Hit and Run. What Do I Do Now?
They drove off and you have no details. What you do in the next few hours decides whether there is a claim at all.
Report it to the police as soon as you can, and certainly within 24 hours. That report is what makes a claim possible.
There is a route for untraced drivers through the Motor Insurers’ Bureau, but it has strict conditions and the police report is the first of them.
The first few hours
Evidence disappears quickly here. Do these in order.
Report it to the police
Within 24 hours. Get the incident number. Without this, an untraced driver claim is very difficult.
Write down everything you remember
Any part of the registration, the make, colour, damage to their vehicle, direction of travel, the driver’s appearance. Do it now, not tomorrow.
Chase cameras immediately
Nearby shops, homes with doorbell cameras, buses, other drivers with dashcams. Most footage is overwritten within days.
What makes or breaks these claims
Reporting late
Leave it beyond 24 hours and you will be asked why. It weakens the claim and can defeat it entirely.
Losing the footage
CCTV is commonly overwritten within seven to thirty days. Every day you wait, the odds fall.
No independent evidence at all
Where nothing corroborates your account, an untraced claim becomes much harder. Damage patterns and paint transfer still help.
Happened today?
The next few hours matter more than the next few weeks. Call us and we will tell you what to chase.
If they are later traced
Partial registrations are often enough for the police to identify a vehicle, and it happens more than people expect.
If the driver is traced, the claim becomes an ordinary one against their insurer - or an uninsured driver claim if they had no cover.
Common questions
Yes, through the Motor Insurers’ Bureau untraced drivers route. It requires a police report and its conditions are strict, so act quickly.
As soon as reasonably possible, and within 24 hours for an untraced claim. Do not leave it until the next day if you can avoid it.
Very. Combined with the make, colour and location, police can often identify the vehicle from a partial plate.
Same process. Report it, check for cameras and note anything a neighbour saw.
If you do not claim on your own policy, it should not. You must still notify them of the incident.
Terms and conditions apply to all services described on this page. Free recovery, storage and replacement vehicles are provided on the basis that the charges are recovered from the at-fault party’s insurer. We will explain the terms in plain English before anything is arranged.
Before we act for you we are required to verify your identity and to carry out fraud and anti-money laundering checks. This may include checks with credit reference and fraud prevention agencies, which will leave a record on your file.
Where fraud is suspected, information may be shared with fraud prevention agencies, insurers and law enforcement. Providing false or misleading information in support of a claim may mean your claim is refused, and can be a criminal offence.