Fraudulant whiplash claim?

Strider590

On my way to work this morning I was involved in a collision with another car.....

The guy basically went to pull out onto an empty traffic island and then stopped dead. When I saw him move onto the island (ie crossed the white lines) I glanced right, saw nothing coming, came off the brakes, but then turned around only to find he'd stopped on the island and I went straight into the back of him. A very light collision, no damage to either car only cracked my number plate.
(I'd followed him through town and should have suspected something when he was braking for green lights!!)

He gets out with one hand cupped round his neck, he's limping and holding a slip of paper with his details pre-written.

He noted that there was no damage to the cars but said he wanted to exchange details "just incase"........ He then proceeded to tell me this exact same thing had happened just a few months ago!!
Normally people are quite shaken after a collision, but this guy (looked half European) was totally calm like he expected it to happen. The way he behaved just seemed very odd!

I strongly suspect he's a claim chaser so I am not amused! for all I know he could have done this entirely deliberately just to go chasing a personal injury claim!! Nobody stops ON an empty f**kin traffic island for no reason at all!
He probably spend his last payout on Christmas presents and has now run out again.....

Also, looking at his address.... his direction of travel and the road he was on, do not make any sense whatsoever, there was no reason to be where he was at nearly 8am (heading out of the town centre) when he lives 30 miles away.
Recreational driving is not something people do at 8am on a Thursday morning.

I've been to the Police and they were not interested, told me its an insurance matter, I then called my insurance and they don't seem to care about whether its a scam or not.

If it's truly an accident then i'll put my hands up and say "yea ok, I hit the back of his car", but I will not be taken for a fool by some scam artist!

Any similar experiences?

Eric_Pisch

if the police dont care not much you can do

neilmcl

Scam artist or not, it sounds to me, going from your description, that you weren't paying enough attention to avoid the collision. Also, its not really your problem as it'll be the insurance company taking the hit, they'll investigate it and contact the police if it is a scam. Just leave it to them.

Inactive

Strider590 wrote: »

..


(I'd followed him through town and should have suspected something when he was braking for green lights!!)

You still managed to hit him up the ar5e, I would have kept well clear of him.

Leave it the insurers, they will sort it.

Kurtis_Blue

Hopefully I have read your tale correctly.

If there is no damage to your car except the allready damaged number plate then you can safely tell both the insurance companys that no contact and no accident occured, you swapped details as the 3rd party demanded you to do so, you felt threatened as the other car was blocking your progress and felt you were legally obliged to do so.

ithinkyourcrazy

Similar thing happened to someone I know. The person driving was just coming off a deserted island, car in front braked suddenly; car behind emergency stopped and lightly touched the back of the car in front.
They all got out the car (European) claiming they couldn’t breathe, whiplash etc. The person I knew called the police and the European people called an ambulance. Cut a long story short, the person who went into the back on them was doing about 10 miles an hour when he crashed nowhere near the speed the other people claimed. Ambulance drivers got very angry at being called out to a scam and the last I heard the police were dealing with it.
So this kind of thing does happen.

Pew_Pew_Pew_Lasers!

Strider590 wrote: »

If it's truly an accident then i'll put my hands up and say "yea ok, I hit the back of his car", but I will not be taken for a fool by some scam artist!

Any similar experiences?

Great. So you drive into somebody's car, and then get angry with them.

I love people like you.

Helen_J_3

A man went into the back of me. Not much damage but he reported it to his insurance so that's the way it's going. He claims a bus went into him which made him go into me. Not impressed as it didn't and I have witnesses that say it didn't. His insurers are determined to find this 'bus' so they can pass on liability. This guy was Turkish/Asian but did speak English reasonably well. Knows exactly what his doing.

ioscorpio

You'll still claim off his insurance, whether a bus hit him or not.

sarahg1969

This sounds like a typical slam-on case. Especially with the pre-written note. Keep the note in a very safe place and you must tell your insurers exactly what has happened. Write out a statement now, describing everything that happened, and describing the man and any passengers in the car. What happened before, during and after the accident. Did you approach his car? Did you see people inside? How many people? What did they look like? Write down everything that the man said to you. It may even be that the person driving the car is not the one who is going to make the claim.

The police won't be interested, unfortunately. They see it as a victimless crime (although I was impressed with GMP's recent stance on the A34 accidents).

However, your insurers should take it much more seriously.

What area of the country are you in? Some areas and some roads are very well known for this type of scam.

The note is crucial. It may contain very important information (such as the name, address and any mobile contact number), even down to the paper that it's written on, and the handwriting.

sarahg1969

neilmcl wrote: »

...its not really your problem as it'll be the insurance company taking the hit, they'll investigate it and contact the police if it is a scam. Just leave it to them.

Of course it's the OP's problem. His insurers can't do anything about it without his assistance. And the insurers will not just contact the police. They may, if they find this case is linked to others. But otherwise, what's the point?