have to wait for the assesor to get his report on it.

It's annoying that some get can drive drunk into my car with no insurance and I have to suffer.

He'll get a £60 fine and a slap on the wrist.

Yeah that makes me angry, he will probably get a ban but if he's prepared to drink drive someone else's car with no insurance, then have a licence or not isn't going to deter him much. My 7 year old was in the back too, luckily uninjured so I suppose - it could have been so much worse. Still not nice to know I'm going to be out of pocket for the next few years or so because of his stupidity.

Blimey avalon, I bet that made you jump!

We were watching TV upstairs at the time, downstairs was being refurbed and I thought a ladder had fallen over onto the bare floorboards. As he was from Poland our courts couldn't ban him, I got £100 in compensation and a year later my insurer recovered the excess and refunded it and confirmed my NCB was restored.

The payout just about covered the outstanding finance on the car after a fight with the insurer but it was a crap position to be in but it got worse. If you want cheering up have a read:

http://www.briskoda.net/forums/index.php?/topic/228043-I'm-back-and-with-proof-life-is-stranger-than-fiction!