Someone trying to claim for a bump on car - 5 days after event! help anyone?

norangeduck

Hello Im posting as my dad backed his van into a car in a private car park last wednesday. Both parties got out of car, inspected it, and agreed no obvious damage caused (I know there could be potential damage that you cant see, but it wasnt at speed, and no damage to paintwork at all)
My dad gave the lady his phone number, she offered no details of hers.

My dad gets a phonecall today from the lady's husband saying they want to claim, so we swap details etc - we havent yet determined what damage there is to the other parties car - but we will phone them a little later to find out!

My dad is now reporting it to his insurance company - but anyone had any experience with this? I was just a little concerned that its been around 5 days since the incident - and now they are wanting to claim.

Thnaks all xxx

Crazy_Jamie

Five days isn't a particularly long period of time to raise the issue of a claim to be honest. People are busy, and in the case of a collision will often want to get a second opinion on the damage caused. It's not uncommon for a claim to be raised weeks or even months after the incident. Personally I wouldn't say that this being raised five days after the event is anything to be suspicious of.

In terms of damage, were any photos etc taken at the scene? Whilst there can be damage that isn't immediately visible, having pictures that show no external damage will help your dad's case.

lisyloo

I was just a little concerned that its been around 5 days since the incident

Why are you concerned about the timescale?
There are loads of explanations.

What might have happened is that they have taken it to a garage to get it checked.
Perhaps the garage were busy, or they were ill, or they had business meetings they couldn't cancel.

I see nothing suspicious abnout the timescale at all..
My FIL had a personal injury claim against him 18 months after an accident.
They have 6 years to claim off you legally.

honeypop

I wouldn't be suspicious either, as a similar thing happened to me, a lady went into the back of me at a junction as I was waiting to pull out, no obvious damage not even to paintwork but we exchanged details anyway. It wasn't until nearly a week later that I tried to open my boot and it was very stiff to get past the inital opening phase and hard to close again, took it to a garage and found that infact there had been damage from the accident, but the bumper had meant it wasn't visible. Even now I don't use my boot for weeks at a time so it could have been ages before I realised the damage and made a claim.

Photos of no external damage mean nothing when the damage is hidden anyway.

norangeduck

ok thanks you guys - Its all being sorted with the insurance company now - No photos or anything were taken - cheers!!!

SolicitorMidlands

Not suspicious at all. Just make sure you tell your insurers about the damage you saw, i.e. none.