So, yesterday night, as I was manoeuvring to get out of a very tight spot as the car at the back had intruded into the back of my parking space, I accidentally bumped on the car behind me. I was going very slow, maybe 2 or 3 km/h, I did not even notice it, but a couple of friends of the owner were around, so they notified me. I got out of the car and checked for any damage on our cars. Both of us couldn't see anything, we took a couple of pictures, we exchanged contact details (the friend gave me the details of the owner) but no report was signed and the police was not called. It was really something minor, initially I did not even notice it until they notified me.
The guy (friend of the owner) told me that he cannot see anything on the car, however, he will notify the owner who will check. So now, my questions are:
Should I file a claim to my insurance company (vollkasko on a leased car)? There seems to be no damage to any of the cars.
Can he go to a garage that he wants to have it checked and send me the bill? Is my insurance covering such 'checks' or will I have to pay the bill?
If then he tries to push me all the pre-existing damage, am I liable to pay for whatever he claims? It is his (and his friends' word) against mine. Worst case, he asks the garage to put in a report anything they find, just to get it fixed for free. Is there a way to protect myself from claims about things I am not liable for?
Is there any time limit that I have to file the claim with my insurance? I mean, if the other guy doesn't want to do anything, what is the point of the claim, apart from the extra paperwork?
Or do you mean to file the claim without even contacting the other guy, to see what he plans to do and if there is any claim on his side?
Yes, this is reasonable, but I didn't think that it would make a difference on the liability part, thus I took only a couple of pictures from the bumper and not this. Again, as it is gonna be my word against his, it is gonna be very difficult to prove.
So the question now is, should I text the guy to see what his plans are or should I file a claim regardless?
I would report the situation so that you did the notification timely and you avoid the insurance calling you to ask why someone else reported an accident and you did not notify it. If they do not nothing, case closed.
I called my insurance, they told me not to make an official claim yet as this seems to be minor and there is a chance that no claim will be made by the other party. If they receive a claim, they will contact me.
In any case, my call with them is logged and recorded, so I am covered.
At most, put a copy of your grey card in his letter box so that he can contact your insurance (I did that last year when a neighbor claimed that I had touched their car with mine, nothing came of it)
That's what I thought as well and didn't even bother to take pictures of him being parked incorrectly. But he was very close, as a matter of fact he was very much into my space so that another car (maybe the friend's car) was parked behind him, even though there was no official white zone, it was just on the corner...
By the way, insurance told me that even if he goes to a garage and they check and they find nothing, any costs associated with this would be covered by them and not me. Not sure if this is going to affect my premium though, most probably not. So now, the only thing I can do is sit tight and wait...
This I already have. But what exactly does it protect you from? Premium hikes in case of a claim? The guy told me on the phone that even if this leads to a claim, my premium is not going up because of my contract, I guess this is what he meant, right?
I would really recommend to check what are the rules in Switzerland for such an incident.
I have never been involved in such a scenario in Switzerland, but a friend of mine had a very bad experience in Germany, when he was visiting us back in our days in Luxembourg.
He hit another parked vehicle, and the owner wasn't around. So my friend left a note on the car's windscreen with his contact details. However, the owner of the other vehicle turned out to be a complete jerk, and went to the Police.
In Germany, if you hit a stationary vehicle, and the owner is not around, you MUST either wait until the owner returns, or you must notify the Police. And if you fail to do one of those two options, the consequences are very severe (fine of over EUR 1,000 etc). It was all very messy.
So please check the legal position in Switzerland, and if necessary, please contact the Police.
Thanks for this input. I was not aware of such a rule, but in my case I did give me contact details to the person that identified as the friend of the owner. I also got his contact details (name, telephone number) and then run his plates on the online database and at least the name checks out. So I guess he cannot claim that I did not provide my contact details, because I have his, including his telephone number which cannot be found on the online database.
I read on another thread that the police should be called in case of an injury or in case of a damage. As we didn't see any obvious damage and we exchanged contact details, it was understood that there is no need to call the police, nobody mentioned that.
I hope this guy is a normal person and not such a jerk who would try to use every possible loophole to make my life difficult....