Car insurance scam - made up witness !!!

paulfoel

My wife had an accident a few months ago, where a car pulled out when parked and my wife hit the side of her car.

At the time, they exchanged details etc but no-one else came from a nearby bus-stop.Anyway, they disputed our claims, saying they never pulled out etc and were stationary.

Now, all of a sudden an independent witness has appeared who, allegedly, was watching from the bus stop opposite !!! Why this witness didnt come over during the 10 mins my wife and the other driver were exchanging details, I dont know? And how on earth did this witness find the other driver again because she drove away afterwards?

Probably because this witness is completely made-up !!!! Thinking about - it seems pretty easy to get your mate down the pub to say he saw it all. After all, whos to know.

Stupid thing is that their witness statement says they were standing at a bus stop opposite. My insurance company has already noted that their view would be obscured by our car and there'd be no way they could see the other car pulling out.

Conor_3

I would write to your insurers clarifying again that there was nobody present and the woman drove off.

Your insurers will do you proud on this I think you'll find though as they don't like to pay out so any excuse not to. The "witness" could also find the Police knocking on their door as it is actually a criminal offence both they and the woman are comitting.

paulfoel

Conor wrote: »

I would write to your insurers clarifying again that there was nobody present and the woman drove off.

Your insurers will do you proud on this I think you'll find though as they don't like to pay out so any excuse not to. The "witness" could also find the Police knocking on their door as it is actually a criminal offence both they and the woman are comitting.

Yeh. Definitely well dodgy.

The thing is though its difficult for me to prove there was no witness.

Crabman

Surely they have to prove there is a "witness", not the other way round.

If it means that "witness" coming forward to give evidence in court, I'm sure a quick explanation about perjury and the prospect of a prison term for perverting the course of justice will soon change their mind

BYALPHAINDIA

paulfoel wrote: »

My wife had an accident a few months ago, where a car pulled out when parked and my wife hit the side of her car.

At the time, they exchanged details etc but no-one else came from a nearby bus-stop.Anyway, they disputed our claims, saying they never pulled out etc and were stationary.

Now, all of a sudden an independent witness has appeared who, allegedly, was watching from the bus stop opposite !!! Why this witness didnt come over during the 10 mins my wife and the other driver were exchanging details, I dont know? And how on earth did this witness find the other driver again because she drove away afterwards?

Probably because this witness is completely made-up !!!! Thinking about - it seems pretty easy to get your mate down the pub to say he saw it all. After all, whos to know.

Stupid thing is that their witness statement says they were standing at a bus stop opposite. My insurance company has already noted that their view would be obscured by our car and there'd be no way they could see the other car pulling out.

Dare I say it were they ASIANS??:rolleyes:

There has been alot of incidents where Asians have staged car crashes.

(West Yorkshire Eat Your Heart Out)

gordonstights

BYALPHAINDIA wrote: »

Dare I say it were they ASIANS??:rolleyes:

There has been alot of incidents where Asians have staged car crashes.

(West Yorkshire Eat Your Heart Out)

Do you work for an insurance company or the police or something?

loofer

BYALPHAINDIA wrote: »

Dare I say it were they ASIANS??:rolleyes:

There has been alot of incidents where Asians have staged car crashes.

(West Yorkshire Eat Your Heart Out)

I'm not going to play the race card as I don't feel the comment was anywhere near racist... however it dosen't prove or disprove anything.

I'm aware there are asians getting involved in this sort of stuff especially in asian dominated areas (as they are with other forms of crime). So I agree with your comment.

I don't think the question really helps.What if the other party were not asian - they were white... does that mean it's highly unlikely that it's a scam and the OP should just accept it as genuine? Criminals are criminals

Tucker

Most staged accidents that I know of involve the stage car forcing the other vehicle to hit them in a way that makes liability very much in their favour, as the money is in the personal injury side of the accident.

Suffice to say, it would more like be someone breaking hard on a tailgater with no chance of stopping or driving into someone who pulls out of a side road.

One I know of involved both cars being part of the stage. The 'at fault' vehicle was hired by those involved. They then had a car of their own, filled both with passengers and drove the hire car into the rear of the other. Needless to say, there were lots of whiplash and the hire car firm's insurer's took the hit!! Easy money..................... except they got sussed, because they were daft enough to have a relative in the two different cars which firmly linked them and blew their story apart.

sarahg1969

The induced collision that you refer to, Tucker, is one of only a vast number of scams. It's not as popular as it was 2 or 3 years ago, since all the publicity in the media.

The more common ones at entirely staged with both sides colluding to stage the accident; or contrived - ie, the accident didn't even happen at all. And then of course you have exaggerated claims from genuine accidents, and claims from bogus passengers in all of the above.

OP - be firm with your insurers, and ask them to refer your matter to the counter fraud department, if they've not already done so.

Can I ask which area of the country you're in?

paulfoel

sarahg1969 wrote: »

The induced collision that you refer to, Tucker, is one of only a vast number of scams. It's not as popular as it was 2 or 3 years ago, since all the publicity in the media.

The more common ones at entirely staged with both sides colluding to stage the accident; or contrived - ie, the accident didn't even happen at all. And then of course you have exaggerated claims from genuine accidents, and claims from bogus passengers in all of the above.

OP - be firm with your insurers, and ask them to refer your matter to the counter fraud department, if they've not already done so.

Can I ask which area of the country you're in?

No, I dont think the accident itself was staged. I think its more a case of the other person making up a witness when they realised that they were going to be found to be at fault for the accident (which, in my opinion, they were).

I'm in Newport, South Wales.

p.s. Not that it matters but the other driver was white...

sarahg1969

OP – I realise yours is a genuine accident.

As I said, you need to be firm with your insurers. Hopefully, they will get someone out to speak to this "independent" witness and ask some tricky questions.