Where to start!

We have had our car insurance with GoGirl. Someone made a fraudulent claim against us saying we'd hit them with our car, when we hadn't. Their investigators came out to inspect the car, found nothing and left. That was the last we heard of it. Until last month.

Our car insurance is due for renewal, and to cut an horrendously long story short, we can't renew our insurance with our 2 years no claims bonus because of this claim.

I've told GoGirl the claim was fraudulent, but they just said that because the claim wasn't followed up it was 'settled as no-fault'. However, the claim should not have existed in the first place, and they don't seem interested in following up the fraud.

No insurance company will take our no claims bonus into consideration and say the onus is on us to prove that the incident didn't happen!

We have 5 days to renew our insurance, but the cheapest we can get is almost £800 instead of the £350 we were quoted online, all because of this so-called claim.

I was just wondering whether we had any options, apart from paying a premium for our insurance!

Choose a better Insurer?

When did the 'accident' allegedly happen?

A 'no fault' decision still means both policy holders lose 2 years NCD.

Ask Go Girl for the other driver's details/statement for consideration of legal action against him/her for fraud.

You can do something about this, but you won't be able to do it within a time limit of five days. You will have to pay the insurance. After that, if you want to take action then you can probably take a very effective action if you are prepared to go to the trouble of threatening and then probably bringing a small claims in the County Court under ICOBS.

Insurers have a duty to treat you fairly. This can be enforced in the courts. On the basis of what you say, you have been treated very unfairly.

Pay the premium and keep on the road legally. This is essential. Send the insurer an SAR so that you get a complete file of the accident report and the action which they have taken – or have not taken.

Once you get that, come back here we will help you. I would suggest that on the basis of the information you receive, that you form an argument that they have treated you unfairly and you then send them a letter before action giving them 14 days to restore your no claims bonus, to refund you any excessive premium and also to pay you compensation. I would expect that they will ignore you. Then with our help file a claim in the County Court. I would expect that within a short time will put their hands up and you will recover the money you are claiming plus the fee that you have spent on the court process.

Insurance companies are desperate to avoid and ICOBS judgement. This would be a very serious matter for them.

Start off by sending the SAR. Get it prepared and send it off on Monday. Make sure that is accompanied by cheque – not a postal order – and make sure that it is sent by next a special delivery. Keep tabs on it. They have 40 days to respond. If they don't respond then we will help you with that problem as well.

Bit confused. The claim has been settled as non fault, which implies that GoGirls underwriters have paid nothing out on this claim. It is just noted on record as nil settled non fault.

What is needed is a letter from GoGirl stating 2 years no claims or whatever level they have at renewal and a note that the claim has been closed off as non fault, nil paid out. The OP can explain to companies they approach for quotes.

If they can sort this out on Monday, then they should be able to arrange Insurance at a cost which includes still having a no claims discount.

GoGirl cannot just delete this claim off the record, as it was submitted to them. Obviously if the third party can be contacted by GoGirl or their underwriters and the third party concedes there has been a mistake, then the record can be removed. But perhaps the third party has been written to and they have not responded.

But surely if the claim is based on a fictitious story – then it shouldn't even be categorised as any kind of claim at all. Of course they would need a file reference to it but it would have to come under some other kind of heading.

But surely if the claim is based on a fictitious story – then it shouldn't even be categorised as any kind of claim at all. Of course they would need a file reference to it but it would have to come under some other kind of heading.

It has probably just been closed off as non fault, nothing paid out, with notes about the claim being possibly an error by the third party. It could just be the reg number written down wrongly.

The OP should follow this up and get the underwriters to write to the third party to clear up this mistake as soon as possible. The third party might have realised the mistake and found the correct car/insurers they had the accident with. The other possibility is an admin error with Insurers in obtaining the correct Insurers information. If this third party gave a correct reg number, but someone in claims typed in one letter wrongly on the MID database, they might end up barking at the wrong tree. Up to the OP to ensure GoGirl and the underwriters thoroughly investigate.

Well, thank you for all of the helpful responses. I feel a bit overwhelmed by it all as we've had no problems with insurance, so had no idea how to proceed.

After a discussion with my husband, we feel we may know who is responsible for the claim, but this is pure speculation. We had a very minor bump about 2 and a half years ago after an upsetting hospital visit...my husband wasn't really paying attention and scuffed a car as he was trying to park. The woman we scraped was unbelievably abusive, screaming and swearing and threatening all kinds, trying to say we'd tried to drive off after the bump! She was a nightmare, not caring that we had our kids in the car who could hear everything.

We gave her our details and heard a few weeks later that she'd made a claim against us, and we are hoping that is the end of it. However, not long afterwards, there was a pizza delivery to our address that we hadn't ordered, and then this bogus claim. My husband and I have never had problems with anyone before this, as we are peaceful and very easy-going; this is the only person we can think of that would do this, but as I said, it's speculation and we may be clutching at straws!

I phoned GoGirl, who still have on file that we hit a parked car, but their claims department is closed over the weekend, so I can't request any details regarding this claim until Monday. I will certainly request all information regarding this claim.

I know we're going to have to pay the higher insurance until we get this sorted, but it means instead of pulling out a couple of hundred that we'd had put aside, we're now going to have to take out the monthly payments.

If the incident you describe did lead to the claim, the Insurer may have recorded it as a 'no fault' claim if the claim is less than the excess for claimant.

I assume husband did not report incident to his Insurer, for fear of losing his NCD.

Or, the other driver had another accident and used the OPs details.

Insurers rarely investigate minor incidents fully, but make the easier decisions.

No, that was a much earlier incident which was settled by our insurance company at the time.

the insurance co's are playing pass the parcel and the music has stopped and you are left holding the problem. They will claim that even if the claim is false or the other person's fault there will be something about your driving style that has caused this claim so you are a greater risk than someone who hasnt appeared on the radar. Usually totla bull but in the grand scheme of things it is about them keeping their backsides free from shrapnel more than providing you a service