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UK parked-car hit claims: hit-and-run, MIB Untraced 2017 and the section 170 duty
A practical UK guide to claims where a stationary vehicle is hit by another vehicle, including hit-and-run. Covers section 170 RTA 1988, the windscreen-note practice, supermarket and commercial CCTV recovery inside the GDPR 30-day default retention, dashcam parked-mode evidence, the MIB Untraced Drivers' Agreement 2017 where the at-fault driver cannot be identified and the MIB Uninsured Drivers' Agreement 2015 where the driver is identified but uninsured.
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What do I do if my parked car has been hit in the UK?
Photograph the scene before anything moves, canvass the area for supermarket, commercial and residential CCTV inside the GDPR 30-day default retention window, obtain a Road Traffic Collision reference number from the police via gov.uk or 101, notify your own insurer regardless of fault, and where the at-fault driver cannot be identified make an application under the MIB Untraced Drivers' Agreement 2017. Where the driver is identified but uninsured the claim runs under the MIB Uninsured Drivers' Agreement 2015. A lawfully parked stationary vehicle is virtually never at fault - standard apportionment is 100% against the moving vehicle.
A parked-car hit is a category of collision in which a stationary vehicle is struck by another vehicle. It covers the supermarket car-park reverse-out clip, the kerb-side passing mirror scrape, the residential overnight hit-and-run, the commercial loading-bay manoeuvre and every variant in between. The defining feature is that the parked vehicle had no causative role in the collision - it was static - and the standard insurer apportionment is 100% against the moving vehicle. The regulatory frame is section 170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 on the other driver, the MIB Untraced Drivers' Agreement 2017 where the other driver cannot be identified and the MIB Uninsured Drivers' Agreement 2015 where they are identified but uninsured. The evidence frame is photographs, CCTV recovered inside the GDPR 30-day default retention, dashcam parked-mode clips and a prompt police Road Traffic Collision reference.
The section 170 RTA 1988 duty on the other driver
Section 170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 imposes a positive duty on the driver of a vehicle involved in a reportable collision - a category that expressly includes damage to another vehicle, to property on or near a road, and to certain listed animals. Section 170(2) requires the driver to stop and, if required by any person having reasonable grounds for requiring it, to give their name and address, the name and address of the owner of the vehicle, and the registration mark of the vehicle. Where details are not exchanged at the scene - the typical parked-car hit, because the owner is not present - section 170(3) requires the driver to report the collision to a constable or at a police station as soon as reasonably practicable and in any event within 24 hours. The 24-hour outer limit is a statutory deadline, not a target; commentary in the leading textbooks and CPS charging guidance treats anything beyond immediately practicable as a question of fact for the magistrates.
Section 170(4) makes failure to stop and failure to report separate criminal offences. The penalty is a fine of up to level 5 on the standard scale, between five and ten penalty points, and the offence is disqualification-eligible in serious cases under section 34 of the Road Traffic Offenders Act 1988. A driver who genuinely left a complete written note and who reports the collision to the police inside 24 hours has discharged the duty; a driver who left a note but did not report is technically in breach of section 170(3). A driver who left no note and did not report is in clear breach of both limbs - the classic hit-and-run.
The windscreen-note practice and what it does and does not do
Leaving a note on a parked vehicle's windscreen with a name, telephone number and an admission of contact is a widely-observed UK practice. It is best understood as a 'best efforts' attempt at exchange of details where the owner of the struck vehicle is not present. It is good practice and does not - by itself - discharge the statutory duty under section 170. The other driver remains required to report the collision to the police inside 24 hours where details cannot be exchanged directly at the scene. The note is evidence that contact was made; the police report is the statutory step that confirms it.
For the owner returning to find a note, the practical workflow is to photograph the note in situ on the windscreen and again after removal, telephone the number immediately and log the date, time and content of the call, and then proceed with the same evidence sequence as for any parked-car hit - police RTC reference, own insurer notification, CCTV canvass and dashcam extraction. Where the note proves false or the number does not answer and cannot be traced, the file converts to a hit-and-run for the purposes of any MIB Untraced Drivers' Agreement claim. The police investigation may identify the driver from the partial information on the note, from CCTV or from ANPR records.
The MIB Untraced Drivers' Agreement 2017
Where the at-fault driver cannot be identified, the claim is made against the Motor Insurers' Bureau under the Untraced Drivers' Agreement 2017 - our full procedural walk-through is on the MIB untraced driver claim page. The 2017 Agreement applies to accidents on or after 1 March 2017 and replaced the 2003 Agreement. It is administered by the MIB under a statutory framework ultimately derived from EU motor-insurance directives implemented in UK law. The claim is submitted on the MIB's prescribed application form, supported by the police RTC reference, scene photographs, the independent engineer's valuation and a witness pack.
Three Agreement features matter for a parked-car hit. First, the excess: a vehicle-damage claim is subject to a non-recoverable excess - £400 under the current schedule - which is borne by the claimant. Always verify the live excess figure on the MIB's published 2017 Agreement before submitting because the schedule has been updated periodically. Second, the time limits: a property-only claim must be notified inside nine months of the incident, and the underlying police report must have been made promptly (commonly within 14 days for property and five days for injury under the current wording). A personal injury claim under the Agreement is normally subject to a three-year notification window aligned to the Limitation Act 1980 - the wider accident claim time limit rules and the date-of-knowledge extension are explained in detail there. Third, the reasonable-enquiries requirement: the claimant must show that all reasonable steps were taken to identify the at-fault driver - police report, CCTV canvass, witness appeals - before the MIB engages. The Agreement's full text and the current excess and time-limit figures are published on the MIB's website.
The MIB Uninsured Drivers' Agreement 2015 - a different scheme
The MIB Uninsured Drivers' Agreement 2015 is the other half of the MIB's substitute-compensator landscape. It applies where the at-fault driver IS identified - through the scene exchange of details, a windscreen note that proves accurate, a witness account or CCTV that recovers a registration plate - but is not covered by a valid policy of insurance for the use in question. Examples include a lapsed policy, a named-driver-only policy with the wrong driver behind the wheel, or a policy avoided ab initio for non-disclosure of a material fact. The Agreement applies to accidents on or after 1 August 2015 and replaced the 1999 Agreement.
A material feature of the Uninsured Agreement is the knowingly-uninsured-passenger exclusion. Clause 8 of the post-2017 supplementary agreement excludes from compensation any passenger who knew or ought to have known that the vehicle was being used without insurance. The exclusion mirrors the statutory position at section 151(4) of the Road Traffic Act 1988 and is one of the most frequently litigated parts of the Agreement. A parked-car hit will rarely engage the exclusion - the claimant is the parked vehicle's owner, not a passenger of the at-fault vehicle - but the point becomes relevant where a passenger from the at-fault vehicle separately sustains injury and tries to claim against the MIB.
A small set of vehicles is exempt from the section 143 RTA 1988 insurance requirement under section 144 - most commonly vehicles owned by the Crown, by visiting forces, by police authorities under operational orders and by certain local authorities. Where the at-fault vehicle is on Crown service the third-party claim runs against the Crown directly rather than against the MIB, because the Uninsured Agreement does not respond to vehicles that were never required to be insured.
A full walk-through of the application form, the property-damage excess, the service-of-proceedings requirement and the satisfaction-of-judgment route is on our dedicated MIB uninsured driver claim page.
PARKED-CAR
03
Section 3 of the walkthrough.
Scene documentation, CCTV canvass and the GDPR 30-day retention default
The evidence sequence for a parked-car hit is fixed and time-sensitive. Photographs first, before any vehicle is moved - the position within the parking bay markings or kerb gap, the damage panels on every face of the car, any debris on the carriageway, any note on the windscreen and the surrounding vehicles whose drivers may be witnesses. Wide-angle establishing shots and close-ups with a time-stamped clock, shop signage or newspaper in frame to anchor the date. Take two passes: one as found, one after any necessary recovery.
CCTV canvass next. Most UK supermarket, retail and commercial CCTV is retained on a rolling-recorder basis with a default 30-day overwrite cycle, aligned to the Information Commissioner's Office guidance under UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 that footage be kept only for as long as necessary for the processing purpose. Some systems use 14 days, some retain 90 days. Residential video doorbells (Ring, Nest, Eufy, Reolink) usually retain on a subscription basis for up to 60 days. A written preservation request to the data controller - the supermarket's head office data protection function, the retail park's facilities manager, the residential householder - inside the first week is the difference between recovering a registration plate and proceeding under the Untraced Agreement.
Dashcam parked-mode footage from the struck vehicle is the third evidence pillar. Garmin (Dash Cam Mini 2 and 67W), Nextbase (322GW, 422GW, 522GW, iQ), Thinkware (U1000, Q800 Pro), Viofo (A129 Plus Duo, A229) and BlackVue (DR900X, DR770X) all offer either impact-detection or time-lapse parked recording. Footage from the surrounding vehicles' dashcams may also have captured the at-fault driver - a short knock-on-the-door canvass of vehicles parked in the immediate vicinity is worthwhile. Extract and back up the clip within 24 hours before the loop-record overwrites it.
Reporting to the police and obtaining a Road Traffic Collision reference
Three routes exist for reporting a parked-car hit-and-run to the police. The gov.uk online road-collision reporting service handles non-injury reports for most UK forces and issues a reference number on submission. The 101 non-emergency number routes through to the local force's call centre. A walk-in at any police station also takes the report. Whichever route, the output is a Road Traffic Collision reference number that must be recorded on the file.
The police report does several things. It triggers an investigation that may identify the at-fault driver from CCTV, ANPR or witness evidence, converting the file from an Untraced Agreement claim to a Uninsured Agreement claim or a conventional third-party claim. It satisfies the reasonable-enquiries threshold for any MIB application. It is admissible as evidence under the Civil Evidence Act 1995 and, where prosecution follows, supports the section 170(4) RTA 1988 offence proceedings. CityGrip records the RTC reference on every parked-car file at intake and chases the investigation outcome with the allocated officer at 14 and 28 days.
Insurer notification, third-party identification and the no-fault apportionment
Notify your own insurer regardless of fault and inside the notification window set by the policy wording - usually seven days. A failure to notify is a recognised ground for the insurer to decline cover or refuse to support any subrogated recovery, and it is the most common reason a clean-fact parked-car claim falls into argument later. The notification can be made in parallel with the police report and the CCTV canvass; it does not require the at-fault driver to have been identified first.
Where the third-party driver's details are recovered - from a windscreen note that proves accurate, from CCTV recovering a registration plate, from a witness account or from the police investigation - identify the policy through the askMID database (the Motor Insurance Database operated by the MIB) and notify the third-party insurer through their claims notification line. The third-party insurer is the statutory respondent under section 151 RTA 1988 and will engage on liability first, valuation next.
Apportionment is the simplest single feature of a parked-car hit. A lawfully parked stationary vehicle is virtually never at fault - the moving vehicle had the opportunity to avoid the collision, the parked vehicle did not. Standard insurer apportionment is 100% against the moving vehicle. Contributory negligence becomes arguable only in narrow scenarios: a vehicle parked on double yellow lines that obscured a junction sightline where the obscuration contributed to the collision; a vehicle parked unlit at night on an unlit road in breach of Highway Code rule 248 and the Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989; a vehicle parked in a clearway, red route or active bus lane in breach of TSRGD 2016. Even then the percentage attributed to the parked vehicle is well below 50%.
Damage profile, repair authority and total-loss valuation
Parked-car hit damage varies from the trivial - a paint scratch from a passing mirror clip - to the catastrophic, where a vehicle leaves the carriageway at speed and strikes a parked car broadside. The repair workflow depends on the damage category. Cosmetic damage of under £750 is normally repaired through a smart-repair operator without engineering intervention; structural damage above that threshold requires inspection by an independent engineer before repair authority is granted, with the engineer's report anchoring the third-party insurer's or MIB's reserve.
Where the pre-accident market value of the vehicle is less than the cost of repair plus the value of the salvage, the file moves to a total loss. The ABI Salvage Code categorises total-loss vehicles as Cat A (scrap only), Cat B (break-for-parts), Cat S (structural damage but repairable) or Cat N (non-structural damage but repairable). The full decision tree and the retail-not-trade valuation argument are set out on our hub for a car write-off claim. Where a parked car is repaired but the recorded incident depresses its open-market resale value - a recurring issue on premium and prestige vehicles - a diminished value claim is the recovery route for the residual loss. Where the owner is left without a vehicle for a period during which no like-for-like hire was available, a loss of use claim can recover general damages for the inconvenience. The pre-accident market value must be anchored to multiple comparable adverts from Auto Trader, Cazoo and equivalent platforms on the date of inspection, plus documented service history, mileage, optional extras and recent MOT. CityGrip routinely instructs an independent engineer separate from the at-fault insurer's or MIB's engineer to protect against the standard undervaluation pattern. Where the vehicle is a fleet vehicle or carries finance, the finance company's interest is recorded on the V5C and the payment must be routed accordingly.
Common UK parked-car hit collision patterns
Car-park bay reverse-out clip. A driver reverses out of an adjacent bay in a supermarket or retail car park and clips the parked vehicle next to them. Damage typically to the front wing or front door of the parked vehicle and the rear corner of the reversing vehicle. The reversing driver is under the Highway Code rule 200 duty to give way and is almost always 100% at fault. Supermarket CCTV is the controlling evidence.
Kerb-side passing mirror clip. A passing vehicle clips the wing-mirror of a parked vehicle on a narrow residential street, typically a light-impact scrape. The passing driver is at fault where the parked vehicle was lawfully parked within the kerb gap and not obstructing the carriageway beyond normal expectation. A residential video-doorbell clip frequently settles the file. The pattern is highest-frequency on terraced residential streets in inner London, Birmingham B-postcodes and similar dense urban geometries.
Residential overnight hit-and-run. A vehicle parked on a residential street overnight is hit by an untraced driver. The owner finds the damage in the morning. This is the prototypical MIB Untraced Drivers' Agreement claim. Evidence depends entirely on the canvass: video doorbells on opposite houses, dashcams in neighbour vehicles parked nearby, dashcam parked-mode footage from the struck vehicle. Police ANPR records on entry and exit points of the street may recover the at-fault registration.
Commercial loading-bay manoeuvre. A delivery van or HGV manoeuvring in or out of a commercial loading bay strikes a parked car. The manoeuvring driver is at fault under Highway Code rule 200 and the duty of care owed in a confined space. Commercial-premises CCTV and the operator's tachograph or telematics record from the at-fault vehicle frequently settle liability.
High-energy stationary-vehicle impact. A vehicle leaves the carriageway at speed - typically because the driver lost control, was inattentive, or fell asleep - and strikes a parked car broadside. Damage is severe and frequently a total loss. The pattern is over-represented on long stretches of urban dual carriageway with parking permitted on the verge. Police attendance is automatic where the at-fault driver is injured or where the carriageway is partially blocked.
Limitation, date of knowledge and the Equality Act 2010 accessibility duty
Three years from the date of the accident for any personal injury claim under section 11 of the Limitation Act 1980, six years for vehicle damage and other property loss under section 2 of the same Act. Where the identity of the at-fault driver is not known at the date of the accident - the typical hit-and-run - section 14A of the Act extends the property-damage time by reference to the date on which the claimant first knew (or ought reasonably to have known) the material facts about the damage, including the identity of the defendant.
The MIB Agreements impose their own materially shorter internal deadlines. A property-only Untraced Agreement claim has a nine-month notification window from the date of the incident. The underlying police report must have been made promptly - within a short window of the incident under the current wording. These internal deadlines run regardless of the Limitation Act and override it for MIB purposes. Confirm the live wording on the published 2017 Agreement at the point of submission.
The Equality Act 2010 imposes a duty to make reasonable adjustments in any claims process for disabled claimants - alternative formats, extended deadlines where reasonably required, written-rather-than-telephonic communication for hearing-impaired claimants. The MIB and the major insurers all operate published accessibility policies. The six-month limitation period for an associated discrimination claim runs from the date of the discriminatory act.
Illustrative UK case patterns (composite, not real persons)
Manchester supermarket car-park reverse-out. An owner returns to a Tesco Extra in M22 Wythenshawe to find the offside front wing of their parked car dented. A note on the windscreen identifies the other driver, who confirms contact by phone on the same morning. The supermarket's CCTV is preserved on a written request inside the 30-day window and confirms the manoeuvre and the identity. The third-party insurer accepts liability at 100% inside three weeks under Highway Code rule 200 and the like-for-like credit-hire replacement is placed pending repair.
Birmingham B14 residential overnight hit-and-run. A vehicle parked on a B14 King's Heath residential street is hit overnight. The owner finds the damage at 07:00. No note. CityGrip canvasses video doorbells on the opposite terrace, recovers two Ring clips showing a silver Transit van leaving the street at 23:47 the previous night and submits the clips with the West Midlands Police report. ANPR records at the A435 entry to the street identify the registration. The file converts from an Untraced Agreement application to a conventional third-party claim against the van's insurer.
Cardiff commercial loading-bay clip. A car parked in a permitted bay on Westgate Street is struck by a delivery van manoeuvring out of a neighbouring commercial loading bay. The driver leaves no note. The commercial premises' CCTV is preserved inside seven days, identifies the van's livery and registration, and the operator's telematics record confirms the manoeuvre. The operator's hire-and-reward insurer accepts liability at 100% under rule 200.
Glasgow G2 untraced hit-and-run. A vehicle parked overnight on a city-centre street is struck by an untraced driver. The owner reports the collision to Police Scotland inside 24 hours and obtains an RTC reference. No CCTV recovery is possible because the surrounding premises run a 14-day retention cycle that has lapsed. CityGrip submits an application under the MIB Untraced Drivers' Agreement 2017 inside the nine-month property-claim window with the police reference, engineer's valuation and contemporaneous photographs. The MIB accepts the application and settles the property claim subject to the £400 excess.
Related UK collision and claim pages
Each linked page deepens one part of the parked-car hit claim picture. The collision types hub gives the wider 24-scenario landscape. The reversing, multi-vehicle pile-up and head-on collision pages cover the adjacent at-scene categories. The supermarket car park and hit-and-run pages address the most common locational and behavioural contexts in which a parked-car hit occurs. The non-fault and car accident hub pages give the underlying claims-management frame.
Six-step UK parked-car hit post-accident sequence
Step 1
Make the scene safe and photograph the parked position before anything moves
If you arrive to find your parked car hit, stop, set hazards if you are now in the carriageway, and photograph the scene before any vehicle is moved. Capture the position of your vehicle within the parking bay markings or the kerb gap, the damage panels on every face of the car, any debris on the carriageway, the position of any note left on the windscreen and the surrounding vehicles' registrations in case any of them are witnesses. Take a wide-angle photograph showing the road environment and a tight close-up of the damage with a time-stamped clock, shop signage or newspaper in frame to anchor the date. Avoid touching paint transfer or debris - those are physical evidence the police or engineer may want to inspect.
Step 2
Canvass for CCTV and dashcam witnesses inside the first 24 hours
Walk a 100-metre radius and identify every CCTV camera that could have a line of sight on your vehicle. Supermarket car parks, retail premises, petrol forecourts, residential video doorbells, council-operated street cameras and dashcams in vehicles parked nearby are all in scope. Knock on doors of the nearest properties and ask whether their video doorbell or dashcam was recording. Most retail and residential CCTV is overwritten on a 30-day GDPR-default rolling cycle, so send a written preservation request immediately to each premises' data controller, identifying the location, the date and the time window. CityGrip drafts the preservation request at intake.
Step 3
Report the collision to the police and obtain a Road Traffic Collision reference
Report the collision to the police through the gov.uk online road-collision reporting service, via 101 or in person at a police station. A hit-and-run report is essential - it is the gateway to any MIB Untraced Drivers' Agreement claim and it triggers an investigation that may identify the other driver from CCTV or ANPR records. Record the Road Traffic Collision (RTC) reference number on the file. Where the other driver left a windscreen note, the police should still be told because section 170 RTA 1988 requires the other driver to report the collision themselves and the cross-check confirms whether they did.
Step 4
Notify your own insurer and, where details were obtained, the third-party insurer
Notify your own insurer of the collision regardless of fault - the duty to notify under the policy wording typically requires notification inside seven days, and a failure to notify is a recognised ground on which an insurer can decline cover or refuse to support a later subrogated recovery. Where the other driver's details were obtained at the scene or recovered from CCTV, notify the third-party insurer through the askMID service to identify the policy and through the third-party insurer's claims notification line. Send the photographs, the police RTC reference and the dashcam clip with the notification. CityGrip handles the third-party insurer dialogue end-to-end so the non-fault driver is not pulled into the recovery argument.
Step 5
Make an MIB claim where the driver cannot be identified or is uninsured
Where the police investigation cannot identify the at-fault driver, prepare an application under the Motor Insurers' Bureau Untraced Drivers' Agreement 2017. The application is made on the MIB's prescribed form supported by the police RTC reference, scene photographs, the engineer's valuation, repair invoices and a witness pack where available. A property-only claim is subject to a £400 excess under the current schedule and must be notified inside the Agreement's nine-month window - verify the live figures on the MIB's published 2017 Agreement before submitting. Where the driver is identified but uninsured, the claim moves instead to the Uninsured Drivers' Agreement 2015, which has its own knowingly-uninsured-passenger exclusion at clause 8 of the post-2017 supplementary agreement.
Step 6
Instruct an independent engineer and document repair or total-loss build
Where damage is structural, where airbags have deployed or where the safety of the vehicle is unclear, instruct an independent engineer rather than relying on the at-fault insurer's or the MIB's appointed engineer. The independent inspection report sets the property-claim baseline and protects against undervaluation. For a total-loss valuation, anchor the pre-accident market value to multiple comparable adverts from Auto Trader, Cazoo and equivalent platforms on the date of inspection, plus any documented service history, optional extras and recent MOT. For repair, instruct a BS 10125 or PAS 125 accredited bodyshop and obtain the repair authority before work commences. CityGrip Accident Claims (Citygrip LTD) operates as a UK accident claim management business and works on a no-upfront-cost basis recovered from the at-fault insurer or MIB.
Ranking factors
What decides a UK parked-car hit accident claim
Six factors decide the outcome of a UK parked-car hit claim more reliably than any others. They are the scene documentation captured before the vehicle is moved, the CCTV canvass inside the GDPR 30-day default retention window, the police RTC reference, the dashcam parked-mode and surrounding-vehicle dashcam clips, the correct identification of the MIB Uninsured 2015 versus Untraced 2017 route where applicable, and the independent engineer and total-loss valuation baseline.
Scene documentation captured before the vehicle is moved
The single highest-weight evidence on a parked-car hit file is the contemporaneous photographic record taken before anything moves. The position of the vehicle within the parking bay markings, the damage panels, any debris on the carriageway and any note left on the windscreen all carry disproportionate evidential weight. A complete photo set taken within the first hour usually closes the liability debate.
Civil Procedure Rules pre-action protocol / dashcam best practice.
CCTV and video-doorbell canvass inside the GDPR 30-day window
Supermarket, retail, commercial and residential CCTV defaults to a 30-day rolling-recorder retention under the ICO's UK GDPR guidance. A written preservation request to the data controller inside the first week is the difference between recovering a registration plate (and identifying the driver) and proceeding under the MIB Untraced Drivers' Agreement.
UK GDPR / Data Protection Act 2018 / ICO CCTV guidance.
Police RTC reference number obtained and the section 170 duty cross-checked
A Road Traffic Collision reference number from West Midlands, Met, Greater Manchester or any other UK police force is the practical gateway to insurer engagement, MIB applications and any criminal investigation under section 170(4) RTA 1988 against a driver who failed to stop or report. Obtained inside 24 hours via gov.uk, 101 or in person.
Road Traffic Act 1988 s.170 / gov.uk online reporting.
Dashcam parked-mode and surrounding-vehicle dashcam clips preserved
Garmin, Nextbase, Thinkware, Viofo and BlackVue dashcams with impact-detection or time-lapse parked modes capture the moment of impact on a stationary vehicle. Surrounding vehicles' dashcams may also have captured the at-fault driver. Both must be extracted and backed up within 24 hours before the loop-record overwrites the clip.
Civil Evidence Act 1995 / PACE 1984 disclosure regime.
MIB route correctly identified - Uninsured 2015 vs Untraced 2017
Where the at-fault driver is identified but uninsured, the claim runs under the Uninsured Drivers' Agreement 2015 against the at-fault driver's notional insurer position. Where the driver cannot be identified, the claim runs under the Untraced Drivers' Agreement 2017 against the MIB directly. Naming the correct Agreement on the first letter materially shortens the process.
MIB Uninsured 2015 / MIB Untraced 2017.
Independent engineer and Cat S / N total-loss baseline anchored early
An independent engineer's report - instructed before the at-fault insurer or MIB sets a reserve - anchors the property claim. For a write-off the engineer's pre-accident market valuation must be cross-checked against multiple Auto Trader and Cazoo comparables on the inspection date. This protects against the standard MIB and insurer undervaluation pattern.
ABI Salvage Code Cat A / B / S / N / BS 10125 PAS 125.
UK parked-car hit accident FAQs
- My parked car was hit and the other driver drove off - what do I do?
- Treat it as a hit-and-run from the first minute. Photograph the scene before anything moves - the position of your vehicle within the parking bay or lane, the damage panels, any debris on the carriageway, the surrounding numberplates of vehicles that were present and any time-stamped clock or shop signage in frame. Canvass the immediate area for CCTV: supermarket car parks, commercial premises, residential video doorbells and dashcams in parked vehicles around you. Report the collision to the police on 101 or through the gov.uk online road-collision reporting service to obtain a Road Traffic Collision (RTC) reference number, notify your own insurer regardless of fault and, where the other driver cannot be identified, prepare a claim against the Motor Insurers' Bureau under the Untraced Drivers' Agreement 2017. The MIB claim must be notified inside the Agreement's strict time limit, so act quickly.
- What is the other driver legally required to do under RTA 1988 section 170?
- Section 170 of the Road Traffic Act 1988 imposes a positive duty on the driver of a vehicle involved in a reportable collision to stop. They must give their name and address, the name and address of the vehicle owner, and the vehicle's registration mark to any person reasonably requiring them. Where the collision involves injury or damage and details are not exchanged at the scene, the driver must report the collision to a constable or at a police station as soon as reasonably practicable and in any event within 24 hours. Failing to stop or failing to report is a separate criminal offence under section 170(4) - carrying penalty points, a fine and, in serious cases, disqualification or imprisonment. Leaving a windscreen note does not discharge the duty.
- Is a note left on my windscreen enough to discharge the other driver's duty?
- No. The note-on-windscreen practice is common and is, in good faith, a 'best efforts' attempt by a driver who hit a stationary vehicle with no owner present. But it does not by itself satisfy section 170. The other driver remains under the statutory duty to exchange details with any person reasonably requiring them and, where details are not exchanged at the scene, to report the collision to the police within 24 hours. A genuine note with a name, address, registration and phone number that the other driver also reports to the police is good practice; a note without a police report is not full compliance. For your purposes the practical position is the same - photograph the note, ring the number, log the call, and notify your insurer.
- What is the Motor Insurers' Bureau Untraced Drivers' Agreement 2017?
- The MIB Untraced Drivers' Agreement 2017 is the substitute compensator scheme for a UK road traffic claim where the at-fault driver cannot be identified - the classic hit-and-run case. It is the successor to the 2003 Agreement and applies to accidents on or after 1 March 2017. The Agreement is administered by the Motor Insurers' Bureau under a statutory framework that flows from EU motor-insurance directives implemented in UK law. The claim is made directly to the MIB on its untraced application form, supported by the police RTC reference, scene evidence and engineer's valuation. A vehicle-damage claim under the Agreement is subject to an excess (£400 under the current schedule - confirm on the MIB's published Agreement before submitting), and there are strict notification deadlines.
- What is the difference between the MIB Uninsured Drivers' Agreement 2015 and the Untraced Agreement 2017?
- Different schemes for different problems. The Uninsured Drivers' Agreement 2015 applies where the at-fault driver IS identified but is not insured - for example, a known driver whose policy has lapsed or who was excluded by a named-driver restriction. The Untraced Drivers' Agreement 2017 applies where the at-fault driver cannot be identified at all - the classic hit-and-run where the driver left the scene and was not traced by the police. A parked-car hit will move to the Uninsured Agreement once a registration is recovered from CCTV and the police identify the driver; it remains on the Untraced Agreement only where, despite reasonable enquiries, the driver cannot be identified. Both Agreements have specific exclusions, notification regimes and documentary requirements; the schedules and rules are published on the MIB's website.
- What is the time limit for an MIB Untraced claim notification?
- The MIB Untraced Drivers' Agreement 2017 sets strict notification windows. A property-only claim must be notified to the MIB within nine months of the incident; a personal injury claim within three years; a fatal claim within three years of the date of death. Within those outer windows the application must be made on the MIB's prescribed form, the police must have been notified within a short window of the incident (commonly within 14 days for property and five days for injury, depending on the type of claim) and reasonable enquiries to identify the at-fault driver must have been made. The exact wording of the notification clauses changes between Agreement editions, so confirm the live wording on the MIB's published 2017 Agreement before submitting.
- Will a parked-car hit affect my no-claims bonus or insurance premium?
- Two separate questions. First, your no-claims bonus: where the third-party driver is identified and their insurer accepts liability, the claim becomes a non-fault claim against your record and a properly handled accident-management file should leave your bonus intact. Where you hold no-claims protection on the policy, an isolated fault claim should not reduce the bonus stepping. Where the claim is paid by the MIB under the Untraced or Uninsured Agreement, recovery onto your insurer's recovery account is more complex and the bonus treatment depends on the policy wording. Second, your premium: any incident notification - even a non-fault one - typically increases the premium at renewal by some margin, which is a function of insurer underwriting practice not the law. The Financial Ombudsman Service has commented on this practice and complaints can be raised individually.
- How long do supermarkets and businesses keep their CCTV?
- The Information Commissioner's Office sets the default position for CCTV retention under the UK GDPR and the Data Protection Act 2018 - footage should be kept only for as long as necessary for the purpose for which it is processed. For most supermarket, retail-park and commercial-premises CCTV systems the working default is 30 days, after which the rolling-recorder overwrites the footage. Some systems retain 14 days, some retain 90 days where the operator has a documented retention policy reflecting fraud or security need. The practical lesson is that a CCTV preservation request must be sent within the first week of a parked-car hit, in writing, identifying the location, the date and time and the camera reference where known. Send to the data controller - the supermarket head office's data protection function or the on-site facilities manager.
- Is dashcam parked-mode footage admissible in a UK claim?
- Yes. Footage from a dashcam, video doorbell or any other camera in parked mode is admissible in civil proceedings as documentary evidence under the Civil Evidence Act 1995, and in criminal proceedings subject to the Criminal Procedure and Investigations Act 1996 and the police PACE 1984 disclosure regime. Modern Garmin, Nextbase, Thinkware, Viofo and BlackVue dashcams have a parked-recording or impact-detection mode that activates the camera on a sensed jolt; some models also offer time-lapse parked recording. Insurers and the MIB accept the footage where it is unedited, timestamped and supplied with a brief statement from the owner explaining provenance. The use of a personal dashcam to record a public road or car park does not by itself breach UK GDPR provided processing is for the household exemption or a clearly disclosed legitimate interest.
- Can a parked car ever be found partially at fault?
- Almost never. A stationary vehicle has no causative role in the collision in the great majority of parked-car hits - the moving vehicle controls the situation and the standard insurer apportionment is 100% against the moving vehicle. Contributory negligence becomes arguable only in a narrow class of cases: a vehicle parked on double yellow lines that obscured a junction sightline and where the obscuration contributed to the collision; a vehicle parked unlit at night on an unlit road in breach of Highway Code rule 248 and the Road Vehicles Lighting Regulations 1989; a vehicle parked in a clearway or red route in breach of TSRGD 2016 restrictions. Even in those cases the percentage attributed to the parked vehicle is normally well below 50%. Lawful parking in a marked bay or in a permitted on-street zone carries no contributory exposure.
- What evidence matters most after a parked-car hit?
- Six evidence categories carry disproportionate weight on a parked-car hit file. First, photographs of the parked position - the vehicle within the bay markings, the lane, the kerb gap - taken before the vehicle is moved. Second, time-stamped photographs of the damage panels on every face of the vehicle. Third, the dashcam parked-mode clip if fitted, extracted and backed up within 24 hours. Fourth, CCTV from any premises overlooking the parking location, requested in writing inside the GDPR 30-day default retention window. Fifth, witness statements - short, factual and dated, even a single sentence from a passing pedestrian or neighbour can settle a disputed file. Sixth, the police RTC reference number, which is the practical gateway both to insurer engagement and to any MIB claim.
- How long do I have to bring a parked-car hit claim in the UK?
- Three years from the date of the accident for any personal injury claim under section 11 of the Limitation Act 1980, and six years for vehicle damage and other property loss under section 2 of the same Act. Where the identity of the at-fault party is not known at the date of the accident, section 14A of the Limitation Act 1980 may extend the time by reference to the date of knowledge. MIB claims have their own internal deadlines, materially shorter than the statute - a property claim under the Untraced Agreement is normally nine months and notification of the underlying police report must be made promptly, normally within 14 days for property and five days for injury under the current Agreement wording. The Equality Act 2010 imposes a six-month limit for any associated discrimination claim.
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