Car insurance Help "PLEASE"

[scoosh-89]

Back in March my girlfriend got a letter from her insurance saying a third party is making a claim against her for bumping there car in a car park near where she lives. They also have a witness

She has not hit any car, the police have been at her door, there has been an inspector out and the report came through showing all the damage to her car. Her car is £1000 Clio, which has wear and tare. The inspectors report shows the damage, which is cracked paint on the front bumper and a small dent on the sill of the rear passenger door.

She provided pictures to the insurance to show this damage was on the car before she bought it along with the copy of the eBay auction to verify the pictures.

The case is still not closed and her insurance spoke to the third party insurance who said that they are getting a statement for the witness.

Can she go to court over something she has not done or be prosecuted.

Her renewal is due in two weeks and she is being quoted extra because of this claim against her.

Can someone please give advice on this subject?

Thanks

[Milky Bar Kid]

If there are no Police proceedings then I am sure she could take it to civil court?

[CoolGirl]

Rubbish warning - this is not expert advice!

Spurious claims are not uncommon. You're in a good position as the police are already invovled (this should flush out if either the 'victim' or 'witness' have been invovled in anything like this before. THey may have noticed the state of her car and decided it was fair game. A couple of things she might want to do:


See if the car park have any cctv. even if it doesn't capture the 'incident' it might show comings and goings.
Discuss it openly with the insurance company. This sort of thing happens quite a lot (it happenned to my mother and she was absolved given that the alleged damage didn't match up), so they will be able to advise. I'm sure that the increased premium will be refunded if there is no claim to uphold.
good luck

[Dave20046]

does she have legal cover with her existing policy? This'll probably screw her up it'll take longer than 2 weeks and she has to foot the bill for the extra premiums however it can in theory be claimed back if she takes out a policy (I'm in the process of reclaiming such a loss)
Chances are it will go to court, get screen shots of the ebay auction etc showing the damage and try get a statement from the old owner, if she's honest sure it'll come through for you eventually. Real pain in the **** though.
good luck

[scoosh-89]

Was really hoping it wont go to court. The insurance has a copy of all the evidence. She sent in the pics from the auction.

There is no cctv from the area where it "Apparently" Happened.

I was asuming that the fact the third party has no physical evidence hence the inspector was sent out showing no crash damage then the case would be dropped even with a witness staement.

[454697819]

You need to find out if the damage caused to the others vehicle would have left a mark on yours?

Its very difficult as wholst you have photos proving the damage was thier before it doesnt prove the vehicles didnt colide.

Fight it though, its more than likely a scammer, they are cracking down on it so if youc can fight do, as there is a good chance its fraud.

[jimmy4237]

Somebody tried that old trick against me when I was doing the long haul trucks.. I had parked the unit (no trailer attached - it was being loaded unattached in a food factory at the time) in an empty car park, and had went for a meal and a drink before returning to the cab, and sleep..

I had noticed an old beat up volvo estate car with many scratches and dings about 50feet away in the same car park, with one old gentleman (I'm trying to be PC here.....), and no other people in the car. Took no further notice, and went to sleep...

I got rudely woken up by the local police by banging on the cab door, and ordering me out of the cab for a "chat"....

You guessed it - the old man (asian) had invented a story about him being in the store at the time, and his "wife" was sitting in his empty volvo waiting for him to come out. His "wife" claimed I had driven my truck around his volvo car, and took off his bumper, and scraping the car:mad::mad::mad:

Despite there being no damage or scrapes to my truck paintwork (painted steel bumper), the police still charged me for leaving the scene of an accident, and not reporting the accident to the police.......

It took several letters, photographic evidence, and telephone calls (thanks Boss) before the police took sense of all the proof that I was innocent, dropped all the charges. But the bassas never apologised for making me waste my time proving myself innocent.. asswipes. No wonder I've no respect for the police anymore

All 'cos the old asian ***** saw the lorry driver as an easy target, and an excuse to get his car fixed for free through a fake insurance hit and run case...... if I ever see that b****** again, I'll run him off the road, no mercy given..... or I'll pour a gallon of brake fluid all over his car, and slash his tyres.....

Now anytime I park up anywhere in a car park, and it's empty around me, I take plenty of pics on my camera as proof I'm nowhere near any cars, and I take details of all the cars that are remotely near me. I cover myself incase the bassas try it again on me, blaming the lorry driver..

It sounds like a fake insurance scam mate. People see older cars with scrapes, and dents, and decide "lets take a note of the reg no, and make , and model" and put in a claim against that, simply to get their own stupidity and parking accidents fixed at someone elses cost.....