insurance liability on a hit and run parked car

[Salamander]

Hi all,

My car was involved in a hit and run while parked in a parking bay. I did see the vehicle that hit me and got their registration just in time. After making the claim the person who hit me is adamant that they weren't involved. The claim has been ongoing for months with me sending all kind of supporting evidence, a witness statement, and the insurance sending an assessor to the culprits car and actually found a scratch where the impact happened. Despite this the culprit continues to maintain they weren't involved and now claims to have counter evidence. I've had to pay a large sum from my excess to get my car repaired and obviously want that money back as I wasn't at fault.

I haven't been involved in an accident before so will admit this has all been a bit of a learning experience.

My main question on this thread though is this... the last correspondence I had with my insurance they told me if in a worst case scenario I were to lose the case and they end up concluding that the 3rd party was not at fault then I would be liable and won't get my excess back. I find that preposterous, how can i possibly be at fault and liable if my vehicle was parked and stationary? I had a read through the insurance policy and couldn't find anything that specifies this type of scenario.

Is this something standard with all car insurance policies? What happens in cases where your car is parked, a hit and run happens, and you don't see the culprit? I've always assumed I would be covered and wouldn't have to pay any excess in such scenario. Or is my assumption incorrect as my insurance company suggests?

Would be grateful for any any advice and guidance.

[des8]

Your insurers are telling you the way it is.

You make a claim on your policy and your insurers only have to pay out the cost of putting right your vehicle , less the excess.
You can claim back the excess, and other uninsured losses, from the third party who caused the damage.
However making a claim against a third party is not always successful.

It seems in this case your insurers are attempting to claim back their payout from the third party insurers and at the same time recover your excess.
If they fail you have to pay the excess

[Salamander]

Ok that makes sense I guess.
In that case what would happen if both parties involved in the incident are using the same insurance company? Which is the case in my situation?

[des8]

Your insurers are under no obligation to recover your excess, but if they are the third party insurers they would be foolish not to as you could sue them if you could prove the other driver liable.

The rub here is that the other driver denies liability by claiming not to be the driver.
Is he claiming the car was stolen, or being driven by someone else with his permission.?

[Salamander]

All they have told me is that he's denying any involvement, they didn't specify anything further.

The collision was his passenger wing mirror smashed into my driver side mirror and broke it off completely as he drove past. The point I keep trying to make to my insurance is that my mirror can't have just magically jumped off by itself and someone must have hit it.

It looks like the culprit is claiming that I found my mirror broken off and was actually hit by another driver but as I was unable to identify them I decided to accuse this guy for the sake of it, basically accusing me of lying and false accusation. Hence my original question about liability whether I saw the culprit or not.

I'm still not clear on what happens when both parties are insured by the same company? Would the said insurance company recover the excess from themselves if it was to go in my favour?

[des8]

Your insurer does not have to do anything about recovering your excess.

It is up to you to try and recover it.

To do that you need to prove (on the balance of probabilities i.e.51%) that he is liable for the damage.
If you do that it will be for him to make a claim on his insurers ( third party liability section of his policy)

As his insurer is the same as yours it will be in their overall commercial interest to pay your excess.
If they don't, and you initiate a court claim against the third party, whether or not you win it will cost the insurers to defend your claim

[Salamander]

Many thanks for clarifying.
Keeping my fingers crossed it won't reach courts!