Wife was sat in the car while I popped into Sainsburys and felt it jolt a little. Looks up to see young boy in car next to ours has his door into my rear passenger door, causing dent and scrape.

The third party denies anything happened and that we are making it up (in more unreasonable words than that). They said they will deny it when contacted by our insurance co, if we pursue it.

My wife is obviously witness to this happening, but not an 'independent' witness.

We have so far contacted our insurance co and gave details of the other car, left it all for them to sort out. Police didn't want to know about it.

4000 miles on my car and not a scratch on it, apart from this. The third party's car is a Vectra, W17*PGB.

Any thoughts as to how this will pan out?

You have two problems. The first of course is proving that the third party was responsible. The second problem is the age of the child. If they are under the age of eight, then you can argue In Loco Parentis (the parent is responsible for the child's actions) and they can be held negligent. If they are over the age of twelve, then the child can be held responsible for their actions. However, a child between the ages of eight and twelve (or thereabouts) cannot be held responsible for their actions in civil law and your claim won't succeed.

If the child is not in that 'certain' age, then I would pursue it to court if necessary.

Prob cheaper to get a company to come out and repair the dent than go through your insurance company to be honest.

It ain't good I know, but that's what I'd do.

And ALWAYS park miles away from anyone else whenever you can, might be a pain, especially if you've got kids, but how much of a pain in the a s s is it trying to sort out the damage?

Was there any of your car paint on the door of the other car?, did you take a photo even if with your phone.

Prob cheaper to get a company to come out and repair the dent than go through your insurance company to be honest.

It ain't good I know' date=' but that's what I'd do.

And ALWAYS park miles away from anyone else whenever you can, might be a pain, especially if you've got kids, but how much of a pain in the a s s is it trying to sort out the damage?[/quote'] i also had this happen to my car a couple of weeks back but perhaps not quite as bad caused a chip on the rear door , idiots , i usually do try to park well away from other cars but you can guarantee when we get back to the car even though there is plenty of spaces to park some idiot will be parked just inches away and you can hardly get back into the car i think the only answer is to take a can opener .

Gutted for you John.

I have 3 parking dings on the same side on the Fabia, none on the other side... I'll be getting chips-away (or similar) to sort them out just before it gets handed back to the lease co.

It is bloody annoying, but unaviodable really. Even if you park away from the masses, when you come back, your car will be surrounded by "sheep"...

E

even if you park away from the masses, when you come back, your car will be surrounded by "sheep"...

Try using the car park and not a field you'll get Sheep s.h.i.t on your carpets!!

Happened to me about 5 years ago, someone just backed into my car, but no-one in the car and culprit just drove off. 3rd party witnessed but didn't get reg. Result was a very large repair bill, loss of NCD and tied in to insurance company until full discount regained. Hope you have better luck - bring back public flogging, I say!

Was there any of your car paint on the door of the other car?, did you take a photo even if with your phone.

It was a dark blue vectra and I have a black fabia - if there was any it wasnt visible to me (had a quick look) and probably wouldn't have shown on phone cam pic, alas.

Their door had some primer showing, like it had been opened into stuff before, but most cars that age have a few chips on the doors from that kind of thing.

Gilly wibble, thanks for your advice - As for the age of the boy, he could well be in that 8-12 age range, certainly no older than 12. I think he was 7 or 8, but it was very hard to tell.

I usually do park the car away from other cars, but I was being a bit lazy, plus my wife was sat in the car waiting for me, so not like the vehicle was being left unattended.

i used chipsaway when i reversed my mr2 roadster into my dads passat. They do the lot, interior work, door dents alloy referbishment.

They come out do a free evaluation of work required and the person i delt with was a star.

http://www.chipsaway.co.uk/

Resprayed part of my rear bumper and filled in a trrolley dent £150.00 inc VAT.

Couldnt tell the difference after it was done.

It was alot cheaper than going through my insurance.

Keep an eye out for their car the next time they are at the supermarket, wait until they have gone into the store and wedge some sardines / raw prawns etc into the air vent slots of thier car.

I hate people who have no consideration of other cars when they are swiinging thier doors open. A fair while back I was loading my car at B+Q and some bloke pulls up next to me in his scabby old knackered Nissan shunter and belts the side of my car with his door when he gets out. The tw@ looks at me and doesn't even apologise, just walks off. My new tolerant self (and having my three year old with me in the back) I bit my tongue and let it go.He walked about 5 yards then remembers something he has left in the car and returns, opens his door and belts the side of the car again. So I informed him that he may stand a better chance of dinting my car if he climbed inside his car and used his feet to kick open his door. The tw@ still didn't apologise and walked off.....to this day I still wonder if B+Q sold him a tool suitable for "getting broken bits of (a three year olds) ice-lolly stick from out of a car door lock."

I think their is a market going begging for a car alarm that senses door to door impacts and shouts "Watch my doors you clumsy ****"

Class JR, sheer class

It is sheer class and an apporach I will adopt from now on after my recent problems, similar to TexasJ's. Which has resulted in me having to sell my car because of a massive insurance hike due to over £1000 damage being caused to my car after someone reversed into it when parked and drove off without the decency to leave their details.