INSURANCE SCAM? Post Reply

[Harveytabitha]

The night before last I noticed a car parked bumper to bumper with mine outside our house. Thought it was a little odd but got distracted and thought nothing more about it. Yesterday the owner of the car left a note on our windscreen claiming that we had scratched his bumper trying to park and he wanted to claim on our insurance!! The photos which he says prove it just show the scratches on his car and the two cars bumper to bumper. We know we didn't do it but are we liable? Is it our word against his?

[mmb]

It is your word against his but don't let him win!
You should contact your insurer and let them know before he makes a claim.
You should also report the fraud to https://www.insurancefraudbureau.org/ and https://www.ifig.org/ to prevent them to attempt it again.

[Scatcat]

Be careful with this one... a similar thing happened to me in a supermarket car park 3 years ago, the first I knew about it was that I was being arrested for a hit and run and failing to leave my details at an accident scene...Allegedly I had hit a car parked in the car park and driven off, I pleaded not guilty as I was not even at the supermarket and my car had no damage. Long story short I went to court twice to plead not guilty but was found guilty and now hold 5 points on my license for "not stopping after an accident" and "failing to give my particulars" and a criminal record. I had a solicitor and everything but I could not prove I didn't do it.

Hopefully your neighbour won't escalate it this much, but just be mindful because some people will go to any lengths to cause trouble for someone else. My advice would be take photos immediately of your car showing no damage, where and how it was parked and the date and time, the photographs were taken. Also ask your neighbour to provide evidence it was you, ask him/her for video evidence, photographic evidence, witness evidence, I doubt they will have this and may back off when you show you will not this matter lightly and just "pay up".
I stupidly didn't take any photos of my car to prove it had no damage (I did ask the police to come and inspect my vehicle but they refused).

[Denwand]

Good advice here but Scatcat - you say you couldn't prove you didn't do it .

How on earth did they prove you did do it?

It seems very odd that you got a criminal record just on the word of somebody else???

My aunt had a nasty letter claiming she had damaged a car in a Petworth car park (she lives in Truro ) it seems that the witness/owner had got the registration wrong AA01ABC instead of AA01ABD (Aunts Honda) ... when my aunt investigated she found that AA01ABC was another Honda ( a 4x4 mothing like my Aunt's saloom) registered in ..... Petworth!

[Denwand]

Also...

Measure the hight of the scratches on his bumper with a tape measure and then measure the height of your bumper where it sticks out the most.

If there is more than a 3cm difference - show your neighbour to prove (with lack of damage to your car ) to proove it was not you.


Also ask him why he thinks you did it - if he says he saw you do it then ask him why you did not come out and confront you with it then... and if he didn't see you how does he think it was you?

[BFW]

Again from experience.... speak to your insurance company, let them know what your concerns are, and let them deal with it !

[Scatcat]

Denwand... When questioned, I told the police I did shop at the supermarket regularly and that I was the only lady driver that ever drove my car. Apparently a car with a similar number plate (it was a private plate) was seen hitting a vehicle, so hard it moved 2 foot, then moved the car to somewhere else, my solicitor asked the witness if I was the person he'd seen exiting the car and he said "I can't remember"!! She also asked him why he hadn't confronted the driver but he said he felt intimidated. It was so far fetched it was laughable.
Apparently the courts did not want to find me guilty but felt they had to because I admitted that I was the only lady driver of the car!! Honestly the whole thing was/is unbelievable.

[Denwand]

Scatcat thanks for the explanation, that is terrible!

[Mum2Monkey]

I had a similar issue where I received a letter from my insurance company, asking me about £5k of damage I had supposedly caused to another car on a particular date almost a year previously. Their insurance company had made a claim to mine.......

The only reason I knew what I had been doing a year previously was because it was on my own calendar. Even then, my insurance company made me have a couple of phone interviews where I think they were trying to suss out if I was lying. They then said maybe I had caused an accident without realising it. The other insurance company refused to reveal any details of the accident other than date and vague location, so it was really hard. My insurance company tried to persuade me to settle as they said maybe I just hadn't realised that I had caused a problem, although as I was 100 miles away, I couldn't see how that could be the case! When I refused, they told me they would settle on my behalf (but I would still pay excess and no claims) if they thought they had a low chance of winning the case. Eventually it all just went away as the other insurance company just didn't seem to want the hassle of perusing it.

So I guess, just be aware that your own insurance company may not be as willing to fight your corner as you'd hope and may choose to settle regardless.

If you have legal expenses with your house insurance then you can maybe use that in this situation. That is where I was going next.

Good luck

[Samalawl]

I came out of the gym a few months back and a man confronted me about my car being bumper to bumper with his car. I know for a fact I hadn't left it like that as did my partner who was with me. We suspect he rolled his car forward and took pictures to blame me for a scratch that was already existent. He was very intimidating claiming he was selling that car that day and I had to pay up... When we refused and offered to give my details to take it further instead he backed down very quickly!! I suspect this was an insurance scam that failed!!

[juliantenniscoach]

As if by magic................yesterday I received a cold call from an "insurance investigation" company. The caller, female with a heavy South African accent was probing as to whether I "might have caused or been involved in any incident, that caused damage to an (unnamed) car". My reply was abrupt in a South London accent. I haven't had a call back!

[Caferacer]

In my experience handing everything to your own insurance company thinking that they will fight on your behalf is the very last thing you should do.

My experience echoes that of "Mum2Monkey" when she wrote "My insurance company tried to persuade me to settle" and then tried to settle (ie admit liability on her behalf against her wishes)!!!

Ny wife had an accident 3 years ago - the insurance company admitted her liability within hours ... without telling my wife who expressly denied it with witnesses to prove her innocence.

It took us months to get then to retract, apoligise and then refund us stating my wife was blameless.

My theory is that insurance assessors and negotiators have punishing targets to clear claims as soon as possible and are only interested in rubber stamping minor claims (ie up to £5000) then and getting them off their desks
as soon as possible.

The fact that it leads to their innocent customer (ie you) a) loosing their no claims bonus and b) being recorded as a higher risk as they have a accident that was their "fault " on record for the next 5 years... that's how much they protect their customers interests ...incredible.

My wifes premium (for a 1500cc Mercedes A Class went from £315 a year to £1980 a year before we asserted ourselves and got it put right!

[juliantenniscoach]

I'm still confused as to the original post. Did you park against this car or not? If not then why did you give the other party any details? You have no obligation to. It's not "exchanging particulars" as there was no accident.

And Scatkat, again we're you in a supermarket car park? In that case it's not covered by the Road Traffic Act and thus becomes a civil matter. What exactly was the offence/allegation? Either way it wouldn't be a recordable offence so you wouldn't have a criminal record. Unless that is you were charged with a fraud based offence and had your photo/fingerprints/dna taken?

As Ross says, don't leave it to your insurance company because it's not cost effective for them to incur work hours acting on your behalf for a minor claim.

[EHMorris]

Julian - how do you think they got your number?

[EHMorris]

ignore that -I had you confused with OP!