It is rather alarming to note how much motorists have to pay for collisions into their parked vehicles.
An article by Ray Massey revealed that in the UK alone collisions into parked cars have left motorists with £169m bill.
Car Insurance is required to protect not only against the “larger and more expensive” threats of vehicle loss and damage through road accidents and theft, but also for these smaller fender bender accidents. It is most alarming to find that many of those guilty of these fender bender accidents in parking areas are driving off without contacting the vehicle owners!
Research on parked vehicle collisions in the UK
We would like to share a few facts from the article about collisions into parked vehicles in the UK:
• Lee Woodley, insurance director of Accident Exchange, said: ‘Parked car prangs cost the insurance industry more than £1.2billion annually in repairs.
• A fifth of drivers who hit a parked car flee the scene if its owner isn’t there, research has revealed.
• The ‘prang-and-run’ bandits are breaking the law and forcing innocent car owners to pick up the £169million bill for the damage.
• Each victim will pay an average of £1,800 in repair costs – and those who make an insurance claim risk losing their no-claims bonus and paying a hefty ‘excess’ charge.
Research by driver support company Accident Exchange also revealed:
• Prangs involving parked cars account for an estimated 700,000 of the 3.5million crashes that happen every year, according to.
• More than half a million of these happen when the victim is not with his or her car.
• In around 94,000 of these cases, the driver who caused the damage flees and is never traced.
• Police are involved in tracking down the culprit in just one in 20 accidents where the driver fled the scene.
Damage of collisions could be even more
The data from the survey are that of actual claims – and it could well be much higher! Many vehicle owners would rather pay for repairs themselves than make a claim on their insurance and face losing their no-claims bonus.
The research, which is based on 50,000 insurance claims, found that 80 per cent of accidents involving parked vehicles occur in the street, with the rest taking place in car parks.
Some have the decency to contact the vehicle owner
In more than half of the cases studied, the driver responsible for the prang either found or contacted the owner directly. A further 20 per cent left a note on the damaged car’s windscreen with their details. But in almost one in five incidents where an unoccupied parked car was hit, the culprit simply drove off.
Conclusion
We would like to urge vehicle owners to pay close attention to where they park their vehicles. Taking a few minutes extra to park in a safe location could save you thousands in car insurance expenses!!