Car bumper scratch in supermarket car park. - Antos

So I think I scratched my front bumper onto the back bumper of another car whilst going into a car parking space at Tesco yesterday, wasn't aware at the time I just thought it was tight while I was going into the space so I came back a bit then went into the space, popped into Tesco and then left.

Noticed today that I had blue pain scratched onto my bumper, nothing major and easily wiped off and left with few tiny whitish scapes which you can't really notice. I'm thinking it was from the car next to the space where I drove into.

Being the honest person I am, I reported it to police today online as don't want anything coming back to bite me, I'd be happy to pay for any damage to the other person's car if they get in touch with the police.

I've seen loads of threads on here with exactly the same issue, lot of conflicting advice to the people making the posts so just thought I'd give my experience of what happened to me.

5 minutes after submitting the report online I get an email from the 'RTC department' at my local police force stating that they had reviewed the report and have closed it in accordance with their force collision policy which states that they do not investigate collisions in public/private car parks.

So just for anyone else looking up info in future my post is out there and that's my experience of the matter!

Edited by Antos on 20/02/2023 at 16:03

Car bumper scratch in supermarket car park. - Xileno

Very honest of you and thank you for the account.

Car bumper scratch in supermarket car park. - bathtub tom
in accordance with their force collision policy which states that they do not investigate collisions in public/private car parks.

That's quite a bit different to when my daughter had her nearly new car hit by an uninsured driver in a supermarket car park and in my opinion quite remiss of them. What about a serious fatal, accident?

Car bumper scratch in supermarket car park. - Bromptonaut
in accordance with their force collision policy which states that they do not investigate collisions in public/private car parks.

That's quite a bit different to when my daughter had her nearly new car hit by an uninsured driver in a supermarket car park and in my opinion quite remiss of them. What about a serious fatal, accident?

I suspect that the policy relates to minor bumps like that reported by the OP and in practice, in the absence of serious damage or illegality, would also apply on the roads.

Obviously if there's a body or legal issues such as lack of insurance different considerations will apply.

Car bumper scratch in supermarket car park. - alan1302
in accordance with their force collision policy which states that they do not investigate collisions in public/private car parks.

That's quite a bit different to when my daughter had her nearly new car hit by an uninsured driver in a supermarket car park and in my opinion quite remiss of them. What about a serious fatal, accident?

They would investigate a fatal accident I'm sure.

Do you want the police to investigate a case like this?

Car bumper scratch in supermarket car park. - Brit_in_Germany

Reporting it to the Tesco store might help more than reporting to the police though.

Car bumper scratch in supermarket car park. - Andrew-T

If your account is accurate, bumper met bumper and the collision was trivial. As that is what bumpers are for, and neither car was significantly damaged, I would have ignored the incident and perhaps done a bit of touch-up when I got home. Definitely not worth involving anyone in 'authority', especially as one can guess the probable outcome.

Most cars will have acquired small scars in their first few years, usually referred to as 'supermarket dings'.

Edited by Andrew-T on 21/02/2023 at 09:48

Car bumper scratch in supermarket car park. - KasjuszMag

spam deleted

Edited by Xileno on 27/03/2023 at 13:51

Car bumper scratch in supermarket car park. - Gibbo_Wirral

I remember a time when bumpers were there to protect a car from damage. They'd accumulate dings, scratches and bangs over time and then you just put a fresh one on.

Now they're huge plastic items basically an extension of the main car, cost a fortune and incredibly difficult to obtain cheaply.

Car bumper scratch in supermarket car park. - skidpan

I remember a time when bumpers were there to protect a car from damage. They'd accumulate dings, scratches and bangs over time and then you just put a fresh one on.

Now they're huge plastic items basically an extension of the main car, cost a fortune and incredibly difficult to obtain cheaply.

Its called progress. The "bumpers" we see today are merely cosmetic, the real bumper is hidden behind and made of very hi-tensile metal which is bolted to the cars main structure. Its all part of the cars crash protection equipment. Cars with the "bumpers" you refer to would simply fold up in a crash, the flimsy metal bumpers held on with a couple of bolts would have done nothing. In most cases the bolts simply snapped.

Car bumper scratch in supermarket car park. - Xileno

In the 70s my family ran a SAAB 99 Combi something or other with huge rubber bumpers. Well they seemed huge at the time compared to the chrome flimsy things other cars had.