Odd one I'd like your opinions/experience on.

[imago]

Nothing to do with electrics by the way.

So, I picked up a voicemail yesterday. Lady at a company said that "one of your vans has hit one of our cars (Friday AM) and just driven off. We have reported it to the Police, so can you ring me."

I only have one van, and I was driving it on Friday. I didn't have so much as a near miss let alone hit anything, so it's total BS. The van is a bit grubby at the moment, and I've gone round it having a very close look. There's not a single mark where the dirt has been rubbed off, nor any fresh dent, scratch or scrape. Add in that the van is sign written with the company name and phone numbers, 7' tall, 18' long and white, and fully insured why on earth would I be stupid enough to try and drive off?

I've had a word with a couple of people and the genral consensus seems to be that people will try it on with company vehicles as due to the high excess they have they will frequently just pay up a few hundred to end the problem. I have no intention of doing that, in fact quite the opposite as the sheer cheek of it has me pretty wound up.

I'm told that under no circumstances should I ring them back, or talk to them if they ring again. I should do nothing unless/until a letter arrives from plod. If one does I respond to it with a written statement that it's BS. That should end that side of it (hopefully). If I get aletter from plod I should inform my insurance making it clear that the claim is fraudulent and that any correspondence they recieve should be saved for future legal action. At which point they other party will likely fade away as they don't have a leg to stand on.

So have any of you experienced anything like this? Or heard of any such cases? Got advice or comments to offer? Any input will be welcome.

Hopefully by the time it's all sorted I will have some contact information so that I can pop round for a chat.

 

[poppypiesdad]

Take pictures of your van , before washing and after so you have a base line against anything they say , also notify your insurance company that you suspect a fraud is being targeted at you . Then leave it alone , it wil either go away or they will investigate , remember pictures can tell a thousand words . Do nothing, say nothing let the insurance companies handle it , dont offer a settlement to keep the insurance companies out of it , dont admit liability . you pay premiums for a reason.

This happened to me in the town about 6 months ago , was going to the post office and reversed into a parking space , got out and the tube in the car behind jumps out saying that I hit his car , not a mark on his car or bumper , and ive got a tow bar on the back of my van , went straight to the local cop shop and told them , apparently it his 5th shunt whilst parking , and there investigating a fraud .


Jamie

 

[Knobhead]

Had a claim made against me when I was running my photographic business. The guy perused it, he ended up charged with fraud and the court awarded me all expenses.

 

[sparkydude]

I had a funny one a couple of months ago , Was driving out of birmingham in rush hour up the Aston expressway, slow crawling traffic as always , Dozy blonde bint in front of me in an 09 audi soft top . Was keeping pace and all going fine . I could see that traffic was stopping so came to a halt . She pulled off as traffic moved so she was right up the arse of the one infront, i had left about an 8ft gap as she pulled away . At this point for thoise who are not aware of the road , it is like a gradual slope as the road goes under several overpasses. Sitting there in no hurry to catch up the gap i notice that she is rolling backwards towards me slowly , keep watching hoping she will realise and brake, but no she is gett ing closer , so as to warn her i beeped my horn, just after which she hit me !!. Great i thought . Stop engine get out and we both look at the damage, nothing to the van and the dirt rubbed off her bumper. I said 'No harm done shall we leave it at that ' She then pipes up 'Well the paint is damaged and after all you did hit me' !!!! At which point i gently asked her what sort of a person would warn someone they are going to crash into them by beeping the horn prior to actually crashing into them !!!!, She muttered under her breath got into her car and sped off . I tell you some people in fancy cars who look down their noses at us mere van drivers need to be taken down a peg or two sometimes Geez.

Nick

 

[High Tower]

I know the road well!! It's notorious for shunts and bumps!

 

[Paul.M]

Great advice from poppypiesdad, call your insurance company today. I know its Sunday but call the accident 24/7 number, they will not mind if it saves them paying out a claim for damage and may be whiplash.

Whilst this is still fresh in your head, write down your movements for the Friday. What time did you leave the house, every place you drove to and approx times, did you buy anything from a wholesaler or petrol station, do you have any parking tickets, what customers did you visit and what times and will they be able to write a letter to confirm you were there at that time?

If the person (that is trying it on imho) gives your insurance company a time that you hit their car, your time line with any proof may be the deciding factor in all of this. If they say you hit them at 09:00am but you can provide a receipt from the wholesalers you were in about the same time and the other end of town, case closed.

Call your insurance company today and get the ball rolling. They have investigators these days just for claims like this. Good luck with it.

 

[Mark_Burgess]

I personally would go to the plod and report it as possible fraud, with your dirty van, photograph it as said but DO NOT contact your insurance company, some insurance companies will log a note on your file that you have queried an accident assume you have had one and decided not to go through the insurance company, in turn your premium will go up. This was on either Watch Dog or RipOff Briton.

At this point there is no need to speak to your insurance company, but take your message to the police, especially if you have proof you were not even in that area at that time, also go back there and see if there is any CCTV and try to get a copy ASAP, before it is recorded over.

 

[Paul.M]

Taken from the Insurance Fraud Bureau web site.

"What can I do if I suspect someone I know is involved in or has been a victim of Insurance Fraud?

If you suspect that you have been involved in an induced or staged accident, then please contact your insurer in the first instance.*Please also click here to see our advice for drivers, which gives indicators as to whether or not fraud may have taken place."

Here's some useful links for you.


FAQs - Insurance Fraud Bureau

Association of British Insurers - ABI Home Page

You'll have to go through all the options on the ABI site, I wasn't able to copy the link to the page regarding motor fraud.

 

[Paul.M]

Mark your correct in what you say, all insurance companies give claim information to a national data base. Any ongoing/outstanding claim that had not been resolved will be classed as a fault claim until an outcome has been decided. This will affect a renewal quote but after the claim against you has been dropped or classed as a none fault claim, a premium rebate will be given. Just ask the company for two quotes, one with a fault claim and one without.

 

[telectrix]

i think the " go to plod " is a good idea, but get plod to check your van and sign a paper to say that there is no damage.

 

[imago]

Thanks for the comments and advice gents. I won't contact the insurance or plod just yet as all I have is a voicemail, which it's possible could be nothing more than a wrong number or a wind up. They didn't give any details, or mention my company name. If anything more happens/comes of it then I will contact plod and the insurance, and I've taken pics of the van just in case.

 

[baldelectrician]

I would send the caller a 'official complaint form'
Make sure the form states that this is for information gathering purposes and not in any way an admission of liability.
Give info on the form for the potential claimant to fill in that states you will check van locations against tracker information if required.

Get photos of the van and make sure you go to the plod and get a crime refernce number

 

[1shortcircuit]

I once had to call my insurance company to find out why I had received a letter stating that my premium had shot through the roof. They informed me that it was because there had been a claim made against me for an incident that I was involved in on the Motorway. I explained that the details they had received were not true and the very unhelpful person on the other end did not believe me. Anyway I requested the details of the solicitor that had contacted my insurance company and they said that my registration number was not the one that they had supplied to my insurance company in a letter. They unofficially told me that they were after a Mr suchnsuch who drives a oogimaflippy with registration BLAH BLAH BLAH

I contacted my insurance company again letting them know that there had been a mistake and I could not believe how unhelpful they were being and STILL didn't believe me. In the end I had to call the solicitor back and explain this, the solicitor was not impressed in the slightest and THEY contacted my insurance company and set them straight.

I guess it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realise that I did not renew my policy with this company again.

I would advise that you contact your insurance company in the first instance and put them straight on the matter and I would only discuss it further with the Police or a Solicitor.

:thumbsup

 

[1shortcircuit]

I would send the caller a 'official complaint form'
Make sure the form states that this is for information gathering purposes and not in any way an admission of liability.
Give info on the form for the potential claimant to fill in that states you will check van locations against tracker information if required.

Get photos of the van and make sure you go to the plod and get a crime refernce number

I wouldn't encourage any dealings directly with the "Claimant" because they may choose to not receive the letter stating your points and say that it was handed to them on accepting liability.

DO NOT DEAL WITH THE PERSON THAT CONTACTED YOU, Read the small print in your insurance policy as it will state exactly what to do :thumbsup

 

[Marvo]

I'm not sure why there's such a debate. If the other person is committing a crime or possibly trying to commit one then surely it's the job of the police to investigate.

 

[cbw]

Im with the go to the police plan!

 

[GT1]

Mate I am the "plod"...!
(full time cop, part time spark)

Ring it through and have it noted at the very least. If they choose not to come out and look at it, then fair enough, and to be honest I doubt whether there will be a spare resource to come to you in time to make it worthwhile.
However make sure they take your details, your van details, and the phone number that rang you.
Let them know your ringing just to lodge the point that you haven't been in a bump and that your van is ready for inspection, should it be necessary, and that some scammer may be targeting you.
Then just come away with an incident number to refer to in case it raises it's head again.
No point doing it further down the line.

 

[Paul.M]

Thanks for the comments and advice gents. I won't contact the insurance or plod just yet as all I have is a voicemail, which it's possible could be nothing more than a wrong number or a wind up. They didn't give any details, or mention my company name. If anything more happens/comes of it then I will contact plod and the insurance, and I've taken pics of the van just in case.

Imago this is only my personal statement coming from experience of being a customer service advicer and accounts personal for Direct Line some 15 years ago (yes lads I have many strings to my bow). I was the one on the end of the big red phone saying if you were going to get a pay out or not according to the information that you provided at the time of the quote. I also used to sign off/approve the cheques for pay outs to third parties. Some of these cases were very hard to deal with, especially when an accident resulted in death/s. Try having a conversation with a bereaved parent telling them they are only entitled to £50k as per the policy. That was the hardest part of the job with the exception of reading the accident reports.


In your case Imago silence to your insurance company is the worst thing you can do. Every day that goes by is another day that they have against you. Call them asap and they will send their experts (just like us in the electrical industry) to investigate the third parties accusation.

If you did have a collusion and driven away, why didn't they phone the police because it is an offence to drive away from the scene of an accident and this alone would be an ace card in their hand. I wonder why they didn't call the cops?

I'm sure your van has a mobile/24/7 tel number on it as you've already said. Accident happened on the Friday, you were contacted on the Saturday? Why is that?

I would love to know the word for word voicemail that you received, I bet it only gave minor details. Bet it didn't give a time, street name or the vehicle that you suppositly hit.

Reporting and evidence is key at this moment in time.



You may think I'm talking BS but I know what I'm on about. It's very difficult for me to write my posts from a phone. But I think I've given enough advice to get one of us lot out of the crap.

 

[imago]

I'm not sure why there's such a debate. If the other person is committing a crime or possibly trying to commit one then surely it's the job of the police to investigate.

Ah, but you're forgetting the involvement of insurance companies and the "where there's blame there's a claim" culture.

 

[imago]

Paul, you're advice is much appreciated.

The phone message says that they have contacted the police, which is fine by me as I have nothing to hide. It doesn't give details of the supposed collision though. However, one interesting development is that I checked the phone number and it's a local company. A very large local company, which explains the "one of your vehicles hit one of our vehicles" comment.

That changes things considerably IMHO. The only thing I can think of to explain it is one of the sales team or some such has damaged a company car and doesn't fancy facing the music. Sees my van and thinks of a way out of it by playing one company off against another.

So tomorrow I will as you advise speak to my insurance company, explain the situation and see what's what. If the other company ring again I'll explain my position to them as it seems likely that they are equally in the dark. I can't believe that a company that size would be interested in insurance fraud for a few hundred quid. They have a turn over in the tens of millions.