What to do if a car was hit in the yard and disappeared?

If you hit a car, is it an accident or not?

Such a case is an accident with all the ensuing consequences, but only if the impact was initiated by another car - it hit your vehicle. If a standing car was hit by hooligans passing by, snow, a tree or other objects/persons not related to the vehicles fell on it, then this is not an accident.

If a stationary car was damaged by another vehicle, then the owner who discovered the damage must perform a full list of actions provided for in the relevant paragraphs 2.5 and 2.6.1, namely:

do not go anywhere and do not move a parked car at the scene of an accident;
check the windshield for notes left;
turn on the emergency lights and put up an emergency stop sign;
perform photo and video recording of vehicle damage;
drive away the car if it interferes with the passage of other road users,
and call authorized police officers, whose jurisdiction we will discuss below.

How to fill out the Europrotocol

Drawing up a European protocol allows participants in an accident to do without calling the road service. This document is prepared by drivers themselves. It is important to follow the established rules.

Do I need to call the traffic police?

If your parked car was hit by another car (at least the damage indicates this), then such a situation is clearly classified as an accident. Therefore, if the culprit leaves the scene of an accident, the victim must call the police and describe the situation.

DPS says to call the local police officer

Perhaps they are right. If a passer-by hit a car in the yard, or the cause of the damage is an organization or person who did not use the vehicle, then you should call a local police officer to record the accident. It is he who will determine, later issuing relevant information about the owner of the source of damage (in the case of objects falling from buildings, snow falling on a stationary car or a fallen tree).

In some cases, the dispatcher recommends that the victim call the local police officer instead of the traffic police squad even if the event falls within the definition of an accident. The traffic police have only one explanation - since the event happened in the yard, it is not a road and, accordingly, not an accident. And the inspector is wrong about this - the Supreme Court established several years ago that there are roads in the adjacent territories.

In such a situation, call immediately other numbers - if you called the duty station, then call 02, and vice versa. And also write down the number of the incoming call. It is advisable to record the conversation on your phone for further evidence in court.

After being hit by a car, the culprit ran away

An accident can happen anywhere and to anyone. Quite a common occurrence these days, both on the roads and in yards or parking lots. But the behavior of the participants in the incident, especially the perpetrators, is very different from each other. One, as a prosperous citizen who follows the laws, without remorse, takes a direct part in resolving this situation. The other will prefer to simply hide.

What should a victim do in this situation if the culprit simply disappeared? There are a couple of options for the development of events. You saw that your car was damaged, let’s say it was hit. The culprit is not there. First way. You managed to catch the offender while he was leaving the scene of the incident. Perhaps it was possible to consider some signs of transport: a license plate or car make.

Method two. You went out into the yard, but there was already no trace of the culprit. In this case, most likely there were people nearby who witnessed this accident and can provide information. Witnesses could remember special features of the driver or the car. There is an option that someone could leave a note for the victim with further indications of their coordinates, or will accept the offender.

I hit someone else's car - what should I do?

If someone else's car is hit while moving around the yards, you should try the following actions:

View the windshield to identify the car owner's contacts.
Knock on the wheels to trigger the alarm and attract the owner's attention.
Interview nearby people to see if they know the owner of the car.

If none of the methods is successful, then you will have to leave all your affairs and call the traffic police yourself. The police dispatcher will provide further instructions, for example, asking you to take photographs of the damage and to report to the police station to formally document the accident.

You should never just leave a note on the damaged car with your contacts, but you need to call the traffic police and formalize the incident. Only in this case can you avoid deprivation of your rights, because the owner of the hit car may not call you, but call the employees instead of you.

My car was hit in the yard, what should I do?

Nowadays, a car can be hit not only during a traffic accident, but also in your yard while trying to park.

It is not uncommon for a vehicle in the yard to be hit by another vehicle. That is why we suggest that you familiarize yourself with several useful recommendations that will most likely help you in solving this type of problem.

The culprit did not flee the crime scene

If you find a would-be driver in the yard who “left” damage to your car, then the action plan will be as follows:

Ask the person responsible for the accident whether he called the State Traffic Inspectorate. If not, make the call yourself.
Next, we photograph the offender’s vehicle so that the car’s license plates are clearly visible in the frame.
We record the personal and contact information of the person responsible for the incident.
We ask the culprit driver whether he has a valid MTPL policy.

Having carried out the above organizational measures, you don’t have to wait for the traffic police officers. But it is best to wait for the inspector together with the person responsible for the accident and check that the incident is properly recorded. Suddenly, the harm-doer will make everything look as if it was you who created the emergency in the yard.

The culprit of the accident “evaporated”

If the offender hit your vehicle and fled the scene, you should immediately call the traffic police.

If you don’t want to waste your precious time, you can do your own investigation of what happened:

Look around your yard for a security camera that could help identify the offender.
Didn't find a CCTV camera? Walk around the yard, maybe one of the parked cars has a working DVR. If you find such a car, write down the vehicle’s details so that later you can get the record you need through its driver.
After this, we carefully examine the impact site. By inspection, it is possible to determine the color of the car that caused the collision, and in the future, by comparing video materials and the color of the car, it will be possible to determine the identity of the culprit of the incident.

As soon as law enforcement officers have arrived at the scene of the incident and have completed all the necessary documents, you can go around all the service centers located in the area where the incident occurred and ask the employees if the client has made an appointment with them for painting or straightening the vehicle.

As practice shows, this method is highly effective. With the help of such “raids”, injured motorists found the culprits of the incident much faster than law enforcement officers did.

Your vehicle was hit by the door of another car

Naturally, the culprit in this case will be the driver whose car was damaged by your vehicle, but there is one interesting fact here - this incident is not regarded as a full-fledged accident, since the law clearly states that a traffic accident occurs while the vehicle is moving, and, therefore, insurers cannot regard this case as an insured event. What to do in this case?

There are two ways out:

Resolve the issue on the spot and peacefully agree with the culprit on the payment of compensation, the amount of which is established by the victim himself (of course, within reason).
If the unfortunate driver does not agree to resolve the issue in a “human” way, then in this case it is necessary to write down the contact details of the culprit, take a photograph of your vehicle in such a way that all the damage is clearly visible in the frame, and call the local police officer.

Sometimes it happens that in this situation, the would-be driver can slam the car door and hide. No problem, we write down the license plates of his car and contact law enforcement agencies.

You were the culprit of hitting someone else's vehicle

In this case, you should resolve the conflict yourself. If you have an MTPL insurance policy, good, the victim will receive his compensation, and you will repair your vehicle at your own expense. No insurance is much worse. You will have to restore your car from your wallet and pay for repairs to the victim’s car.

We have dealt with the emergency situation in the yard. Now let's look at cases where a car was hit on business premises.

How to find the culprit?

If the culprit scratched a stationary car and left the scene of the accident, then you should definitely call the traffic police or the local police officer. It is the authorized employees who must search for the violator and bring him to justice.

However, as experience shows, employees are not too eager to fulfill their job duties, so the victim should independently:

find witnesses to a traffic accident;
view nearby cars for working car recorders;
look for cameras on stores located near the accident site,
take a walk through the neighboring yards - very often the perpetrators of such accidents are not very diligent in hiding their traces, and you may find traces of the paint of your car parked in the yard on other people’s damage.

If you successfully detect the car and license plate of the offender, the chance of receiving monetary compensation increases many times over. In this case, take photographs and videotapes of damage, take copies of them to the IAZ traffic police inspector who is in charge of your case, and hand them over to him.

They dented the car and disappeared: what to do if you have a CASCO policy

Conscientious drivers who remain at the scene of an accident and wait for the owner of the damaged vehicle to appear and for the arrival of traffic police officers are rare.
As a rule, the culprit of an accident tries to escape from the scene of the accident as quickly as possible so as not to be held accountable. A car owner who discovers scratches and dents on his car can act in different ways. Of course, the easiest option is to ignore this damage and go about your business. This is especially true for owners whose cars already have a sufficient number of small dents. But even in this case, it is best to call traffic police officers to the scene of the accident and write a statement.

If a traffic accident occurred on a driveway inside a courtyard or in an adjacent parking lot, a local police officer must be called to the scene of the accident. In all other cases, you can contact the traffic police.

Despite contacting the authorized body and filing a statement, a positive result in finding the culprit is only possible thanks to the actions of the injured motorist. Therefore, it is better to start taking active steps while waiting for the police to arrive. First of all, it is necessary to inspect the scene of the accident for recording cameras or look for witnesses to the incident.

If there are surveillance cameras installed at the entrance to the yard, at the house or at nearby shops, you can turn to the owners for help. Perhaps the shooting angle made it possible to capture exactly who abused the vehicle in such a way.
Neighboring cars may have a DVR installed. In this case, it is better to wait until the owners of such cars leave the house and talk to them about obtaining the records.
Another option to find the culprit is to ask around at nearby car washes and service stations to see who has recently applied for car painting services.
Another way is to carefully inspect the damaged vehicle. Traces of paint from the person responsible for the accident may remain on the car. In addition, the make of the car can be determined by the height and nature of the dents. However, only an expert can cope with this difficult task.

Receiving insurance compensation under CASCO insurance is possible only after registering a traffic accident by traffic police officers or a local police officer. To receive insurance compensation, the driver must make sure that the accident certificate contains the following information:

The scene of the accident.
The time at which the traffic accident occurred.
Circumstances of the accident.

If the culprit has not left, what should I do?

If the culprit of the accident does not leave and fully admits his guilt, then the rules allow the solution of the material issue on the spot. To do this, the parties need to draw up a European protocol and sign the document. In the future, the victim has the right to contact the insurance company directly and demand compensation for damage.

Important! A European protocol under the new rules for registering road accidents must be drawn up - even if you have agreed on direct compensation for damage by the culprit. You simply won’t need to take your form to the insurance company and declare it (otherwise there will be unjust enrichment). The Europrotocol can only be concluded in case of an accident, the damage from which is less than 400,000 rubles for Moscow and St. Petersburg or 100,000 rubles for other regions. Otherwise, the parties to the conflict will have to call the traffic police.

Is it possible to receive compensation under compulsory motor liability insurance and how?

Compensation for damage under OSAGO in a situation where the car was parked near the road in the yard and was scratched is possible in one of the following cases:

the driver who hit the car in the yard and fled the scene of the accident was found and has a valid compulsory insurance policy;
the offender’s car is identified by license plate or other characteristics, and the owner of the car has compulsory motor liability insurance;
people were injured during the accident.

If the victim has CASCO insurance, he will in any case receive payment if he registers the incident.

Intruder detected

If the traffic police are working properly, the offender will be promptly identified and found, even if the accident occurred late at night. In such a situation, the victim has the right to count on financial compensation if:

the offender has an issued MTPL policy;
the found driver is officially recognized as the culprit of the accident (a decision or ruling has been made against him).

It is possible to receive an insurance payment in a situation where the culprit is found according to the following scheme:

request from law enforcement agencies a copy of the resolution and documents confirming the guilt of the other party.
write an application for compensation of damage to the insurance company.
submit all documents and application to the Investigative Committee.

The license plate number of the violator’s vehicle was recorded by cameras or witnesses

If the culprit of the accident fled the scene of the accident, but the license plate of his car is known, then, according to the current court practice in 2021, the owner of the car will be held responsible.

The fact is that the Civil Code of the Russian Federation prescribes the possibility of recovering damages from the owner of a source of increased danger in cases where the cause of harm has not been identified. We described this situation in detail in an article about the culprit who fled the scene of an accident.

There are victims in the accident

According to Article 18 of Federal Law No. 40, in 2021, financial compensation to the victim is provided even in cases where the culprit has disappeared or does not have a policy. However, there are also disadvantages:

compensation is paid only to persons who were physically injured, that is, we are talking only about parked cars in which people (driver and/or passengers) were sitting;
Damage to the car will not be taken into account when calculating the insurance payment.

To receive compensation, the injured person should collect all health certificates, treatment documents and papers from the traffic police. After this, you must contact the RSA with a claim for compensation.

Insurance payments if a car is hit

Contacting the insurer

In the case when at least one of the participants in the accident has a CASCO policy, then a call to the traffic police is inevitable. There are no other options. The fact is that for this type of insurance, compensation payments are possible only when the insurer is provided with documents prepared by the traffic police officers confirming the fact of damage. But you will have to notify the insurers of both parties in any case, regardless of the type of insurance.

Attention! Only properly executed documents indicating an accident and damage will guarantee receipt of compensation payments for car repairs.

After the accident is registered together with the traffic police officers, the documents for receiving compensation are in hand, you need to transfer them to the insurer. The deadline is no later than five days from the moment of the accident and, accordingly, receipt of documents.

Payment documents:

Accident notification. Standard form, filled out jointly by all participants in the accident;
Application for payment of compensation;
Videos or photographic documents confirming the accident, indicating the presence of damage to the vehicle.

If both participants have a compulsory motor liability insurance policy in their hands, then a representative of the insurance company goes to the accident. He himself records all the circumstances of the accident and the damage caused. Then the damage is assessed and the documents submitted to the insurance are checked. If everything is done correctly, compensation should be paid.

They disappeared, denting the car. I have a CASCO policy in hand, what should I do in this case?

Rarely do drivers stay at the scene of an accident after damaging someone else's car. Most often they hide.

You can react to what happened in different ways. You can give up on a small dent and forget it, especially when the car has enough defects even without it. More dents, less dents, it doesn’t matter.

However, the most correct step in this case would be to call the traffic police, especially if the accident occurred on the highway. If the accident happened in the yard or parking lot, then they call the local police officer.

But while waiting for the police, you shouldn’t be idle. Only the active actions of the victim himself will give a positive result.

Look for witnesses to the accident, inspect the accident scene, in case the yard is equipped with video surveillance. Then the task is simplified, since at such facilities recording is carried out around the clock and footage of the accident can be found.

If cameras are installed, find the owner and ask him for a recording of the incident. Check to see if nearby cars have a DVR. Find its owner. If the recorder was turned on, ask it for a recording of the accident;

Visit auto repair shops and car washes. Suddenly someone contacted them with minor repairs or car painting.

Inspect your car carefully. It may show signs of a collision. For example, traces of paint. By the way, by the way the dent is located, by its nature, you can determine what brand of car caused the damage. However, this is already a task for an expert, since it is quite technically complex.

Let's return to the procedure for compensation under CASCO.

Check the documents received from the traffic police, they must be correctly executed and contain the following information (otherwise the refund will be denied):

Location of the incident;
Time of accident;
Circumstances of the accident.

They dented the car. The culprit escaped. In the hands of OSAGO. What to do?

In this case, the situation with obtaining compensation is not simple. The fact that the culprit disappeared only makes it worse. You will have to work hard to receive compensation for the damage suffered.

This type (OSAGO) is insurance of the driver's liability for damage caused to a third party. The owner of the damaged car will not receive compensation for the damage incurred under compulsory motor liability insurance. He can count on it only when the culprit is identified and found.

But traffic police officers can tell the victim what to do correctly in such a situation:

Find witnesses to the incident who are willing to testify;
Find and obtain recordings from CCTV cameras if they are installed near the scene of an accident;
Inspect the car carefully. Suddenly there were traces of an accident on her. For example, paint from a car that collided with it.

If you are lucky and the culprit is found, then it is possible that the car will be restored at his expense. If they don't find the culprit, then it's theirs.