A tale of Insurance woes and dishonesty.

[haganap]

Funsters, take care out there, don't fall in to my trap, it's a bit of a Karma tale but one worth sharing.

A few months ago, some angry pissed off young lady swerved around me at a petrol pump whilst I was getting LPG and was coming back from paying. I got in my MH and instead of waiting, thought, sod it I will make that. I didn't, my rear end clipped her car causing a few scratches to her 10 year old fiesta. So light was the impact I never heard it until whilst waiting to move out teh garage a wild banshy of a women was banging on my window ffing and blinding. I obviously stopped, her first words were "I am insured you know" I said it's fine, calm down, come off the ceiling and we will sort it. I swapped details with her and she said she will get some quotes to repair and send me the bill. I said I would be happy to sort, by this time we were friends having used the haggers charm on said lady. I said seeing as the damage is so minor, I would rather just sort for her. I even offered to help her find someone. FFW 14 weeks, she never made any contact, disappeared off the face of the earth not even wanting free money? I suspect, she wasn't insured and the possibility of me going to my insurers and uncovering this was too much for her. Result, unresolved claim, no damage to my van at all.

FFW to December 10th.
Im in Buxton, stationary at a junction, a women in her 50s in a Micra, with steamed up windows, in very bad weather was driving towards me, she didn't bother to turn the steering wheel until the last minute and clipped my MH. She stopped and I pulled up in front of her. My first words, "are you ok?" yes yes I'm so sorry she said. I was just a bit stressed with the bad weather, have I done much damage? My MH was covered in snow on the frond end it was freezing cold, we exchanged details and I said because you are so cold, get back in your car, I'll have a look at it when I arrive at the campsite and if there is any damage I will let you know. She said she would rather not go through the insurance if possible. When arriving on site, I had a look and there is minor damage, scratching and some painting to be done. Someone local said about £185 to repair so not too bad.
I then texted said women, no reply.
I then texted again, (see attached text, second one asked her to please respond).
Still no reply.
I therefore sent a letter 3 days ago recorded delivery asking her to either pay up or provide the details of her insurance company.

Today I received a letter from her insurers accusing me of harassment, and they have informed her if I make contact again to go to the police. Fuming, I responded to the letter (email) and rang the insurers who apologized for the way they had worded the letter but stated that she was denying all knowledge and suggesting she was not at fault for the accident. This now means the scenario would be that I have to pursue the matter through my own insurers with very little evidence. The only outcome will be knock for knock leaving me to foot the bill. the horrible thing is a motorist stopped to be a witness but she said, no its ok, it's my fault, so he drove off.

So note to self and other funsters.

1) always always write down what you should do in an event of an accident and do not venture from it no matter how nice the person is or how they present themselves.
2) Get statements from any witnesses present and contact details even if said culprit admits everything
3) Get photos!!! as many as you can, at the scene, If I would have done so life would be so much easier.
4) Get a dash cam!! the better it is the easier it will be.
5) Take insurance details at the scene.
6) Don't be nice like me, people will do anything they can to get out of something. Be firm and factual.


stay safe out there funsters, a lot of T**TS out there.

 

[makems]

We had a similar situation to your first tale Paul.
trying to reverse out of of a very tight parking spot in the very small dentist’s car park we VERY slightly touched another patient’s mini. I had a look but couldn’t see any mark on our car or the mini
I went back into the dentist and asked everybody waiting if it was their car but it wasn’t so I waited until a patient emerged and yes, it was her car.
we went to have a look at her car and she spotted that a trim edge on the bottom of the rear valance was loose.
We swapped details, took photos and she said she would get some quotes. i got an email a day latr saying she had sent photos to a garage who thought approx £180 but would need to See the car which she would do next day.
never heard from her again!
perhaps the trim just clipped back on and no work was required? maybe she couldn’t be bothered? Who knows?
its been over 3 months now.

 

[Just smiffy]

I rubbed a car causing a blemish on a rear wing that a bit of t-cut would polish out while reversing out of a restaurant car park in Slovenia, went in the restaurant but no one owned up to whose car it was so left a note on it with my phone number…. Got a message a few hours later that loads of damage to car and wanted €500 to fix it, I offered him €100 but he said he’ll call the police and insurance.. never heard from him again…

 

[Googlebot]

I once skidded on ice, very slowly hit the back of the car in front. Which was Mom and kids on way to school.

No damage to either vehicle. Gave her all my details anyway.

Husband rings me late that night claiming they all had whiplash and what was I going to do about it as the car had extensive damage as well.

I told him to ring his insurance, I had taken loads of photos on scene and the speed I hit wouldn’t have caused any injury in the slightest.

Never heard anything again. He was just trying it on.

Can only agree with the advice, take photos, use witnesses and get a dash cam. It always seems tempting to go outside the insurance, but that’s what you pay for and it’s their problem to prove or deny any claim whatsoever.

 

[Jim]

A good idea is to make sure that the friendly chat and details swap is done at your van with the door open. I did this a few months ago in my Lanny, and my dash cam picked up every word.

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[The Wino]

I had a coming together with a car as I reversed out of a parking space on a retail park years ago. I thought at the time it was my fault but later realised we probably both reversed out of opposite sides at the same time. We swapped details and I heard nothing for ages then got a letter from my insurance claiming for dammage on every side of the other car. I suspect it was a lease car and they were trying to claim for tarting it up before the end of the lease. I spoke to a lady at my insurance company and she said she'd sort it out I never heard any more of it.

 

[Spidey]

My husband had one in a company car. Slow moving traffic just nudged the car in front. He talked to the driver agreed no damage. Then a week later the company he worked came and said that thr driver had been contacted about an accident and said my husband didn’t stop. He wanted personal injury and damage to the bumber. My husband explained what happened. The company said they would sort it. Lesson learned, photos even when nothing has happened!

 

[TDub49]

Funsters, take care out there, don't fall in to my trap, it's a bit of a Karma tale but one worth sharing.

A few months ago, some angry pissed off young lady swerved around me at a petrol pump whilst I was getting LPG and was coming back from paying. I got in my MH and instead of waiting, thought, sod it I will make that. I didn't, my rear end clipped her car causing a few scratches to her 10 year old fiesta. So light was the impact I never heard it until whilst waiting to move out teh garage a wild banshy of a women was banging on my window ffing and blinding. I obviously stopped, her first words were "I am insured you know" I said it's fine, calm down, come off the ceiling and we will sort it. I swapped details with her and she said she will get some quotes to repair and send me the bill. I said I would be happy to sort, by this time we were friends having used the haggers charm on said lady. I said seeing as the damage is so minor, I would rather just sort for her. I even offered to help her find someone. FFW 14 weeks, she never made any contact, disappeared off the face of the earth not even wanting free money? I suspect, she wasn't insured and the possibility of me going to my insurers and uncovering this was too much for her. Result, unresolved claim, no damage to my van at all.

FFW to December 10th.
Im in Buxton, stationary at a junction, a women in her 50s in a Micra, with steamed up windows, in very bad weather was driving towards me, she didn't bother to turn the steering wheel until the last minute and clipped my MH. She stopped and I pulled up in front of her. My first words, "are you ok?" yes yes I'm so sorry she said. I was just a bit stressed with the bad weather, have I done much damage? My MH was covered in snow on the frond end it was freezing cold, we exchanged details and I said because you are so cold, get back in your car, I'll have a look at it when I arrive at the campsite and if there is any damage I will let you know. She said she would rather not go through the insurance if possible. When arriving on site, I had a look and there is minor damage, scratching and some painting to be done. Someone local said about £185 to repair so not too bad.
I then texted said women, no reply.
I then texted again, (see attached text, second one asked her to please respond).
Still no reply.
I therefore sent a letter 3 days ago recorded delivery asking her to either pay up or provide the details of her insurance company.

Today I received a letter from her insurers accusing me of harassment, and they have informed her if I make contact again to go to the police. Fuming, I responded to the letter (email) and rang the insurers who apologized for the way they had worded the letter but stated that she was denying all knowledge and suggesting she was not at fault for the accident. This now means the scenario would be that I have to pursue the matter through my own insurers with very little evidence. The only outcome will be knock for knock leaving me to foot the bill. the horrible thing is a motorist stopped to be a witness but she said, no its ok, it's my fault, so he drove off.

So note to self and other funsters.

1) always always write down what you should do in an event of an accident and do not venture from it no matter how nice the person is or how they present themselves.
2) Get statements from any witnesses present and contact details even if said culprit admits everything
3) Get photos!!! as many as you can, at the scene, If I would have done so life would be so much easier.
4) Get a dash cam!! the better it is the easier it will be.
5) Take insurance details at the scene.
6) Don't be nice like me, people will do anything they can to get out of something. Be firm and factual.


stay safe out there funsters, a lot of T**TS out there.

Sound advice indeed.

 

[EuroTrotters]

Thanks for sharing your troubles, very good advice.

Similar to your first incident, I clipped Hitler’s brothers motorhome on an Stellplatz in Köln. His wife was screaming like a nut job too. Demanding cash. I offered to exchange insurance details (their van needed my paint scrape polishing off the rear light).

Hitler junior insisted on calling the police. PC Shipman arrived (his surname really was shipman). I was fined for causing the damage, €80 from memory.

 

[OutTheOffice]

One lesson from me, is to be very sparing with what you share with your insurance company. About 18 months ago, a motorcyclist clipped the front of my Leon when he pulled back in after overtaking me, then he made off, which is off course an offence. There was damage to my wing, so I reported it to both the Police and to Admiral. In the event a local body shop quoted £480 to sort it out, my excess was £1000 so I told Admiral I did not want to pursue a claim, end of story. BUT when the renewal quotes came through my premium for my 2 cars and the van went up by over £600. Called Admiral to ask why, to be told it was due to the incident with the motorbike, despite it being not my fault, and no claim made they said I was now more likely to have an accident in the next 12 months that was my fault, I fail to see any connection in this assertion and went elsewhere.

Learning point for me is tell the insurer as little as possible as they will use it as an excuse to rack up your premium.

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[Barryh]

One lesson from me, is to be very sparing with what you share with your insurance company. About 18 months ago, a motorcyclist clipped the front of my Leon when he pulled back in after overtaking me, then he made off, which is off course an offence. There was damage to my wing, so I reported it to both the Police and to Admiral. In the event a local body shop quoted £480 to sort it out, my excess was £1000 so I told Admiral I did not want to pursue a claim, end of story. BUT when the renewal quotes came through my premium for my 2 cars and the van went up by over £600. Called Admiral to ask why, to be told it was due to the incident with the motorbike, despite it being not my fault, and no claim made they said I was now more likely to have an accident in the next 12 months that was my fault, I fail to see any connection in this assertion and went elsewhere.

Learning point for me is tell the insurer as little as possible as they will use it as an excuse to rack up your premium.

Agree with that. A few years ago our motorhome was scraped by a car in a garage whilst I was filing up. Bloke in the car swore he’d not touched the van despite it having his paintwork on it. I took photos and he drove off after photos and exchanging details. In the end a very helpful Todds Leisure at Preston polished it out FOC, so no need for an insurance claim. However I suffered increased premiums for the next 5 years on 3 vehicles and all on a no fault, no claim, no cost “accident”.

 

[Jev88]

Don't be afraid to take multiple pictures and ALWAYS grab a witness even if friendly.
I had owned our old RV for precisely 35 minutes and pulled into first garage for extra fuel.
Older lady reversed from shopping spaces commonly found at big petrol stations nowadays and I kid you not reversed 20 metres backwards and crunched my front right side light..... I nearly had a heart attack as I was on the other side with fuel pump running and nearly dropped it as she hit me....

Marched into garage and swapped details and she freely admitted guilt in front of cashier who also gave me shop owner details if I needed CCTV.

Sourced replacement light from RV specialist at £55 and txt 3rd party. £105 arrived in my account within 5 minutes and a txt to say thanks for sorting it myself and £50 inconvenience.
All happy ending without any solicitors and legal people taking a cut. However, she never asked me for anything in writing to say I received the money and that closed the matter. I could easily have then called insurance and pushed a claim through on top.
Neighbour had a similar experience hitting a work van some years ago. Paid up cash privately and then two weeks later had solicitor letter from 3rd party van insurers starting a claim. He had no proof of handing over cash!!!

Don't underestimate "shock" effects in an incident like this. You can make poor decisions.

My current company make us carry forms in glovebox for both parties to complete and hopefully makes sure we aren't left open to abuse from the other driver.

 

[Abgs]

I carry these accident claim statement forms in my vehicles in a variety of languages depending on where I'm heading. I used to have a vehicle insured in France and it was a requirement to carry these forms and complete if an accident was likely to lead to a claim.

Not had to use them as yet though!

 

[BikerGraham]

Had a woman reverse into my stationary car a number of years ago in a car park. Admitted everything at the time and was really nice about it.
Went through insurance as my front bumper was badly damaged. Her older car with metal bumpers had no damage.
Repair went through and then I found out she had told the insurance company I drove into the back of her. As no witness statements I couldn’t prove anything. So next few years my premium was increased as it was classed as my fault and cost accident.

Since then, always take photos and get written statements from as many as possible. No matter how nice people sen to be. Their insurance company won’t be.

Had someone reverse into my stationary parked car a few years ago. He then drove off.
Police weren’t interested.
After a bit of detective work and asking neighbours about visitors, he came back to admit the crash a few days later. He lived locally as it turned out.
All got sorted out with his insurance company but they asked me about the time delay in making the claim.
I told them they need to talk to their customer as only he can answer why he just drove off.
Would love to have been a fly on the wall for that conversation.

 

[Spriddler]

One filthy wet night my son had a van driver behind him hustling and hooting his way through traffic. The van eventually overtook him but at some temporary lights the van driver got impatient and reversed in order to do a 'U' turn, straight into my son, knocking him off and damaging the bike.
My son's insurance company said that the van driver claimed that my son skidded into the back of his van so they were considering my son to be at fault.
Fortunately my son's helmet camera had captured the driver saying the immortal words: "Sorry mate I didn't see you".

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[Howard B]

Had an incident about 12 years ago where I was waiting to turn right into a side road. There was a car also waiting to turn right out of the side road. When the oncoming traffic cleared, the car in the junction proceed to turn ( should have given way to me) and hit me on the drivers door area. She accepted responsibility and we swapped details. When I called my insurers the next morning, the other driver claimed I had hit her. The subsequent tooing and frowing took about 18 months to sort out costing me a lot of time and a few hundred ££. It was eventually settled in my favour the day before we were due in court. However my insurance premiums were loaded for 5 years after., which I reckon cost me @ £1000 extra on my premiums.
I have had cameras in all my vehicles since.( Car, Bike and Camper).

 

[gus-lopez]

This.

https://cartraveldocs.com/

as per Abgs post #13. each has to sign & agree on each others forms showing schematics//what happened. requirement here.
If you don't you've already more or less lost.
expect 3 hours on the side of the road.

 

[SpeedyDux]

It can get worse; other insurers can refuse to quote, so you get stuck with your old insurer who will rinse you for several years.

Makes you ponder the possibility of illegal cartels exchanging information and sharing blacklists.

 

[Realist]

Similar issue with me last year.

Drove into a parking spot in Halfords, clipped side of a car by accident, no driver around so left details with Halfords staff.

A few hours later Jesus you think I committed murder, the text messages I had was way OTT slander, swearing.

Anyway a few weeks later hardly any damage to the car but a £1200 bill on my insurance.

World gone mad.

 

[Lenny HB]

I carry these accident claim statement forms in my vehicles in a variety of languages depending on where I'm heading. I used to have a vehicle insured in France and it was a requirement to carry these forms and complete if an accident was likely to lead to a claim.

Not had to use them as yet though!

There is a phone app for it now "e-accident"

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[Tonks]

There is a phone app for it now "e-accident"

Downloaded but it arrived in a foreign language with no obvious way to switch to English.
When I had a company car we had accident forms in the car which had to be completed in the event of one occurring.

 

[Lenny HB]

Downloaded but it arrived in a foreign language with no obvious way to switch to English.
When I had a company car we had accident forms in the car which had to be completed in the event of one occurring.

Mine is in English but I just went into it and got through the initial screen then it said the Accident Statement is not available in your country. So maybe it will work when abroad, I'm sure it's been OK in the past maybe something to do with Bx.

 

[scotzsue]

DIL, last day at work was taken out on a roundabout. Other driver was charged found guilty and fined licence endorsed and her insurance was still trying to deny liability. DILs car had ended upside down with her suspended, loads of witnesses too. She and babe were fine, didn't make any whiplash/injury shock claims/ Were later told that the claim would have been settled sooner if they had done. So much for hating claim culture.

 

[Chris]

I had a coming together with a pair of right oiks about 5 years ago.

I was on my way to pick my daughter up from school and they were coming in the other direction and there were parked cars on both sides of the road.

Being arrogant they decided that the road was theirs and that I should give way. Being slightly arrogant myself I decided that wasn’t going to happen.

There was a coming together but nothing much so I drove on only for the oiks to do a u turn and them chase after me. I pulled up outside my daughters school and they pulled in from of me police style so that I couldn’t escape. I got out and they both started ranting at me so I ranted back and said i wanted their insurance details but that I was going to collect my daughter first and we could then deal with it.

I went and got my daughter but when i got back to my car the chavs had gone probably because they didn’t have insurance.

The accident was my fault and the damage to their car was much worse than I expected it to be.

 

[lorger]

Unfortunately not everyone is as genuine as the first seem, we’ve had two incidents where the other person has tried to pull a fast one.
About 30 years ago Lorraine was long past her test and she hit another car while reversing out of a space, she was quite upset and didn’t know what to do. She popped into the shop whose car park it was, the manager came out looked at the car and said not to worry as only a scratch, just leave your details with me and on the windscreen.
We didn’t hear anything for I’ve 3 months, then one night had a knock at the door with this woman claiming we had wrecked her car, after asking why she took so long to come I had a look and the door was totally mangled, Lorraine said she hadn’t done that. After arguing a bit I offered to 50\50 if she would get a quote plus a quote from someone I knew. She came back with a quote of £190 my mate said he could do it for £70, I told her £150 so she gave me £75 which I gave to my mate

A second time a young girl reversed into the front of our week old car while Lorraine and her mum where sitting eating their lunch, the girl apologised and gave all her details and said it was her dads car. I called her dad about an hour later and her dad denied all knowledge and offer to smash me if I called again, my insurance company sorted the car and sent him several letters asking for the cost which he ignored. They sent a final letter telling him if they didn’t hear from him it would be going court and if he lost his insurance company wouldn’t be responsible. He accepted full responsibility and told his insurance company, being the arse I am I then called and ask if he still wanted to smash me, he hung up

On a positive end a lorry hit Sophie’s car while at uni in Edinburgh, the driver genuinely didn’t realise he had hit her. We called the company and they were great, they checked their truck cameras and with in 3 hours agreed to fix it and the transport manager sent Sophie a box of chocolates to apologise.

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[Rapido925M]

I taught my wife to drive in our Morris Traveller. Reversing out between two parked cars at 90deg to a wall, she did as instructed and watched over her shoulder. Unfortunately she turned the wheel too early and our solid metal bumper caught a door and rose diagonally across it, etching a deep groove. We both got out of the driver’s side, as the car was at a bit of an angle, to survey the damage . The owner was in his vehicle and generously said he would mend it himself for £5 IF I allowed her to drive forward then complete the reverse manoeuvre herself. Successfully done!

A few months later I was driving to work on packed ice: obviously I knew that road well and could anticipate problems. Round a tight left hand bend then into a tight right hand bend only to see a taxi driver with his wheels turned left but his vehicle coming straight on. He smashed into the centre of the front, destroying radiator, bonnet, cross member etc. He admitted his guilt on strange roads and asked for me not to call the police as they were busy and he would lose his licence. His company would cover all my costs. I gave him time to deliver his passenger and return to the depot but when I called they blamed me for the accident and said that they would be claiming for loss of earnings as well as physical damage. By then the police weren’t interested.
Fortunately I was able to borrow a car, return to the scene of the accident and take photos of broken glass, coolant on the ice etc all on my side of the road. I was also able to track down his passenger who provided a detailed description of what happened and passed everything on to my insurance company and to the police. They visited the taxi company only to be told that the driver had disappeared without leaving an address.
Eventually the insurance paid me for 6 weeks of car hire and declared the car to be a write off worth £250. HOWEVER, as I’d only paid £170 for the car, that was the value I had quoted so that was what I got. Since then I’ve always overvalued my vehicles.

Gordon

 

[Spriddler]

In nearly 60 years of driving my only fault accident was 25 years ago. I had crawled at about 10mph behind another car several times around the island in the middle of a small square in central London looking for a parking space to become vacant. At the moment that my circuit brought me facing into the sun it made me sneeze and shut my eyes for a second just as the driver in front spotted a car leaving and he stopped dead. I didn't hit his car hard but did some damage. He was the Chancellor of Coventry university and wasn't happy as he had just 20 mins previously collected the brand new Jag.

 

[Googlebot]

It’s amazing the lengths insurance companies and claims Managers will go to recoup costs.

At work in a brand new Ambulance Response car, it was a week old and very smart indeed, a BMW X5.

I had responded to a serious RTC and the helicopter was also sent. The poor chap was very injured so I asked for the aircraft to land. It did in a nearby factory yard which was empty. The aircrew sorted him out and off they went in the Ambulance as the hospital was close.

Of course by now all the locals were out and entering the car park to see the aircraft. I parked the car across the entrance to block it so the aircraft could lift safely. It lifted and as is standard they reverse out the way they came in. The down wash is always strong and the gate to the yard was caught in it. It was a massive metal thing and would have killed a pedestrian. Thankfully or not, it bounced right off the side of my shiny new BMW X5. :-(

It cost 2k by the time the reflective stuff, graphics and paintwork had been done. The insurance form was interesting.

We have our own claims Manager as we have a huge fleet. He successfully claimed the repair cost off the company as they hadn’t secured the gate for the weekend and left it loose.

 

[Graham Page]

Agree with that. A few years ago our motorhome was scraped by a car in a garage whilst I was filing up. Bloke in the car swore he’d not touched the van despite it having his paintwork on it. I took photos and he drove off after photos and exchanging details. In the end a very helpful Todds Leisure at Preston polished it out FOC, so no need for an insurance claim. However I suffered increased premiums for the next 5 years on 3 vehicles and all on a no fault, no claim, no cost “accident”.

My experience too. A few years ago my motorhome got hit in its secure storage spot by a caravan driving out and it did £1800.00 worth of damage to the front of the Hymer. The driver reported it to the office and they contacted me. No issue, he agreed his fault and made a claim through his Caravan & Motorhome Club policy. They contacted me and said due to the value of the claim I/they would need to report it to my insurance company. I decided I would do it rather than them. My insurance then spoke to theirs, obviously no fault on my part as I wasn’t even there, but all my vehicle insurance policies went up (all different insurance companies) for future years so it cost me about £1500.00 in premiums until it all fell off the record 5 years later. Once its registered on the national insurance database you are a target regardless of any fault. Same thing happened years later when my Volvo V90 was rear ended whilst stationary in traffic - No fault claim and fully paid by third parties insurance without issue!

 

[Jim]

My insurance then spoke to theirs, obviously no fault on my part as I wasn’t even there, but all my vehicle insurance policies went up (all different insurance companies) for future years so it cost me about £1500.00 in premiums until it all fell off the record 5 years later.

If we were buying insurance from an organised crime gang you might expect them to treat their customers like that.

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