Insurance claim woes

Soldato
Joined
27 Dec 2011
Posts
5,765
Hi all,

Looking for a bit of advice.

This morning I received a letter dated 14th Jan 2016 from Admiral insurance (my provider) explaining that they believe I was in an incident on the 28th November 2015, and that I need to contact them to provide more information.

Somewhat concerned about this, since it was news to me, I rang them up to discuss. They advised I'd rear ended a Renault Clio in Wigan. I didn't, and besides I've never been to Wigan in my life.

Once I'd gotten through to the correct person they advised me to take pictures of my car from every side, and send some bank/credit card statement info to help prove it wasn't me.

A little bit annoying, but nothing more than that at this point. The guy at Admiral wouldn't give me any info from their side, and only said I need to send the information to a particular e-mail address. Fine...

Not five minutes later he calls me back (before I'd managed to send the e-mail). Great, I'm thinking, the issue has been resolved.

Nope... They now want me to take my car to be inspected for repairs, at THEIR chosen garage, which is an hour and a half round trip for me. I advised that it wasn't a reasonable request at all, and he started to get a little annoyed with me.

I ended the conversation on the basis this wouldn't be happening, and if they could provide the same option in my town, I'd be "happy" to take it there.

Has anyone here had a similar situation? I hope this will just be resolved after one e-mail but just in case it blows into something bigger, a little advice would be appreciated.

Cheers.
 
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I would just keep saying that you have no idea what they are talking about and that you have never been to Wigan. Someone has probably got a digit on a registration number wrong or something.

I would agree with you that it is unreasonable to expect you to drive an hour and a half for them to look at it. Tell them if they want to inspect it, they are welcome to visit you at your home to look at the car.
 
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Thanks Jono, I explained this to the guy at Admiral and he continued to get more annoyed at me. It's almost like he was insinuating I was lying.

It's difficult to prove a negative, but I've sent details of my credit card bill for things in my local town, thankfully I spent money on that Saturday. Still, to me, it proves sod all with regards to their claim.

Sounds a bit dodgy to me tbh.

Glad I'm not alone. I keep thinking, perhaps it's a cloned car?

After I said I wouldn't take it to their approved body shop, he said, "You need to help us to help you."
 
Do you have any proof that you were somewhere else at the time? Maybe bank statments, receipts, or any other proof
Looks like some muppet has either cloned your plate, got a digit wrong resembling your plate or someone running some sort of scam.

I would hold your ground, they can come to you to inspect your car if they want. You haven't done anything wrong.
 
Lol?

If you were not involved, no one will have a shred of proof that it was you!

I was speechless mate, didn't know what to come back to that with?

He ended with "Have a nice weekend!", do they teach these muppets anything?

Do you have any proof that you were somewhere else at the time? Maybe bank statments, receipts, or any other proof
Looks like some muppet has either cloned your plate, got a digit wrong resembling your plate or someone running some sort of scam.

I would hold your ground, they can come to you to inspect your car if they want. You haven't done anything wrong.

I do, an Amex bill for me buying items in my local town, and the town next to me, which are very far from Wigan.

Will hold my ground as you say.
 
Sounds a bit dodgy to me tbh.

This.

I would tell them to do one - unless they are offering to pay you for your time and expenses to make the journey plus however long it takes for the inspection.

If you are sure the person contacting you is legit then ask to speak to a manager so you can complain that you are being scammed and Admiral are not helping you.
 
Admiral are *****s like this, they accused me of lying about having a modified car when I did trial quotes with Elephant to gauge the potential cost of a few mods.

Admiral decided this constituted proof I had a modified car that I lied about, demanded I get it inspected and provide a report stating it was standard.

I wrote a letter or email, forget which, saying it wasn't modified, nor would I be taking it to get inspected anywhere and if they want accuse me of lying again they ought to get more proof along with a a vague threat of reporting them somewhere.

They let it drop.

They did similar to my sister, accusing her of being in an accident, my dad got involved in that one, got quite irate, took it up the management chain and the eventual result was a written apology, a cheque and some flowers.

Awful company, won't go back to them now that I can get reasonable insurance elsewhere.
 
Agreed - tell them to provide you with any/all evidence that the other party is claiming. If this goes nowhere, speak to a manager/supervisor and tell them you will not be taking your car anywhere until such time as the information/evidence is provided to you.
 
This.

I would tell them to do one - unless they are offering to pay you for your time and expenses to make the journey plus however long it takes for the inspection.

If you are sure the person contacting you is legit then ask to speak to a manager so you can complain that you are being scammed and Admiral are not helping you.

I told him that when it evnetually comes to light it wasn't me, what sort of compensation I could expect, for time and money spent trying to rectify.

He essnetially said that it's nothing to do with him.

I'm speaking to their Twitter account to confirm authenticity, however I spoke to a few different people and I'm 99% sure it's them.
 
Admiral are *****s like this, they accused me of lying about having a modified car when I did trial quotes with Elephant to gauge the potential cost of a few mods.

Admiral decided this constituted proof I had a modified car that I lied about, demanded I get it inspected and provide a report stating it was standard.

I wrote a letter or email, forget which, saying it wasn't modified, nor would I be taking it to get inspected anywhere and if they want accuse me of lying again they ought to get more proof along with a a vague threat of reporting them somewhere.

They let it drop.

They did similar to my sister, accusing her of being in an accident, my dad got involved in that one, got quite irate, took it up the management chain and the eventual result was a written apology, a cheque and some flowers.

Awful company, won't go back to them now that I can get reasonable insurance elsewhere.

The exact thing happened to me in September mate! The guy on the phone told me today that he can see I'd sent pictures in to them last year, I said yeah, that was another joke from you guys... Accusing me I'd modded my car becasue I did an insurance quote with mods. I've also done insurance quotes on 458 Italia's, do you want make sure I'm not driving one of them instead?!

Thanks pal, it's reminded me what a bunch of jokers these guys are. Saturday morning ruined. I'm going back to bed...
 
The whole thing sounds bizarre. Certainly wouldn't be sending them anything though. Did they say they'd cancel your policy if you refused to comply?
 
I've sent a section of my credit card statement and 12 or so pictures of my car at various angles.

I also made it clear it's an 11 year old car which has covered in excess of 100,000 miles, therefore it will have some blemishes commensurate with age.

Hopefully that'll be the last of it but I've got a suspicion I'll be hearing from them again.
 
Why do insurance companies treat there clients like this? They should send an inspector out to your home to check the car over and then that should be the end of it. If you said you have never been to Wigan then it's obviously a fraudulent claim or cloned plates.
The sad thing is some retarded insurance companies actually pay out on silly claims like this even if it's nothing to do with you.
I would ask them what's the description of the driver from the other party? As I gaurantee it would not match what u look like which is then proof you were not involved!
 
Remember unfortunately if you don't help them, they will have to pay out. The 3rd party will provide witness statements and evidence of damage. Your premium will go up.

Admiral will have nothing to defend themselves on your behalf.

Crucially remember that they are an agent on your behalf. They are just covering your liabilities. You can't just ignore this or not make an effort to defend yourself. This is an accusation against you, not Admiral. They have taken it upon themselves to help you as they would eventually have to pay any award against you.

If this went to court for example, you would provide evidence you weren't in Wigan, have no matching damage with an independent mechanical report etc. and you'd be doing this out of your own pocket.

There are also many people who do get into accidents and then feign ignorance.
 
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