Ambulance chasers

Scort

Scort

Scort

Soldato
Joined
28 Feb 2006
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No longer riding an Italian
Evening gents.

Looking for a bit of advice really - the misses was involved in a car accident about a month ago, her fault, as she ran into the back of someone who hesitated at a roundabout.

Anyway, the guy in the other car got out and said he was fine, they exchanged details and he was off, my wife was left stranded on a dual carriageway as her car wouldn't move; but thankfully a breakdown van was behind her and helped shift her car.

Today, two letters arrived from a 'law firm', one on behalf of the blokes wife (not in the car at the time) and the other on behalf of the bloke who was driving... Add to this, both letters claim there were a total of 5 passengers in the car!

Now, unfortunately my wife forgot basic guidelines and didn't get any witness details from the breakdown guy, who she tells me saw the accident and the guy - there's a slim chance that we can call to ask if they have records of vans in the area, but she's not 100% on the company... so we could be calling quite a few.

Obviously she cannot prove that it was only the guy driving, but where does she stand, anyone had this before? It looks like the other party have fallen for the lucrative offer from an ambulance chaser here and are bulling up their story.

She's on the blower to her insurers now, so hopefully they can assist, if not, what do we face GD?

Thank you.
 
Was the accident around the morning/afternoon rush hour? If the passengers were work colleagues and were paying the driver money for lifts this may not be covered in the policy. I might be wrong plus it'll be difficult to prove.

Hopefully your insurance is wise to this type of fraud.

Also if it's your wife's word against the other driver how does he prove the other passengers were in the car? Are they allowed to act as a witness for each other? And were there 5 passengers plus the driver? Was it an MPV?
 
Find guy on facebook/twitter find wife see if she posted any status updates around the time of the accident. Be pretty hard to be in the car and somewhere else.

And a non GD detective/not creepy version just tell your insurer what's going on and let them fight it. Pretty sure that's their job.

Still horrible situation hopefully they get done.
 
Why would you care.

Its not gonna make a single bit of difference to you or ur missus. A as far as ur concerned a claim is a claim u less anyone died obv. Tell the insurance company the truth and let them deal with it

Your/her insurance will go up and thats it
 
Mynight said:
Find guy on facebook/twitter find wife see if she posted any status updates around the time of the accident. Be pretty hard to be in the car and somewhere else.
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Good idea.

Would you be able to get a list of people in the car claiming injury?
 
NoobCannon said:
Why would you care.

Its not gonna make a single bit of difference to you or ur missus. A as far as ur concerned a claim is a claim u less anyone died obv. Tell the insurance company the truth and let them deal with it

Your/her insurance will go up and thats it
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This

Those insurers make it their business to not pay out more than they have to. If you have legal cover and stuff, then there is no issue.
 
Mynight said:
And a non GD detective/not creepy version just tell your insurer what's going on and let them fight it. Pretty sure that's their job.
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Unfortunately, their job is in the business of making money. In cases that look even remotely difficult, they prefer to just settle and assign 50/50 blame, this obviously increases your premium and scraps your no claim. That's why it's vital to have dash cams and what not now, no one is looking out for your best interests except yourself.
 
I'm sure I got asked at renewal the cost of the claim years back. I always thought a £1k claim wouldn't put my insurance up as much as If I'd written off 10 Supercars at the same time.
 
Id writeback to them and say "5 you say...Well my dashcam only shows one person in the vehicle are you sure your writing to the correct person"
 
mattyg said:
Id right back to them and say "5 you say...Well my dashcam only shows one person in the vehicle are you sure your writing to the correct person"
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Much better idea than my checking social media. Although I wonder if there would be any implications for lying there (assuming they even come back after it).
benjii said:
Unfortunately, their job is in the business of making money. In cases that look even remotely difficult, they prefer to just settle and assign 50/50 blame, this obviously increases your premium and scraps your no claim. That's why it's vital to have dash cams and what not now, no one is looking out for your best interests except yourself.
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That's true but in this case she is at fault just the details of the claim are fraudulent. I imagine they'd fight those just to keep down the amount they'll have to pay out.

Either way the premiums are going up.
 
mattyg said:
Id writeback to them and say "5 you say...Well my dashcam only shows one person in the vehicle are you sure your writing to the correct person"
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Excellent idea.

Mynight said:
Much better idea than my checking social media. Although I wonder if there would be any implications for lying there (assuming they even come back after it).
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If challenged on it, keep bluffing until the very last minute then just claim you took it out of the car and lost it. :p
 
Thekwango said:
Excellent idea.



If challenged on it, keep bluffing until the very last minute then just claim you took it out of the car and lost it. :p
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Even if you went to court you could stand up and say sorry my dad used the SD card in his camera this morning.

Not that it would get that far. The insurers would right to them asking if they would like to ammend their claim as they have footage from a dash cam showing only one occupant. Even if they dont actually have it in their hands they may go on your say so.
 
NoobCannon said:
Why would you care.

Its not gonna make a single bit of difference to you or ur missus. A as far as ur concerned a claim is a claim u less anyone died obv. Tell the insurance company the truth and let them deal with it

Your/her insurance will go up and thats it
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As a home owner, and in no way versed in law - I care because I have no idea what to expect :confused: Would we be left up a creek without a paddle, facing legal bills... I don't know, hence posting here; as GD has some very clued up people, who may have insight.

Apologies you had to read my post, but thank you for the input, and hopefully you're (sorry 'ur') correct.
 
mattyg said:
Id writeback to them and say "5 you say...Well my dashcam only shows one person in the vehicle are you sure your writing to the correct person"
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Not a bad shout - the letter is also addressed to Chippenham Cambridgeshire, we actually live in Chippenham Wiltshire.... Wonder if that invalidates the letter?

Edit: wonder if its worth posting both letters back marked 'not at this address', considering they have the wrong county?
 
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Thanks for all the replies too guys, amazed not to have had a suggestion to back up on their letter box yet.... :D
 
Scort said:
Not a bad shout - the letter is also addressed to Chippenham Cambridgeshire, we actually live in Chippenham Wiltshire.... Wonder if that invalidates the letter?
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Nope - you've received it. And don't make up a dashcam video or anything else.
 
We'll leave it to the insurers, I found the guy and his business, but we won't go contacting him - or making up the dashcam story.

The wife is getting responses from the AA and RAC though; be great if they provided a witness statement...
 
Yeh just lie about dashcam footage "way too go :confused:"

Just let your insurance company deal with it all, that's what you pay them for
 
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