Had accident in hire hire & other party claiming whiplash etc

liamcov

Had a hire car over Christmas whilst I was in the UK, I had there basic insurance which was included with the price which had an insurance excess of £550.

At a junction the car in front stalled and I went into the back of them just damaging the bumper of their car and my hire car. He gave me his insurance details & I gave them my hire car details.

So when I returned the car having told them they charged me the £550 and said don't expect any back basically, but now I have a letter through from the solicitor of the other driver & passenger saying they are making a claim for whiplash & will provide more details when tests have been done etc.

What I want to know is is this an action against me personally or will it all go through insurance (as damage to the car did) meaning I won't have to pay anything? Another thing is I do not live in the UK presently so if it is me that needs to pay up what could they do if I tell them I live abroad & don't respond back etc?

DaveF327

Pass all correspondence without comment to the hire company's insurance as they're obliged to pay out third party claims. You don't have to respond to anything, other than a request for the insurer's details.

penrhyn

Sounds like an insurance scam, as above pass all the details to the insurance company.

no1catman

Did you make a mental note of how many were in the vehicle in front, and now how many are claiming!?
Agree with the other comment - insurance scam!

motorguy

penrhyn wrote: »

Sounds like an insurance scam, as above pass all the details to the insurance company.

no1catman wrote: »

Did you make a mental note of how many were in the vehicle in front, and now how many are claiming!?
Agree with the other comment - insurance scam!

I had a guy drive into the back of me at a set of traffic lights, and what looked like a quick bumper respray to my car turned out to be £2500 of damage to the car - the bumper had popped back into shape but there was a lot of internal damage.

I felt fine that day, but it did develop into whiplash for which i was on pain killers for months, and it did impact my life.

Therefore please dont assume its a scam just because someone has put in a whiplash claim.

banger9365

pgilc1 wrote: »

I had a guy drive into the back of me at a set of traffic lights, and what looked like a quick bumper respray to my car turned out to be £2500 of damage to the car - the bumper had popped back into shape but there was a lot of internal damage.

I felt fine that day, but it did develop into whiplash for which i was on pain killers for months, and it did impact my life.

Therefore please dont assume its a scam just because someone has put in a whiplash claim.

sorry to hear about your incident ,i agree it might be genuine,put there is a lot off poeple out there that us this sort off thing to get "free money"
http://www.safefromscams.co.uk/StagedAccidentScam.html

motorguy

banger9365 wrote: »

sorry to hear about your incident ,i agree it might be genuine,put there is a lot off poeple out there that us this sort off thing to get "free money"
http://www.safefromscams.co.uk/StagedAccidentScam.html

Yes, totally agree, though we shouldnt just judge its a 'scam' when we've next to no information about the situation.

december

I agree with what others have said, it's not possible to make an accurate judgement about whether or not it is a scam from such scant information.

I would just send off the letter to the hire car company and let them deal with it.