Hit & Run, Cloned Plates - Insurance

Last Saturday while in a Supermarket Carol's Van was hit by a car coming out of a parking spot................the 2 guys got out of the car and asked Carol if they could sort this out without going through the Insurance Companies. Carol refused as she correctly stated that she didn't know what damaged had been done. With that the 2 guys jumped back into the car and then quickly drove off hitting another car in their escape. The owner of the other car actually worked at the Supermarket and she got the security team to look at the camera's. Apparently the security had been following these people around the shop due to their strange activities.

The police were informed and a number plate was given......................On Monday we got a phone call from the police stating that the 04 Fiesta was using cloned plates so impossible to trace, the ANPR would be updated with this registration hopefully to catch later.

The item I am really pissed off about is the insurance company......................it was a hit and run and the driver was using cloned plates and the chances of catching this scum very little. We could claim but because the Insurance company cannot recover the losses we would be penalised. If we had another claim in the year then Carol's NCD years would drop from 13 to 3 and we would loose the Protected no claims.................none of this our fault. After the incident I contacted my Insurance Company about the R8 and again a similar situation, if the insurance company cannot recover the losses you loose................So this could be the same for the insurance cover on a lot of specialist cars................maybe worth a check

Carol was not injured but we have decided to foot the bill ourselves...............:mad::mad::mad:. Who the f***k puts cloned plates on an 04 Fiesta..............scum that need eliminating !!!!!!

Absolutely Andy!
Insurance is turning out to be a scam in itself. Basically it seems they only want business if it is no risk.
And as for the number of cars and drivers on the road without insurance and even valid driving licences it's scandalous.
I remember when I started driving you could not go out on the road for any distance without seeing a traffic car.
Now, even when you do see one they are usually on their way to another incident.
Even with ANPR the chances of getting caught are slim, or seem that way. Maybe figures disprove that. They usually do.
But it seems to me that's why these b***ards are getting away with it.

Commiserations, Andy. Something else you could do without!
I'm a bit confused though - are you saying you've got protected no claims, but if you make a claim, you;'ll lose some of your NCD? Or you're OK on the first knock (this one), but you'd lose it on a subsequent one? If that's the case I'd make the claim (unless it's under your excess) - that's what the insurance is for, isn't it? It's all a numbers game - what's the chance of either of you having another accident...
I hate insurance. You pay a load of dosh and all you get is a piece of paper in return - and then, having laid out the money, you try your hardest not to have to use the product!!!

Andy, look on the bright(er) side - it wasn't the R8 :)

I think the other worrying aspect that I was recently reading about is that even if you didn't follow through with an insurance claim - although had discussed the possibility of a claim with the Insurance Co. then this would be logged on your insurance file and could impact your future premiums.

We will loose NCD on next hit...................only just renewed 2 days ago. Also we spoke to Insurance company to make sure claim is totally cancelled and removed from the system. But they made it very specific that if you get asked the question if you have made a claim then the answer is no, but the new question now is "has your vehicle been damaged in the last year".......................it is all one way with insurance companies...............

I put a £39k dent in one of my cars back in 2015. Totally my fault due to running out of talent on a bend. My premium had been about £300 and with the same insurer went down by about £10 at renewal. When I phoned around for other quotations and gave details of my fault claim the costs were all around the same. Insurance is a funny game.

I know nothing at all about the organisation in question but I thought there was now a dedicated organisation to help where uninsured / untraced drivers were involved in accidents so that you didn't have to claim on your own insurance.
Google came up with https://www.mib.org.uk/

Is there anything here that can help or is it just insurance industry "smoke and mirrors" ?

Already looked into this................

MIB - If you have fully comprehensive cover, it is very unlikely that you will get anything...............from the website:


3. Contact your own insurer

• If you have comprehensive cover then your own insurer should deal with your vehicle damage claim.
• Your insurance policy requires all accidents to be reported.
• Your insurer may be able to trace the other driver or their insurers.
• Your insurer also has access to the Motor Insurance Database which may contain details of the driver’s insurers.

For sure its all one way.
I guess a lesson to be learned is get your phone camera out immediately. Photograph the people involved. Whether they like it or not. I don't suppose the supermarket cctv shows enough detail to identify the culprits? But you did say they were being watched inside the store too so maybe they have faces. But, no doubt, the Police would have to be involved to access the cctv footage because of "data protection". And I'm also guessing the Police won't be taking that much of an interest......

My experience of Insurance companies.

I make my living as a car body repairer and have contracts with all the major Insurance companies. I can confirm they are only interested in one thing and that is profit and driving down there own cost at the expense of the repairer and the customer.

The average labour rate we receive from our insurer contracts is £30 per hour (compare that to what you pay for servicing your car), they demand on average a 15% discount on all genuine parts fitted to your car and where available non genuine parts to be fitted to reduce the cost further (they ask us not to tell the customer).

It is also not widely known that the free courtesy cars you are provided with supposedly by your insurer is actually supplied by the repairer free of charge to that insurer (I run a fleet of 48 courtesy cars and vans at my own expense).

They also actively commit what amounts to fraud in that we are made to estimate and invoice any at fault insurance company at a much higher labour rate (£45 per hour on average), we then have to provide our work provider insurer with a credit note for this additional £15 per hour over our standard rate so they can pocket this money themselves.

Add free valeting, free recovery and storage , collection and delivery and a free 5 year guarantee on our work. It therefore not surprising I have little affection for my insurer partners.

The rant is over !!