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A fraudulent claim is being made against me for damage that I couldn't possibly have caused - what do I do?
Nine months ago, I was sitting in standstill traffic looking out of my driver's side window when I felt a bump. My car had made contact with the car in front of me. I feel like I would have noticed if my car was moving and the road I was on was a slight incline and the car in front may have rolled back into me, but I didn’t see. Myself and the driver in front, as well as her passenger, got out and inspected our vehicles. There was no damage. The driver of the car in front agreed all was fine, but I decided to take a couple of pictures and her phone number just in case. She took no details from me and she took no photographs. I got back in my car and thought nothing more of it. I then got a call a few days later from my insurance saying a claim was being made against me. The claim was in a different name to the name the driver gave me. Cutting a long story short, we eventually discovered the person who was driving was the named driver on the policy, though when my insurer first contacted me they didn’t seem aware of who was driving. I supplied my photos showing no damage. Now it turns out they are claiming for damage to the side of the vehicle, which is impossible to have been caused by our cars making contact. They're also claiming for personal injuries, which are also ludicrous. I’m shocked at the turn this has all taken. My car was inspected by my insurer, but they never inspected the claimants car. They showed me the photo of the claimants car that was sent to them and it’s of damage that must have been caused afterwards. My insurer is also suspecting it's a fraudulent claim, but have taken nine months so far with no resolution. Now they have sent me a renewal for double the price of last years. What can I do? Whatever happens it seems like I’m going to pay for it. I'm also convinced the car is being ‘fronted’ by the policy holder on behalf of the driver (named).The car has the name of the named driver on it in silver lettering and upon examining social media profiles of the people involved, you can see that the car was posted with a ribbon on it as though it was a present for the named driver.
Asked on 20 March 2018 by Moonface
Answered by
Honest John
Advise your insurer it's a fraudulent claim. They have no excuse not to defend it with so many anomalies. They may advise it would cost them too much for it to go to court, but this is not true. They will be entitled to their cost and the other party would be liable for them if the claim was found to be fraudulent. As for your renewal doubling, take your business elsewhere. It will not affect the claim in any way. Also report it to the police's fraud department (www.cityoflondon.police.uk/advice-and-support/frau...x) the ABI (www.abi.org.uk/products-and-issues/topics-and-issu...d) and the IFB (www.insurancefraudbureau.org/cheatline).
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