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Fri 22 Jun 2012 21:26

Accused of accident stressing me out - zainylaney

Hi I hope someone can help me a little. I got implicated in an accident that I did not do so when my insurance company initially contacted me I immediately told them that I was not involved. 5 months later we get our renewal quote stating I had been in an accident so was £100s more than last year.

Again I contact the insurance company who tell me that the other insurance company involved have an independent witness who gave my reg. I then recieve a copy of the other parties statement which says that he was unaware of accident until a lady knocked on his door to tell him that she had seen a people carrier with my reg hit his car and drive off. My car was a hatchback and not a people carrier and being so long ago I can't be exactly sure of where I was at the time but can be certain that I had no damage to my car as I did not hit anything.

Unfortunately I sold the car in question a few months back and although it is in same condition as was when I had it and I can obtain pictures to the fact they are still pursuing us and will not take any evidence from the car, they won't check it out for themselves either. I would have had three children in my car at the time of the accident and there would have been damage to my car as the apparent damage to their car is to wing, bonnet, bumper and indicator.

The police were contacted by them and a statement taken the day after the accident but why did they never contact me? Or check my vehicle? I sold my car two months after the date I am supposed to have been in this accident, why did they not act while I still had the car?

My insurance company have been told to defend me all the way I will not pay for something I have not done and they basically said that they can let the other insurers take it to court but they have an independent witness so will no doubt win, why is this happening to me?

Sorry it is so long, I have never been in an accident and am not used to even talking to my insurance company, I am so scared if I make the insurance take it all the way to court and even tho the witness has my reg they have the wrong model of car but they still win will I have to pay the bills or will my insurance cover that? I can't afford any huge bills. Thanks so much for reading :(

Edited by Avant on 23/06/2012 at 01:08

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Fri 22 Jun 2012 22:04

Accused of accident stressing me out - tony g

Hi zaniy
Paragraphs would make your enquirey a lot easier to follow ,however ,you say that you have no recollection of the accident and that the third party is claiming to have an independent witness .

The witness has got your reg number ,but apparently describes your car incorrectly, I'm sure that if it came to court your insurance company would say its quite possible that they may have mistaken the reg number !

If your insurance company decides to defend a court action on your behalf ,they would be responsible for all the costs .

Finally I wonder if the accident ever happened ,could it be it's an attempted fraud , was the witness really independent ? It could be worth suggesting that to your insurance company .

Please let the forum know the outcome .

Good luck

Tony g

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Sat 23 Jun 2012 01:10

Accused of accident stressing me out - Avant

Agreed,Tony. I've put some paras in - otherwise people just won't bother to make the effort.

Zainry - either this is a fraud, as Tony suggests (the other driver trying to get someone else to pay for damage he has done himself) or, perhaps more likely, the stupid busybody who knocked on the chap's door has got the registration number wrong.

You could make a statement to the police; it can easily be established that the car you owned with your registration number is the type of car you say it is.

Edited by Avant on 23/06/2012 at 01:18

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Sat 23 Jun 2012 09:59

Accused of accident stressing me out - bathtub tom

>>the stupid busybody who knocked on the chap's door

That's a bit OTT isn't it?

I'm sure many of us would have been grateful for a 'stupid busybody' to be around when unreported damage has been done to our cars.

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Sat 23 Jun 2012 10:21

Accused of accident stressing me out - Bromptonaut

Is it a bit odd that the first OP knows is via his insurer? In his shoes I'd expect to be traced via DVLA and approached by 3rd party or his insurers for statement.

Are there any other features such as location that might put the OP and his vehicle out of the frame?

I don't think the witnesses identification of a people carrier v a hatchback carries much weight. The V5 describes my Berlingo as an estate car but I've heard others describe such cars as MPV's which is also the category for people carriers such as the Sharaxly.

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Sat 23 Jun 2012 13:10

Accused of accident stressing me out - zainylaney

That is exactly what I thought, if the police had contacted me back then I would have still had the vehicle and this wouldn't be happening now, it is almost like it has been deliberately left until a point where I cannot prove anything. I was initially contacted in feb of this year the accident was apparently the 5th Dec and I sold the car Jan 19th.

The statement initially made on the 6th Dec by the car owner was that a lady had told him it was a people carrier with my hatchback reg. Her statement dated 6th May states only that she saw a car, with my reg, hit another car whilst doing a turn in the road, park up, a woman got out to inspect the damage, on both cars, got back in and drove off all while this witness stood 10ft away. If she was 10ft away surely she would remember a lot more than a woman and the reg number. She doesn't even state the colour of the car. She hasn't described the driver at all and surely you would if they got out 10ft in front of you?

I live in the general area of this road where the accident happened and have used it a few times as a short cut back home but never would need to do a turn in the road manoeuvre as I can get home either end.

I am struggling for evidence because I don't have the car anymore and even though the garage who own it have it still in the condition I left it they will not use it as evidence. I have spoken to the garage myself and asked if they would mind making a statement to the fact that they have owned it since the 19th Jan and have not worked on it at all in that time and they will.

The police have said there is no reason to believe the witness and victim know each other and won't go further with that.

If this is genuine then my hope is she will recognise it was not me. My fear is this is a scam, my car already had a dent, albeit in the wrong place for this accident, I was an easy target and she will stand in court and say it was definitely me,absolutely sure, etc and if the police won't investigate it as a scam what hope do I have?

I am so sorry about my previous paragraphing, I was in such a rush to get it all out that I didn't even think about it. I am surprised my spelling wasn't worse though.

At the time and date of the accident I would have almost certainly had my three children in the car, she makes no mention of them even though my 3yr old would have been in the front passenger as the reason we sold the hatchback was we couldn't get the three car seats in the rear. I also wear glasses, surely that is an obvious feature to mention?

Does anyone know how long this sort of thing will take as I have to pay the higher premium on my car insurance and claim it back should I win in court?

Thank you so much for replying it is good to have some ears to rant to.

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Thu 5 Jul 2012 16:00

Accused of accident stressing me out - concrete

Hello zainylaney, do you have Legal Protection Cover, either with your motor policy or your household policy? If you do you can use this to instruct a solicitor to get to the bottom of this situation. Your insurance company will not defend you if it costs them money. They will simply settle a small claim for a few hundred pounds and stick it to you on your renewal. It is no good going elsewhere as this 'accident' will be on the insurers database and should be declared. It may boil down to getting this 'independant witness' into court to testify under oath and hope to discredit their story. Then the insurance will have to remove this mark against you from their database and seek to recover their costs from the other insurer. Incidentally are you the only driver of your vehicle and are you male or female? Good luck. Concrete

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Sat 23 Jun 2012 20:31

Accused of accident stressing me out - ifithelps

...Is it a bit odd that the first OP knows is via his insurer? In his shoes I'd expect to be traced via DVLA and approached by 3rd party or his insurers for statement...

I've heard of believable cases where the insurance company has paid a claim without telling the insured.

Thus the first the insured knows about it is when he comes to renew.

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Sat 23 Jun 2012 20:22

Accused of accident stressing me out - Avant

">>the stupid busybody who knocked on the chap's door

That's a bit OTT isn't it?

I'm sure many of us would have been grateful for a 'stupid busybody' to be around when unreported damage has been done to our cars."

Fair point - but I called her that because someone who gets the number wrong isn't performing a very useful service!

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Tue 10 Jul 2012 09:58

Accused of accident stressing me out - zainylaney

Well as far as I was aware we had no legal cover included, have dug out our policy and we didn't. They have added it on to our renewal this year and are not paying up. I await contact from a solicitor at the moment. I am not the only driver and am female, but I always have the car Monday to Friday for the school run, so I would have definitely be driving. I have been gathering my own evidence and will keep you updated as I know more.

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Mon 16 Jul 2012 14:29

Accused of accident stressing me out - concrete

Well as far as I was aware we had no legal cover included, have dug out our policy and we didn't. They have added it on to our renewal this year and are not paying up. I await contact from a solicitor at the moment. I am not the only driver and am female, but I always have the car Monday to Friday for the school run, so I would have definitely be driving. I have been gathering my own evidence and will keep you updated as I know more.

Hello zainy, you may not have legal cover with your vehicle policy but you may with your household policy. Also if you are a member of a trade union they will assist you with legal matters. The police will have no interest unless there was an injury or serious road traffic offence so it looks like you are on your own. I think a solicitor/ competant person could do a job for you here. The person reporting the 'incident' clearly got their facts muddled with the vehicle type. Also they obviously did not see the driver and do not know if the driver was male or female. There is sufficient vaugeness to muddy the waters and reduce the chances of a court case arising. Therefore no court case, your insurance company would not pay out and this will go away. You need to force the hand of the other party and if they shy away from a court case then you are in a good position. This takes a bit of nerve to play brinkmanship but if you firmly believe you are innocent then stick to your guns. In the meantime, through the DVLA you can trace your old vehicle and photograph it and get a statement from the new owner that no damage to the vehicle was there when bought, and no bodywork repairs have been done during ownership. Do this yourself and save a lot of time/money for the solicitor. With all that a solicitor will have a field day deconstructing the opposition case. Good luck Concrete

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Sat 1 Dec 2012 11:12

Accused of accident stressing me out - zainylaney

I promised I would update and so here I am.

I received a letter stating that this would no longer be pursued by the third party insurer and it will now be deleted from my policy history.

Thank goodness my insurer believed me and saw fit to keep the case open and refuse payment, so easily this could have been paid without any argument thanks to an "alleged witness". Shame it took so long!

Thank you for all your support on this matter, happy driving!

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