Reply to: Nudged someones car in tesco car park - now they're claiming they were injured !!!

[alreadypacked]

We have not had any thread domination for a while


It’s FRIDAY

[Gonzo]

Surely it's in the interest of the insurance comapnies to contest these and not hard to prove.

Is it?

Do you hear many cases of Insurance Companies' profits coming under pressure over it? Not while insurance is compulsory and all law-abiding people will pay it so it is not discretionary spending.

Much easier just to push up the premiums.

[Wobblyheed]

Waitrose? Booth's is the only supermarket I darken the door of.

If you don't know it imagine a supermarket that makes Waitrose look like Aldi.

I know the one's in Ansdell and Lytham - are they really that much better than Waitrose

[Freamon]

I got in a taxi a while ago and the driver was having a moan about insurance and these personal injury companies. He'd been speaking to a guy who worked for one. In most cases the insurance companies don't contest the cases. They will hand the customer a hire car and then bill it as a cost as part of the claim. They might get the car for £20 a day but bill it at £100 a day. They will drag their feet in order to maximise their time and increase their fees. He said that it wasn't uncommon for a £1500 payout to the customer to be actuall a bill of over 10k for the insurance company, once all their no win no fees have been taken into account.

It's worse than you might imagine. If you are involved in an accident and make a claim for damage caused to your vehicle, your details instantly become a valuable lead for a potential injury claim. It is now standard practice amongst insurance companies to sell these leads to personal injury companies. The government is looking into banning this practice, but only for the insurance sector. Garages that repair cars damaged in accidents, and car hire firms that lend out cars to accident victims, will still be able to sell their leads. It's a nice little earner for them:

In the old days, a car accident would usually just involve an insurance company paying for some
repairs, but now an accident is far more likely to also involve car hire costs and
personal injury claims. So accidents have become big business. As soon as you have a
crash which is not your fault, you become a valuable commodity. Roadside
assistance, the repair garage, your insurance company - chances are they’ll all be
wanting to sell on your contact details to a company that supplies hire cars and to a
personal injury lawyer - and the money they make selling your details on is known as
a ‘referral fee’.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/h...10_sept_11.pdf

[Freamon]

Just go to the supermarket and ask for the footage from the car park. and then call the twat up and tell him that you have requested the footage showing his wife wandering round un-harmed chatting to the local police...

Good advice, but too late sadly. CCTV footage tapes are typically rotated weekly, and the supermarket is under no obligation to keep the records any longer. If they DO still have the tapes, and you claim they have a recording of you, then they ARE obliged to give you a copy of them for a fee of £10, under the Data Protection Act. But the chances of them having copies after this amount of time are slim to none.

[Freamon]

Just found out my insurance paid out £5K on this claim (for a dent the size of your fist in the door). Apparently, the woman had independent medical evidence of injury. Nice one, eh? Someone clips your door at 2mph and you can claim injury - something wrong.

Bit wassed off with insurance company. They were all up for investigating this as a fraud - arranged for someone to interview me etc but then they seem to have dropped it all. Paid out without telling me.

Bit wassed because instead of a £500 claim on my record I've not got £5000 inc personal injury which I assume is going to make a bit of a difference on my insurance in the future.

Anyone know if I can kick off and complain about the insurance company? Although I'm guessing something in the t+cs says they can settle claims as they see fit?

Well unhappy about it though. Its just too easy to claim like this. Insurance co couldnt be arsed either. As I told them it was in tesco metro car park and a look at the security cams would have sorted it all out that there was no way a injury was caused.

Complain to the insurance company. Tell them you dispute the amount of the claim based on your version of events, and that £5k for the damage to the vehicle is excessive and unreasonable, and that such a small accident could not have caused any personal injury.

The same thing happened to a friend a few years ago. She ran into the back of another car in a traffic queue at a very slow speed, so slow that there was no visible damage whatsoever to either car. She called her insurers and relayed her version of events, and was assured that no claim would be paid out for. Months later, at the point of renewal, her no claims bonus had been removed. She called the insurers, and after a few escalations to managers at the call centre, got them to admit they had paid out for personal injury for the accident in question. The insurers (NU) admitted they had paid out in error and reinstated her no claims and removed the accident from her record.

Sadly this is standard practice for insurance companies nowadays. It's cheaper to pay out on the claim than to go to the trouble of investigating it. If there is a dispute, the other party will raise it eventually, at which point the insurer can flag it and if the customer complains loudly enough they'll investigate (purely to attempt to retain the wronged customer).

[sasguru]

Why wasn't he done for fraud. That's part of the problem with the UK. Insurance is too expensive caused (the insurers say) by people driving without insurance and the personal claims people. There are 2 thinsg they could easily do....

1 - When a person is caught driving without insurance, the fine should be at least twice the average insurance quote - or at least so expensive that it makes them think twice. You see plenty of times on the scum on the run cop shows where coppers arrest somebody for driving without insurance and they are handed a £200 fine and points. Why not make that fine £1000 and inpound their car. If they can't pay then the car is sold and the remainder of the debt is paid by selling their other possesions.

2 - Contest the cases. There have been a few examples on here where people have been paid out where they obviously were taking the pi55. Surely it's in the interest of the insurance comapnies to contest these and not hard to prove.

1. Agreed. The penalty for not having insurance is so low that it makes logical sense for some young chavs not to have it.

2. If the insurance companies contested all the cases, they would be tied down in multiple legal wrangles, since it has come to the point, due to "ambulance chasers", that almost everyone is lying.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

Why wasn't he done for fraud. That's part of the problem with the UK. Insurance is too expensive caused (the insurers say) by people driving without insurance and the personal claims people. There are 2 thinsg they could easily do....

1 - When a person is caught driving without insurance, the fine should be at least twice the average insurance quote - or at least so expensive that it makes them think twice. You see plenty of times on the scum on the run cop shows where coppers arrest somebody for driving without insurance and they are handed a £200 fine and points. Why not make that fine £1000 and inpound their car. If they can't pay then the car is sold and the remainder of the debt is paid by selling their other possesions.

2 - Contest the cases. There have been a few examples on here where people have been paid out where they obviously were taking the pi55. Surely it's in the interest of the insurance comapnies to contest these and not hard to prove.

Agree on both counts - the reasons why this doesn't happen are the legal system and the lawyers who run it. None of them wants to give up their big gravy train. It's not in the Judges interest to stop crime or the Barristers to have short cases with straightforward outcomes - the Insurers are running scared of the lawyers and their fat bills, so they pay the scammers and charge the decent and honest. Lawyers and the law - scum.

[Peoplesoft bloke]

cheeky cow. The next time you're in front of her, reverseinto her, making sure your reversing lights have been disconnected of course, then get out your car knock on her window and say "You've done it again haven't you", and then wave a video camera in front of her and say "I've got all on video".

That'll teach her.

Common tautology removed

[BoredBloke]

court told him to eff off.

Why wasn't he done for fraud. That's part of the problem with the UK. Insurance is too expensive caused (the insurers say) by people driving without insurance and the personal claims people. There are 2 thinsg they could easily do....

1 - When a person is caught driving without insurance, the fine should be at least twice the average insurance quote - or at least so expensive that it makes them think twice. You see plenty of times on the scum on the run cop shows where coppers arrest somebody for driving without insurance and they are handed a £200 fine and points. Why not make that fine £1000 and inpound their car. If they can't pay then the car is sold and the remainder of the debt is paid by selling their other possesions.

2 - Contest the cases. There have been a few examples on here where people have been paid out where they obviously were taking the pi55. Surely it's in the interest of the insurance comapnies to contest these and not hard to prove.

[Fishface]

same happened to me - ding'd a headlight of the other car.

I said fine it was my fault.

The guy then claimed whiplash, frozen shoulder, etc and it was going to court etc.

turns out the guy was a pilot for ryan air and was piloting whilst claiming for whiplash.

court told him to eff off.

[d000hg]

Or tell him you have that.

I had someone ram into the back of me last year. She came out, apologised, all teary.

Later on that evening her mum phones me up and accuses me of reversing into her. Got all tulipty with me when I said she'd admitted it and said the insurance would sort it out.

Insurance phoned up, told me that they did not admit liability saying I must have rolled back. I then pointed out that I had video'd the damage and had the recording of her apologising and admitting liability on my iPhone and that they had better tell their client they were lieing.

"Yes I videoed the accident on my phone. What do you mean, I often use my phone on the road to video dangerous driving..."

[BlasterBates]

Or tell him you have that.

I had someone ram into the back of me last year. She came out, apologised, all teary.

Later on that evening her mum phones me up and accuses me of reversing into her. Got all tulipty with me when I said she'd admitted it and said the insurance would sort it out.

Insurance phoned up, told me that they did not admit liability saying I must have rolled back. I then pointed out that I had video'd the damage and had the recording of her apologising and admitting liability on my iPhone and that they had better tell their client they were lieing.

30 minutes later, insurance company phoned back, said that she didn't remember, may have done, then admitted it etc and that they would pay for all damages.

I never had a recording.

cheeky cow. The next time you're in front of her, reverse back into her, making sure your reversing lights have been disconnected of course, then get out your car knock on her window and say "You've done it again haven't you", and then wave a video camera in front of her and say "I've got all on video".

That'll teach her.

[SantaClaus]

Just put in a counter claim for personal injury - simples!

Seriously though, I've had ambulance chasers on the phone to me too regarding a previous accident, claiming I will get a minimum of 2K if I had been injured. Almost goading me into making a claim.

They even claimed the other party had admitted liability when a call to the insurers revealed they hadn't.

One thing they fail to mention too, is if your PI claim fails, you will be liable for the other parties costs.

[MarillionFan]

Just go to the supermarket and ask for the footage from the car park. and then call the twat up and tell him that you have requested the footage showing his wife wandering round un-harmed chatting to the local police...

Or tell him you have that.

I had someone ram into the back of me last year. She came out, apologised, all teary.

Later on that evening her mum phones me up and accuses me of reversing into her. Got all tulipty with me when I said she'd admitted it and said the insurance would sort it out.

Insurance phoned up, told me that they did not admit liability saying I must have rolled back. I then pointed out that I had video'd the damage and had the recording of her apologising and admitting liability on my iPhone and that they had better tell their client they were lieing.

30 minutes later, insurance company phoned back, said that she didn't remember, may have done, then admitted it etc and that they would pay for all damages.

I never had a recording.