Victim of Motor Insurance Fraud

[VeryAnnoyedConsumer]

I've actually signed up here with this one case in mind and I'm actually posting on behalf of my mother as her english isn't great. However, it looks like there's enough to keep me interested in this site regardless of this situation.

 

Anyway, it all started 5 years ago - my mother was parked in stationary traffic when an elderly pedestrian who was walking on the pavement walked over to my mother's car, slammed her hand on the bonnet and started shouting. My mother spoke to the woman who was protesting that she already was on the way to her doctor due to back and knee pains, and now my mother was trying to kill her!

 

My mother insisted no such collision took place, but out of sympathy, my mother asked if she needed a lift to her doctor or any other kind of medical assistance. The lady kept refusing assistance and just kept repeating that my mother was trying to kill her and the like. My mother said to the woman that she had to go to work, and if there was nothing else that could be done, she would be leaving, and she did then leave for work.

 

We were shocked when a month or two later my mother received paperwork to say the police wanted to investigate a hit and run incident. We figured it it must have been the "incident" mentioned before, my mother fully co-operated with the (albeit seemingly basic) police enquiry and we still have the letter from the Metropolitan Police saying the case would be dropped as there was no independant evidence.

 

Five years down the line (about 2 months ago) my mother received a letter from an insurance company saying that civil proceedings were being taken against my mum and the solicitors thought she had no chance of winning the case so they recommended my mother admit liability.

 

My mother was on holiday, but when she returned two weeks later we wrote that we could not admit liablity as there had been no crash, and we also said we found it concerning a solictor was asking us to lie. (sent 1st class recorded)

 

The response we received was that we had left it too late so they had decided to pay out.

 

Now, the problem to us is that is much as it isn't our money that was given to the fraudster, my mother now had a mark on her insurance record as an accident that was her fault. Last year she had great difficulty finding inusrance due to a couple of previous crashes. That means due to this incorrect information stored by the insurance company, my mother is either likely to have to pay through the nose for this coming insurance renewal, or not be able to get insurance for a year until two accidents come off her record. This is not an option as she has to drive to work funny hour shifts.

 

We are assuming the solicitors were the legal cover provided as paid for on the policy in place at time of accident as this is the only logical explaination.

 

Problem is where to fight this - in my eyes I can see a few problems/issues.

 

1. Data protection act. If insurance want to keep on my mother's file that they paid a fraudster, fair enough, I can't see that affecting my mum's insurance, unlike what they have currently recorded.

 

2. Get the police involved against the fraudster.

 

3. The fraudster would have got no-where without what I consider either assistance or malpractise from solicitors supposed to be defending my mother. Is helping a fraudster a criminal offense?

 

4. Get the Insurance Fraud Bureau to investigate behaviour of fraudster and solicitors. (As well as look up the relevant ombudsman for solicitors/insurance)

 

5. Breach of contract on behalf of insurance company / solititors in not making any effort to defend my mother and actually siding with fraudster. (tricky to prove as we no longer have copy of terms and conditions booklet. Insurance company keep saying they will send one but then don't).

 

Sorry if these sound like random ramblings, but most consumer issues are pretty simple and clear cut to me, but this is a bit of a tricky one.

[dx100uk]

the issue here for me is how the hell do you measure 'how much' more damage this fraudster has done, bearing in mind her two previous crashes.

a very diff one to judge

 

i've also got to admit, this is not the first time i've heard of this.

 

obviously she is still insurered at present.

can you not invoke the free legal advice of the current policy to maybe investigate the fraudster to look for past scams.

might prove the case one way or another.

 

justa thought.

[Mossycat]

Anyway, it all started 5 years ago - my mother was parked in stationary traffic when an elderly pedestrian who was walking on the pavement walked over to my mother's car, slammed her hand on the bonnet and started shouting. My mother spoke to the woman who was protesting that she already was on the way to her doctor due to back and knee pains, and now my mother was trying to kill her!

 

 

 

 

My mother was on holiday, but when she returned two weeks later we wrote that we could not admit liablity as there had been no crash, and we also said we found it concerning a solictor was asking us to lie. (sent 1st class recorded)

 

The response we received was that we had left it too late so they had decided to pay out.

 

 

Problem is where to fight this - in my eyes I can see a few problems/issues.

 

1. Data protection act. If insurance want to keep on my mother's file that they paid a fraudster, fair enough, I can't see that affecting my mum's insurance, unlike what they have currently recorded.

 

2. Get the police involved against the fraudster.

 

3. The fraudster would have got no-where without what I consider either assistance or malpractise from solicitors supposed to be defending my mother. Is helping a fraudster a criminal offense?

 

4. Get the Insurance Fraud Bureau to investigate behaviour of fraudster and solicitors. (As well as look up the relevant ombudsman for solicitors/insurance)

 

5. Breach of contract on behalf of insurance company / solititors in not making any effort to defend my mother and actually siding with fraudster. (tricky to prove as we no longer have copy of terms and conditions booklet. Insurance company keep saying they will send one but then don't).

 

Sorry if these sound like random ramblings, but most consumer issues are pretty simple and clear cut to me, but this is a bit of a tricky one.

 

OK something isn't right here, firstly NO WAY would your insurers pay out for this incident UNLESS you had filled in an accident claim form 5 years ago, so first question is DID YOUR MOTHER FILL IN A CLAIM FORM TO REPORT THIS INCIDENT

 

Secondly, even if your mother was on holiday for 2 weeks no Insurer would make a payment and then claim that you took too long to reply, so can we have the rest of the story please?

 

To answer your points in order

 

1) Regardless of if the other party is a fraudster, if your insurers make a payment it could quite possible affect your mums insurance

 

2) You stated there was no independent witness, so what can the police do. If your insurers have paid out then thats NOT a police matter UNLESS you can prove a crime has been committed

 

3) Plenty of solicitors advertise 'Had an accident if you were injured we can get you compensation', unless you can prove fraud then there is nothing you can do

 

4) That's a non starter unless you have actual proof

 

5) All insurerance policies have a condition that allows the insurer to decide how best to deal with a claim, if they decide to pay out then that's not a breach of contract

 

Mossy

[hightail]

Isn't there a time limit on starting these claims? For some reason I've got 3 years in my mind unless the 'victim' is a minor and then the clock starts ticking from the day they turn 18.

[Mossycat]

Isn't there a time limit on starting these claims? For some reason I've got 3 years in my mind unless the 'victim' is a minor and then the clock starts ticking from the day they turn 18.

 

Usually that's the case but exceptions are allowed in cases where the injury (or more usually the illness) wasn't apparent.

 

I'm convinced that something isn't right here and that we haven't heard the full story

 

Mossy

[VeryAnnoyedConsumer]

I honestly have given the entire story as truthfully as I can recall - it's obvious to me that others cannot advise me(or my mother) without knowing the full situation. I will be going back to check over paperwork to ensure I have told the whole truth and not missed any details, but I am pretty confident there will be no change in what I've said. Also we did not receive a claim form from the insurers, the letter receive from solicitors when my mum was on holiday was the very first notification to us that anything was happening.

 

The three year thing sounds interesting, something for me to look up. But even so, as far as I can see, that would have only helped if we could have told the solicitors before they agreed to pay, and from their behaviour that letter would probaly not have been acted on anyway.

 

The strange thing is it feels like everyone has consipred against us (probably unlikely in reality) and we have no one person we can do anything against to get it undone.

Edited June 13, 2009 by VeryAnnoyedConsumer