What the heck?

Theophany

Theophany

Theophany

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1 Sep 2010
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Just got a phone call from Aviva, who insure my car, saying my car was involved in an accident in Middlesbrough on December 21st.

Aside from the fact that I've never been to Middlesbrough in my life and, somewhat more relevantly, I was snowed in my house from December 18th-26th and was unable to move my car off my driveway, let alone get it to Middlesbrough I'm pretty sure that I wasn't involved in an accident.

The call centre monkey then had the audacity to ask if my motor "has any distinctive modifications" (of which, it does not) in what felt like an attempt to get me to trip up and admit to unreported modifications. I was semi-tempted to say "yes, there's a ****ing huge dent in the front end, what of it?"

Should I be worried about this? You hear a lot of insurance claim scams that have been pulled in recent years and thinking about it I don't have much in the way of 'proof' to back up my claim that I was not in Middlesbrough when the accident occurred. The whole thing seems very off to me, having been hit by other drivers before, I make damn sure I take down their details very clearly and verbosely so as to best ensure I can nail them to a cross when I come to claim.
 
I've no doubt that the phone call was legitimately from Aviva, the guy checked out, had all the correct details and I didn't tell him anything more than what he already knew (standard practice). It's the claim that's being made against me that stinks.
 
cochoc said:
Ring them up and ask if a call was made from Aviva to confirm it wasn't a scam before you do anything else.
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This tbh, with the amount of scamming goes on lately, it wouldn't hurt to go on the Aviva website, grab the correct number, give them a call to ensure the call legitimately came from them, then tackle the question as to why this claim was put in when clearly it wasnt your car involved.
 
Cloned plates or scam call.
Just ring aviva and ensure they have the right information from yourself for the dates given.
 
I would hazard a guess that some little oik has stuck copies of your plates onto their car then probably had a prang. Considering the accident was well over a month ago and you have only just been contacted would indicate that they may have done a runner, hence it taking a while to get hold of you.

The claimant may be doing this in good faith so I would not worry about that yet.

The claimant will need to confirm the colour etc as well which is where the claim is likely to fall down.
 
I had the same thing a year ago, got a letter saying i was in wolverhampton and that i was involved an accident, which i wasnt as i was at work. I went to the police first saying that this could be a scam or that someone had cloned my plates but they said to phone my insurance company back and say that this wasnt me and that i was at work. I did and havent heard anything back since.
 
Just got off the phone with Aviva, they say they have no record of any allegations or claims being made against my policy. Just to be safe, I went through an indemnity form with the guy to make sure that any insurers who look up my plate will instantly be told to do one because I was not in Middlesbrough when the accident occurred. Ultimately, this means Aviva will refute any claims made against me from any insurers regarding this incident.

Apparently this kind of thing isn't uncommon, but by going through with that procedure you are a lot less likely to start receiving irate invoices through the post and having letters asking why the incident was not reported.

So either somebody's trying to pull a fast one or is bloody stupid.
 
So how much did you actually confirm of what the first guy already knew? Name, address, car reg., colour, etc?
 
Similar thing happened to my dad about 15 years ago. Someone had taken a Vectra like his, cloned it's plates and decided to ram raid a Threshers.

He got a phonecall from the police informing him his car had been stolen, and it wasn't until they said they were from Humberside he twigged it couldn't be his car as he'd driven to work an hour before. Thankfully the car park where he worked was CCTVd so he had proof where he was.
 
AJK said:
So how much did you actually confirm of what the first guy already knew? Name, address, car reg., colour, etc?
Click to expand...

This is why I NEVER confirm any information when I get called. Halifax have made what turned out to be genuine calls to me in the past and I have REFUSED to confirm anything....it's just not worth it

Halifax: "Can I just check that your name is Mr cochoc"
Me: "Why are you calling me?"
Halifax: "I can't go any further without confirming some details"
Me: "Put it in a letter then."
Halifax: "Thank you, goodbye"

Job done.

I don't mind them asking me to ring them (and I always cross-check the number they give me), but I'm not even going to confirm what colour pants I'm wearing to a cold-caller! :D


doh....I just said Halifax.....:eek:
 
A phone call means nothing does it? They would send you a letter surely? I've certainly never been called by anyone in an official capacity bar Barlcays automated fraud system that asks for not details at all.
 
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