Damage from parking...

dancuz

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Hi all,

After a bit of advice. Yesterday evening I came home to a car parked very close to the back of my car and less than a foot away from the next car in the street. The "space" was small so the owner had to park with one of the back wheels right up on the kerb (which is illegal in any case). I checked my car straight away and low and behold a fairly deep (through paint) scratch to the side of the rear bumper and lots of scuffing. You could see exactly where the car parked behind mine on the kerb had hit me. I obviously took loads of photos (with the registration in view) and then left a note on the car saying "I know you have hit my car and have evidence - please call me before I go to the police / your insurance".

My question is where do I stand on this? I can't prove that this car hit mine as I have no witness and did not see it occur. But I do have loads of photos of the damage and appalling parking job. How long should I wait before I contact the police (if this is the best way to proceed)? I have a feeling that if the warning of having evidence doesn't result in the person owning up and paying out of their own pocket I don't stand much of a chance, despite loads of photos?

What are your thoughts....?

Cheers,

Dan
 
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Sorry to hear about this. Parking can be dangerous these days with others not caring about our nice cars.

It would be better if the driver owes up to the mistake obviously. But I'm not so sure because this person knows you don't have concrete proof. There are fewer and fewer honest people these days so don't bank on it.

The insurance company might be able to fight your case, this is then your best option imo as the police probably won't bother since no one is injured and there's no argument at the scene. It's good that you took lots of photos. I am wondering if there is some kind of paint test which matches the paint left on your car to the suspect's car? You then have to weight up the cost of making a claim to the insurance company and the cost of the repairs. If the insurance company cannot recover the cost then you might end up being penalised for this, which is clearly unfair.
 
Thanks for the reply. On the note I was fairly direct about the fact that I did have evidence and would contact insurance / police should they not do the right thing and come forward - we shall see if this works!

I had wondered about a paint test as well... I will do some googling later on this evening to see what the costs are. Having never had anything like this repaired before (anything previous I have managed to polish out (almost) I'm not sure what the costs will be...
 
I'm sorry to hear about this. I feel that if they haven't already owned up your going to have a fight on your hands.
This is another reason why I'm thinking more and more about getting a in car camera system.
 
I'm sorry to hear about this. I feel that if they haven't already owned up your going to have a fight on your hands.
This is another reason why I'm thinking more and more about getting a in car camera system.

Yeh I agree. However, the car was still parked there when I left the house this morning... I know little about in car cameras. Do they turn on when there is motion outside the vehicle?
 
If you dont hear anything by the end of the day, I would go to your insurance company and tell them about the pics, mail them in to them and your insurance company will contact theirs, as they will have all the info from the Motor Insurers Database, then just let them deal with it.

The other party will probably think you are bluffing and ignore and you are left out of pocket. Too many people trying to pull a fast one when it comes to insurance nowadays and the genuine partys are left paying for it!!
 
have a good think about this
if you go to insurance and they say nope wasnt me
then you have reported a claim it can go against you
it will be very hard to prove even with pictures and insurance may not take it on to fight it
 
Yeh I agree. However, the car was still parked there when I left the house this morning... I know little about in car cameras. Do they turn on when there is motion outside the vehicle?

From what I have read the Blackvue DR550 is the best. It has a front and rear camera, It records if the car senses a nock or something sets the PIR off. It also has GPS and WI-FI.

This is the one I'm looking at. www.blackvue.co.uk
 
I was working away recently, I planned my hotel so that it had a decent car park etc. to limit the chance of damage.

The car park was underground with CCTV and it was never even half full so I always parked against the rear wall to reduce the chance of anyone parking near me. Last morning there I get to my car to find a very deep dent in the rear quarter panel, it looked as if it had been shot with an air rifle.

I contacted the hotel who said it was not captured on CCTV (slightly out of shot). I got a quote from a bodyshop and it was £310 ex. VAT. I decided it wasn't worth the chance of my premium going up for the next 3-5 years so took the hit myself.

It's frustrating but even though I had protected no claims and I insured against my excess so it wouldn't have cost me a penny I was sure my insurance would sting me for the following 3-5 years as the costs wouldn't be recovered and it would probably end up costing me more in the long run.
 
She's left me a note. Faith in humanity restored!
 
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Phew!!!

Lets just hope she doesnt put a claim in for Personal Injury for the accident!!

Fingers crossed all goes well for you.
 
There are some honest people out there after all….. I hope its a straight forward process now.

It was just unfortunate that the person who hit me in the car park never left a note. But then again, I had no photos to prove anything as he/she was long gone when I got there.
 
Yeh I agree. However, the car was still parked there when I left the house this morning... I know little about in car cameras. Do they turn on when there is motion outside the vehicle?

From what I have read the Blackvue DR550 is the best. It has a front and rear camera, It records if the car senses a nock or something sets the PIR off. It also has GPS and WI-FI.

This is the one I'm looking at. www.blackvue.co.uk

You boys should definitely get one! Best investment I ever made - money well spent too at less than the cost of my excess. I don't feel right driving without one now.

They will record when you're driving (obviously) and with the accompanying software you can view your exact location on a map in real-time as you play the footage back and also your travelling speed (if you so wish). When you park, it automatically switches over into "Parking Mode" which buffer-records 24/7. In the event of a motion detection (someone / something passing in view of the camera) or the movement sensors being triggered (someone / something hitting your vehicle) then the camera will jump back 10 seconds or so and save the footage it has been buffering, and then continue to record for a good minute or so after the last movement or motion event has been detected.

Thankfully I've not been in a situation where my vehicle has been damaged or anything but I have managed to successfully (and easily!) defend a wrongly issued PCN thanks to my camera.

Check out Advanced In-Car Technologies (who are a sponsor on this forum) as they have a huge selection of in-car camera goodies!

Factory & Aftermarket In Car Tech | Advanced In-Car Technologies
 
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You boys should definitely get one! Best investment I ever made - money well spent too at less than the cost of my excess. I don't feel right driving without one now.

They will record when you're driving (obviously) and with the accompanying software you can view your exact location on a map in real-time as you play the footage back and also your travelling speed (if you so wish). When you park, it automatically switches over into "Parking Mode" which buffer-records 24/7. In the event of a motion detection (someone / something passing in view of the camera) or the movement sensors being triggered (someone / something hitting your vehicle) then the camera will jump back 10 seconds or so and save the footage it has been buffering, and then continue to record for a good minute or so after the last movement or motion event has been detected.

Thankfully I've not been in a situation where my vehicle has been damaged or anything but I have managed to successfully (and easily!) defend a wrongly issued PCN thanks to my camera.

Check out Advanced In-Car Technologies (who are a sponsor on this forum) as they have a huge selection of in-car camera goodies!

Factory & Aftermarket In Car Tech | Advanced In-Car Technologies

Thanks
I'm just saving for one now. Been an expensive couple of months
 
Never thought I needed one but now I am seriously looking into it now.
So the Blackvue seems to be the best one to have judging on the comments on this forum. So need to decide the camera model and if both the front and back are needed or just one side. Plus the installation process as I wouldn't want to wires to the power source hanging around in the cabin.
 
Never thought I needed one but now I am seriously looking into it now.
So the Blackvue seems to be the best one to have judging on the comments on this forum. So need to decide the camera model and if both the front and back are needed or just one side. Plus the installation process as I wouldn't want to wires to the power source hanging around in the cabin.

There is a "how to" post on the forum, it's very good. I have read it several times. It shows how to install both the front and rear cameras
 
Plus one for the Blackvue camera, and plus one also for getting it from Advanced In-Car Technologies. Contact Cruiser89 here on the forum.
 
Sorry but all you have is some pictures of your damaged car and a car parked near it. No proof whatsoever, sorry about the damage to your car but I think you have to breath deep and forget it, harsh I know but I think you will never get anywhere pursuing it any further.
 
Sorry but all you have is some pictures of your damaged car and a car parked near it. No proof whatsoever, sorry about the damage to your car but I think you have to breath deep and forget it, harsh I know but I think you will never get anywhere pursuing it any further.
Try reading the thread,think you'll be surprised
 
Lets wait and see hey??

Haven't been able to call her yet unfortunately. I'm mid trying to buy a house and the scratch had taken a low priority. I'll let you all know though
 
how many members on here would leave a note if they caught someones car and no one was around ?
 
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how many members on here would leave a note if they caught someones car and no one was around ?
you know... I've never even considered it because I can park, and I'd be more worried about damaging my own car to be gung ho around other vehicles. :think:
 
Maybe do a poll ?
My son did,cost him 300 quid

It might have cost your son £300 but he did the right thing and a credit to him for doing it. If someone was to damage my car and own up I would have more respect for them than a coward that runs away without even thinking about it 👍
 
OK, I'm definitely getting a in car camera. A neighbour scraped my back bumper last night when the car was parked outside my house. Caused a bit of paint to come off, the size of a 5p coin. No notes left. I've emailed the neighbourhood and asked the person to come forward to offer an apology at least, but I'm not holding my breath as the lack of note was a sign that they are trying to get away with it.

Obviously theres no proof. So not much I can do other then think that people are all selfish these days and dishonest, even in my own neighbourhood. At least this has made my more determined to get a camera.
 
I want to get a camera but I think there is still room for lots of cases where the culprit wouldn't be caught i.e. keying the side of your car, any accidental side damage etc.

Can someone tell me otherwise? I like the look of the blackvue front and rear camera set. Also I have the black edition so my factory tints are dark, will this obscure the camera at night? Reversing in the dark I can see FA :p
 
Hey guys...

just saw this thread so happy to help where possible.

If you're keen on the DR550 we can perhaps sort something out :)

Review:



Check out these two videos for daytime / night footage!

DAY



NIGHT



These were filmed in my Audi A3 Black Edition that has Privacy Glass and the sun strip at the front!
 
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AK I agree with you that the in car camera doesn't solve all cases. But right now, I have absolutely zero evidence with the last 2 occasions where my car was damaged while parked, so anything I can do is an improvement.

Cruiser. Thanks for the links. The camera picture quality looks really good.

I just have 3 questions, as I'm not an expert of these systems.
1. Does it automatically start recording while the car is parked and another one gets near it, or even hit it?
2. How much power does it take? the video above mentioned that it gets hot after a couple of hours. I would leave it on ON most of the times while parked.
3. Would the wiring affect the radio reception? some comments on here suggest that the wire should run through the opposite side then the antenna wire to reduce reception interference?

And how much roughly would I be looking at the cost of the base unit and installation? Can PM me for quote if you prefer.

Thanks.
 
I agree diesel, anything to help is an improvement and the 550 looks like a very nice design too.

I have read that it has a G sensor which can turn it on automatically, I would like to know if there is an option for a movement sensor i.e. if something was approaching my car can it record until say a few minutes after the last movement was detected? Also interested on the price, I assume self-installation isn't too complicated (and I am used to audio installs).
 
The cameras have both G sensors and movement sensors. So in Park Mode they will 'buffer' record (if that's the correct term? Record but not physically save it to the memory card) - a bit like Sky+ where it buffer records so that you can rewind live TV, but it doesn't actually save the programme to your Sky box.

That means that when an event occurs, ie the camera detects movement in its vision or the G sensors are triggered by someone hitting your car, the camera will skip back a few seconds and record the footage it has been 'buffering', as well as 1-3 minutes (depending on your settings) after the last recorded event.

I hope that makes sense?

The sensitivities can be played with too. When I first got my camera and had it parked in the drive, I had the G sensors and the movement sensors up full. When I reviewed the footage the following morning it had pretty much recorded all night long because there was a slight bit of wind which was causing the leaves on the neighbour's tree over the road to move VERY slightly (the movement was so little that it took me ages to figure out why it was recording - I thought my camera was faulty at first!).

The G sensors are clever too, the footage can be played back and you can view what the sensors picked up in real-time and adjust their sensitivity range accordingly. Say for example my car was swaying ever so slightly in the wind (this did actually happen), then I can extend the sensitivity threshold so that those minor detections go un-noticed until something more apparent happens (a car door hitting my vehicle for example... you can test this yourself by recording some footage and knocking on your car with your hand to see what sort of threshold the sensors need to be adjusted to in order to pick it up). See below example...

12E1n.jpg


Sorry for the long-winded reply but these are a lot of things I didn't realise when first buying the camera and they should definitely be recognised as they make an already great camera ever better!

I posted a small review a while back which might be useful to anyone considering buying a Blackvue...

http://www.audi-sport.net/vb/a3-s3-sportback-8p-chassis/172365-blackvue-dr380g-hd-a3.html
 
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Thanks for that mate, clears up a lot of things for me :) Just FYI, when using Sky+ the program is recorded to the box, it just isn't added to the index and is removed when you change channel. Otherwise there would be nowhere to store the footage.

So probably my last question about this then, in parking mode the camera is always on, but only permanently stores events when triggered by the settings. How is this powered? Do you connect to the car battery? I assume the draw is so low there isn't a risk of running it flat?
 
Yeah that's what I meant but didn't know how to word it! It records the data but doesn't save the data unless triggered by an event.

You can either plug it into your 12v cigarette lighter with the supplied cable or, as myself and many other have opted to do, hard-wire it into your fuse panel. That's the best option as you can hide all the wires out of the way (mine run within the headlining towards the A-Pillar, down the A-Piller and then tucked very tightly down the bottom edge of the windscreen and into the fuse panel).

The draw is very low (I'm not sure how much but I'm sure I've seen it quoted somewhere). You can buy an adapter to plug the camera into which will monitor the car battery voltage and when it drops below a set point it will cut the power to the camera so that you don't run your battery flat. I've got this installed (it's called a Power Magic Pro) and have left my camera recording for well over 24hrs and never had the PMP cut the power to the camera. It's good to have as a fail-safe though just in case.
 
Cool, well I will wait to hear about cruisers pricing and save accordingly then!
 
Great description Jameze, was very helpful to find out about the way it works and the way the power source should be connected. Sounds like there's a little bit of work to get the wires to ran through the headlining, but not too challenging.

I'm looking around for prices too, along with the Power magic pro. If a good discount can be made, I'm happy to get one.
 

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