Car Insurance Claim

[Charlie36]

I was involved in an "accident" a couple of years ago whereby I literally "bumped" the vehicle infront, hardly any damage was caused but I did give my name. There were no witnesses, no-one was hurt and no police etc called. I cannot remember if I had insurance, I did contact who I thought it was with but they have no record. I have been receiving letters from MIB and a debt collection agency demanding in the region of couple of thousand for repairs to the vehicle. I did send them an email stating that I believe the claim to be fraudulent etc etc as I have read on this site previously. They have now responded with a letter stating that they had written to me a couple of years ago (I have never seen these letters - though they have now enclosed copies) and that they are completely satisfied I was involved in the accident and was at fault and cannot find a valid insurance policy, they passed the file to the recovery department to pursue the monies paid out. They are re-instructing Close Credit now. How can they prove that, (1) I was at the scene, and (2) that the damage did total the cost they are saying when there was hardly any damage.

[unclebulgaria67]

If you don't think you were involved in this accident, send them a letter of denial by recorded delivery asking for proof. It would be up to them to provide evidence that you were involved in the accident.

 

DON'T IGNORE, as you will end up being taken to court. Send the letter.

 

In the meantime see if you can find out who you were Insured with at the time the alleged accident took place. Check bank/credit card records to see if you can find having made a payment to Insurers. From the payment record, you should be able to trace the policy.

[Mwynci]

What do you mean cannot remember if you had insurance? is this a habit?

You were involved in the accident, you have said so in the opening. If you are looking to argue the damage etc, it's all a bit late in the day as the MIB have got involved.

Now the TP's claim may be dodgy, but for your part your not being that transparent either.

Apologies for coming across as harsh, in my opinion you need to think hard if you can agree that you were involved, if so negotiate a reasonalbe settlement proposal if you don't have the insurance to back you up.

[Charlie36]

No it is not a habit Mywnci, I didnt have the vehicle for very long and the insurance company I thought I had insurance with has no record of it!! There was no clear visible damage to either vehicle to warrant the amount they are claiming, thats why I use the term "accident" very lightly. I am not paying out for something that they cannot prove I caused major damage to.

[Cardiff Devil]

So they apparently sent letters years ago but are only now chasing it up? Sounds highly suspect.

 

Agreed with the insurance thing though, I don't see how you can not be sure if you were insured or not. You must have old insurance paperwork kicking about.

[Mwynci]

enough, you can also use MID to trace the policy, the MIB would have probably checked this already.

You are not battling the third party anymore, your battle is now with the MIB who have in their professional opinion had the third party claim documented and presented to them, any suggestion of fraud is now too late, the third party for their part have won that bit.

You need to prove to the MIB that the damage was not consistent, not them prove that you caused the damage, if there is documentation to suggest they have been in touch, it will be viewed that you have had your chance, did nothing, on that basis the third party's story was the believed story against the argument of ....nothing. Therefore the MIB went ahead and settled on the best possible terms, which were the third party's terms. The MIB can only do so much chasing before giving up, otherwise they would be a pointless organisation. Once the monies have been paid, they want it back.

It's a long shot, but did you take photo's of the vehicle after the incident, or when you sold it keep any sort of receipt stating there was no damage.

As mentioned before I really think you are fighting a loosing battle, others here may think otherwise, I am very pessimistic though.

I do wish you good luck if you are genuinely being stiffed here.

[unclebulgaria67]

No it is not a habit Mywnci, I didnt have the vehicle for very long and the insurance company I thought I had insurance with has no record of it!! There was no clear visible damage to either vehicle to warrant the amount they are claiming, thats why I use the term "accident" very lightly. I am not paying out for something that they cannot prove I caused major damage to.

 

If I were in this position, I would send them a letter of denial by recorded delivery but headed 'without prejudice', asking them to prove their allegation as you cannot remember any accident.

 

They would then have to review what evidence they have, to decide whether and how to pursue this.

 

But check your records to see if you csn find out who you may have been paying Insurance premiums to, as you will need to contact them to advise of the situation.

[Charlie36]

Not everybody keeps every single piece of paperwork that they gain in their life, what more can I do than phone the insurance company to be told they have no record???

 

Mwynci, they have now sent me copies of letters they are claiming to have sent previously but I have honestly never seen them before, i didnt take photos or anything, there was hardly any damage at all, thats why I am surprised at the amount they are trying to claim. There was no damage to my vehicle whatsoever. I sold the vehicle the same year.

[Cinammon]

I've kept every single insurance certificate I've ever had for every car I've ever owned just in case something like this ever happened to me.

[Mwynci]

Charlie, my last post wasn't supposed to start "enough", it was supposed to say "fair enough"sorry if that came across as rude.

 

I do understand your predicament, and yes not everybody keeps the documents, the insurance industry has been using the Motor Insurance Databse for some time now, unless you have a motor trade policy or fleet policy there's little reason why it wouldn't be on there. If you have either of these it would be reasonable to expect full records are kept. The MIB will have records of all efforts they have made to obtain this.

 

You have to convince the MIB that you are the victim here, where right now you are being viewed as the uninsured driver who, hit the third party vehicle causing damage and injury, who then ignored any correspondence.

[Charlie36]

Do the MID keep records that far back or is it just current insurance? If I sold the vehicle years back would it tell me that I had insurance at that time or if the vehicle has insurance now with the new owner?? After reading a few posts in the legal section there are a number of people in the same boat. Am I not innocent until proven guilty? I just dont see how the extent of the repairs would have been caused by my bumping into the vehicle and not even being able to see any damage, how can they prove it that many years back? I feel like someone is trying to make more money out of it than it was, and at my expense.

[Mwynci]

MID goes back 10 years (ish, could be a couple more or less), it's only been really fully updated in the last 4-5. It will record the insurance at the time.

Innocent until proven guilty, the court (if it went that far) will base this on balance of probabilities, from what you've stated so far, it's far in the other sides favour.

Agree the repairs could easily be inflated, but how do you prove that now when the third party would have had to document it fully before being considered by the MIB, they won't just deal on someones say so, they will need estimates, engineers report etc. without anyone to challenge that they have to assume all ok.

[Charlie36]

That is the issue I have found with a lot of people on this forum, they did not have the chance to defend/challenge themselves, as others have have been told they have been sent forms etc that they too had not received by the MIB. I never received anything previously from MIB either, no forms, nothing and others on here have had their case closed by the MIB because of this. Perhaps I should post this in the legal section or can this be moved by admin to the legal section?

[unclebulgaria67]

That is the issue I have found with a lot of people on this forum, they did not have the chance to defend/challenge themselves, as others have have been told they have been sent forms etc that they too had not received by the MIB. I never received anything previously from MIB either, no forms, nothing and others on here have had their case closed by the MIB because of this. Perhaps I should post this in the legal section or can this be moved by admin to the legal section?

 

I really don't understand why you are being so scatty about this. The MIB may have issued letters before about this, but does that really matter ? Yes it would do if they had already taken this to court and there is an outstanding CCJ. If there is no CCJ, then the MIB still have to prove you liable. The MIB would have written to the address where the car was registered with DVLA.

 

The advice stands that you should deny the allegation that has been made and ask them to prove their allegation, by providing evidence. You need to establish whether they have any evidence that your car was involved in the accident. If they only have the evidence of the third party, without any independent witnesses, photos, CCTV etc, then they are just on a fishing trip hoping that you trip up and admit to the accident.

[Mwynci]

It's not really a fishing trip if the op admits to being involved in the incident and giving their details at the scene.

Sorry to be pedantic, but if the MIB have paid out, someone needs to pay the bill, not me or my insurer.

I'm not sure what side I'm playing for on this post. I'll not say any more.

[unclebulgaria67]

Mwynci

 

Uninsured drivers are a problem, but so are fraudulent/inflated claims.

 

You can only really go on what the OP has said about this and also in regard to the MIB what many others have posted. The MIB appear to chase up claims many years after the event which may be reasonable, but claim to have written before. Also it appears that the MIB are paying claims without involving all parties in an accident and then suddenly invoicing the driver believed to be at fault.

 

Hence the advice to ask the MIB to prove their allegation, rather than just admit to having an accident, but just complaining about the inflated amount they have paid. If you just admit to the accident and fault, they will just give you x no. of days to pay up or you will be taken to court.