Car Insurance - Faking Personal Injury

Neeta_Mistry

Hi All

I had the misfortune of being involved in a minor car accident, liability is in the process of being determined.

Most annoyingly the third party has put a personal injury/whiplash claim for the whole family! I nearly fell off my chair as the incident was so minor, I simply can’t believe the audacity of the third party, + the level of opportunistic behavior being demonstrated.

I know the claim will impact my insurance premium, but does anyone know or have tips on making sure the insurance company act in my best interests to stamp out any potential false claim? Or who I should turn to for help?

Having spoke to others, they’ve mentioned I could be another victim of compensation culture. I’m very frustrated so would appreciate any advise.

Thanks Neeta

drsquirrel

Their claims shouldn't affect you too much, that is what your insurance is for.

The only way I can see it affecting you is losing more NCB than you would for just a shunt (you don't always lose all NCB in event of a claim).


Insurance companies are always on the look out for false claims, though this would be targeted at the worse (I cannot walk without a stick, I cannot work etc) as it would take time and money to investigate.

Money being the important part here, as its sometimes cheaper for them to just pay up.


Hopefully it wasn't your fault (or deemed your fault), if not - be more careful in future?

huckster

Neeta_Mistry wrote: »

Hi All

I had the misfortune of being involved in a minor car accident, liability is in the process of being determined.

Most annoyingly the third party has put a personal injury/whiplash claim for the whole family! I nearly fell off my chair as the incident was so minor, I simply can’t believe the audacity of the third party, + the level of opportunistic behavior being demonstrated.

I know the claim will impact my insurance premium, but does anyone know or have tips on making sure the insurance company act in my best interests to stamp out any potential false claim? Or who I should turn to for help?

Having spoke to others, they’ve mentioned I could be another victim of compensation culture. I’m very frustrated so would appreciate any advise.

Thanks Neeta

You could find out where they live and stalk them with a video camera. If you catch them taking part in any activities e.g break dancing, you might save your Insurer a lot of money. ( I am joking by the way .... or am I ? )

alistair.long

hi.

It is nice to get these people who do fraud. what evidence do you have against him?
If you have photos of the car it would be helpfull.

If you appear to be lieing to your insurance they may not take your claim of fraud seriously. You did state a minor accident, however if their engineer suspects the car has been deformed so therefore maybe a substantial accident. Then as you appear to be lieing once, they wont take anything else as the truth.

Contact the insurance fraud dept.

alistair.long

huckster wrote: »

You could find out where they live and stalk them with a video camera. If you catch them taking part in any activities e.g break dancing, you might save your Insurer a lot of money. ( I am joking by the way .... or am I ? )

Who would you show the footage to?
I know somebody (person a) who hit someones car, and the other person (person b) stated he could no longer work and was injured so bad he cant drive.
While chatting to "person a" about a lorry that grazed his car. "person b" parked his car and exited, "person a" got very annoyed stating that car is still a licenced taxi and he is fine as he is driving and walking.

so who would you send this footage to?

lisyloo

Injuries can happen at very low levels of impact, especially if there are pre-existing conditions.

You can report to your insurers that the speed of the accident is low and that you are concerned about fraud.
But basically you are not a medical expert, do not know the previous condition of the occupant (they could be diseased already) and will have a very hard time trying to prove anything at all.

You may lose out as an accident with injuries may be loaded more than one without.
But there is very little you can do expect report your concerns.
It's down to your insurer how they deal with it, but basically faced with medical evidence, they will most likely pay out.
Sorry.

lisyloo

so who would you send this footage to?

You could send it to the insurer, but basically it proves nothing at all.
If you had whiplash in your neck, that would not stop you dancing for example.
Severe back pain for most of the day would not stop you exiting a car.
It's not that easy to disprove what someone is saying.

The bottom line is that insurers will not spend thousands on investigators, lie detectors, solicitors etc, when it's cheaper to pay these people to go away.
I'm sorry if that sounds incredibly unfair and immoral, but that's the way insurance works.

huckster

Alastair

Jeremy Beadle ?

I am not being serious, but if someone were to video a third party who they believed to be making a fraudulent PI claim, they should first of all go to the Police ? What would be your suggestion in the event that anyone were to obtain evidence of fraud ?

lisyloo

but if someone were to video a third party who they believed to be making a fraudulent PI claim, they should first of all go to the Police ? What would be your suggestion in the event that anyone were to obtain evidence of fraud ?

All the amateur detective are getting way out of their league.
Firstly someone can suffer severe pain and also regular lapses and still be able to carry out normal activity.
All they had to say was "I had a good day" or "a good 10 minutes, the rest of the day I was on my back".
You also don't know what symptoms the person is claiming or their medical history.
Lots of medical symptoms are quite variable.
Fraud is extemely hard to prove and the chances are the insurer won't spend the money proving it anyway as it's more expensive than paying out.

Crazy_Jamie

Neeta_Mistry wrote:

I had the misfortune of being involved in a minor car accident, liability is in the process of being determined.

Most annoyingly the third party has put a personal injury/whiplash claim for the whole family! I nearly fell off my chair as the incident was so minor, I simply can’t believe the audacity of the third party, + the level of opportunistic behavior being demonstrated.

How 'minor' was the accident? As in, what speed it did occur at and how much damage was caused? The claim may very well be opportunistic, but providing the injuries are genuine there is nothing wrong with being opportunistic. If the accident was indeed your fault and you did indeed cause injuries to other people (both of which will need to be determined in the course of the case), it is hardly good form to complain when they want to be compensated for those injuries. At the moment you are only working off your own assumptions.

Neeta_Mistry wrote:

I know the claim will impact my insurance premium, but does anyone know or have tips on making sure the insurance company act in my best interests to stamp out any potential false claim? Or who I should turn to for help?

Your insurer, and any solicitor that they pass the case to, will have plenty of experience in dealing with claims of this nature. Insurers tend to be very principled when it comes to cases of potential fraud, so if there are ground to challenge it on this basis chances are your insurer will do so.

huckster wrote:

I am not being serious, but if someone were to video a third party who they believed to be making a fraudulent PI claim, they should first of all go to the Police ? What would be your suggestion in the event that anyone were to obtain evidence of fraud ?

It is not unusual for Defendants to obtain surveillance evidence on Claimants that they suspect are either fraudulent or exaggerating their injuries. There is a string of case law on the issue. But surveillance evidence is primarily used in catastrophic or longer term injury cases where the Claimant is claiming for significant ongoing difficulties. In such cases surveillance evidence can directly refute specific evidence put forward by the Claimant in their witness statement(s). However, in lower value cases, such as your typical whiplash, surveillance evidence is virtually useless, and a waste of everybody's time and money to obtain, because the injuries are not serious by definition and do not significantly restrict a person on a day to day basis over a long period of time.