Car Insurance claim after 2 months?

[DarrenTeesside]

Hi each and all, I have not posted for a while but I have a bit of a dilemma with the following

 

About 2 months ago I was on my way to work ( My partner was with me in the car )

And I went in to the back of a car ( barely ) as it slammed on

I was furious and pointed for the driver to pull in, she did

Before I could give the driver a piece of my mind I then realised it was a young girl who worked at the same place as me

I simply asked are you OK she replied yes, that was the end of it I thought

we both continued to drive to work, and I never heard another thing UNTIL TODAY

She is no longer employed at my place of work and I have now recieved an E-Mail from my insurance company

stating a claim has been bade against me and asking for details etc etc etc

there was no damage to her car as I barely touched it

she had a passenger with her, and as stated I had a passenger with me

where do I stand on this one? she is just looking for a free holiday clearly

my blood is boiling regarding this, any advice will be greatly received

[SuperVillain]

All you can do is tell the truth.

 

Validate the claim with your insurers and tell them it was a low speed impact, that there was no damage apparent at the scene (if you took photos at the time it would be handy), and there were no apparent injuries at the scene. Advise that you worked with the third party and she never requested your insurance details from you directly.

 

I would query with your insurers what the third party's claim is for - e.g. vehicle damage, hire, personal injury etc

 

I presume you won't be disputing liability for the accident.

[unclebulgaria67]

B*gger all you can do about this, apart from advise your Insurers what happened and let them deal with it. I suspect it will be a personal injury claim. Perhaps she now needs the money, which is making her neck feel a bit sore !

 

You will probably end up with a fault claim on your policy, as your Insurers are very likely to pay out to the third party.

 

Really annoying, but jumping up and down complaining about it, is unlikely to make any difference. Your Insurers will have processes in place to examine the third parties claim, as closely as they can. but they don't reject claims very often, unless they are certain it is bogus.

[DarrenTeesside]

I think I will just say she reversed in to me

[Mwynci]

Pot kettle black .

[SuperVillain]

I think I will just say she reversed in to me

 

You'll open up a whole can of worms which you don't really want squirming around in your lap.

 

Look at it this way. If your insurance company contest the claim on that basis (highly unlikely) then they'll probably try and settle 50/50 first of all. If that doesn't work and they don't concede full liability (which they probably will do) then it may eventually end up in court where you will be asked to give evidence under oath that that's what happened.

 

She'll be adamant that you drove into her and that she didn't reverse in the middle, and a judge is likely to believe strong witness testimony as I found to my detriment yesterday!

 

So after all that a judge is likely to decide on the balance of probabilities (i.e. he has to be 51% or more sure after hearing the evidence) that she wouldn't have just reversed into you as you claim.

[DarrenTeesside]

I have just been to the area of the accident and only just noticed that there is Two lanes at the junction of the mini roundabout, she was in the right lane I was in the left ( behind a car ) she has clearly cut across in to my lane ( The left lane ) as she wanted to go left, also she claims the incidint took place at 945pm when it was actually 1050 pm, I am sure she had been drinking to be honest, yes I went in to the back of her but am I still to blame?

[renegadeimp]

IMO its a 50/50 claim. You are both to blame. Especially given your arguments on this thread.

[DarrenTeesside]

Can I just add further, today I received an E-Mail from Armour Intelligence Ltd, acting on behalf of Octagon Insurance, which after Goggling TURN OUT TO BE

A company that specializes in the Detection and Deterrence of fraudulent activity, now I am really confused about this one :/ I think when I took out the policy I was unemployed but am now working

And I never told them but does this amount to Fraud? what a bloody mine field this is becoming :/ any advice further?

[SuperVillain]

What did the email say? I doubt if you were being investigated by a company they would email you.

[DarrenTeesside]

Hi SuperVillain - The Email said as follows

 

"Dear Mr ****,

 

 

 

I am writing to you from Armour Intelligence Ltd, on behalf of Octagon Insurance, the current insurer of your BMW 330, VRN: ******.

 

 

 

We are trying to contact you so that we can ascertain the circumstances surrounding the traffic incident which occurred at 2145hrs on 31 August 2013 in *****.

 

Octagon has received a claim from a third party regarding the above incident, and has a legal responsibility to respond to any claim made regarding an insured person. Therefore need to speak to you regarding the incident before any formal response is made.

 

 

 

Could you please either respond to this email, call or text me on XXXXXXX so that we can commence the required paperwork.

 

 

 

Your urgent attention to this matter is greatly appreciated,

 

Not a nasty letter but still is this common place

[unclebulgaria67]

Pretty standard. Octagon are quite a small company who operate from offices near Bristol. Because of the size of their operation, they will outsource much of their work. Because this accident claim has been made a couple of months after the incident and probably includes personal injuries, I would think Octagon have major suspicions it is fraudulent.

 

You have nothing to worry about. It is just a case of providing information as accurate as you can.

[DarrenTeesside]

Hi, I just had a conversation with the lovely woman at Armour Intelligence who informed me that, they are not claiming for any damage to her car, nor is the driver claiming anything

Only The passenger is claiming whiplash ( strange ) I suspect the reason the driver is not claiming whiplash is because she has probably had a recent claim for whiplash

it does strike me as very odd, my girlfriend was in the car with me who is pregnant and both her and I received no whiplash, I got the feeling that the lady from Amour Intelligence did not believe her story, I still can't see how I can be to blame for me rear ending her car because she left her designated lane in to mine without indicating at 1050 pm at night.