Advice wanted - poss "fraudulent" claim?!

9217niall

Hi all,

In a bit of a tizz right now so hoping for some clarity. Have tried to ring insurance people to get their help but when transferred through nobody was in so need to ring again tomorrow.

Basically, I had a car accident in October 13. Ditched my car. Was myself and one passenger, a (now ex) friend. Currently my sister's boyfriend so causing a few ripples in the family.

Here's what's puzzling me.

He had a mountain bike injury around two years previous to that, where he broke his collarbone. Ever since, now and again, it pops out. When the accident occurred, he said it'd popped out again but that it was normal. However over the last few months our friendship has vanished and yesterday night I got a message saying he needed my insurance details to claim, as the pain was "so unbearable"...

the thing is, he has since been painting and sold paintings, which would obviously need a restricted time and delicate movement, something he didn't do during sixth form as it was causing too much discomfort. What's more interesting is that he put on his twitter feed about "steppign into the boxing ring for the first time" and then posted the next day "i thought insanity was hard but then i got into the 3rd round of 12 on the bags at boxing"

Surely if you were in that much pain it wouldn't hold water?! I don't know what to do, where to turn or what to think. I suffer with depression and anxiety and this isn't helping me one bit..Five months after the incident seems a weird time to be asking, and very coincidental that he wants to know.

He's already text me 3 times today again asking for my details, to which I have told him I will sort it on my day off on Friday

Any advice would be appreciated!

Thanks

rudekid48

Did you notify your insurer of the accident when it happened in October?

9217niall

rudekid48 wrote: »

Did you notify your insurer of the accident when it happened in October?

Yes, they were told the same day.

Had to claim for my car and that was all cleared up within a few weeks.

I did notify about his pre existing injury at the time, also.

rudekid48

9217niall wrote: »

Yes, they were told the same day.

Had to claim for my car and that was all cleared up within a few weeks.

I did notify about his pre existing injury at the time, also.

In that case, just give him the details and let your insurer deal with it. I'd let them know that he has indicated that he wants to claim and also let them know your suspicions. Once you've notified your insurer, any future correspondence from him regarding a claim can just be passed on to your insurer to be dealt with - you don't need to deal with him directly.

InsideInsurance

Submit the matter to your insurers, along with any screenprints from Twitter etc which go contrary to his claims and your insurers will deal with it for you.

Assuming you already claimed for the damage to your vehicle then if they make a claim or not isnt going to have any bearing on you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggshell_skull

As per the above, common law says you take your victim as you find them and so the fact they have a special vunrability to shoulder injury caused by their prior accident doesnt absolve you if they have suffered further injury by you

9217niall

rudekid48 wrote: »

In that case, just give him the details and let your insurer deal with it. I'd let them know that he has indicated that he wants to claim and also let them know your suspicions. Once you've notified your insurer, any future correspondence from him regarding a claim can just be passed on to your insurer to be dealt with - you don't need to deal with him directly.

Okay, thanks for the reply. It's frustrating as he's trying to pull a fast one.

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Submit the matter to your insurers, along with any screenprints from Twitter etc which go contrary to his claims and your insurers will deal with it for you.

Assuming you already claimed for the damage to your vehicle then if they make a claim or not isnt going to have any bearing on you.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggshell_skull

As per the above, common law says you take your victim as you find them and so the fact they have a special vunrability to shoulder injury caused by their prior accident doesnt absolve you if they have suffered further injury by you

Okay, as I say I did try to ring so will have to do at somepoint soon. DO I hang fire on details as he is claiming someone will ring him tomorrow morning to go through his "claim" at 10am and needs my details.

Yes I have already claimed for my car, so this won't have any bearing on my premiums if he claims?
It's still frustrating as can see it's not the case.

Okay, I didn't know about that; but the injury occurred two years previous and who's to say he didn't aggravate it doing boxing or painting....

InsideInsurance

9217niall wrote: »

Okay, as I say I did try to ring so will have to do at somepoint soon. DO I hang fire on details as he is claiming someone will ring him tomorrow morning to go through his "claim" at 10am and needs my details.

Yes I have already claimed for my car, so this won't have any bearing on my premiums if he claims?
It's still frustrating as can see it's not the case.

Okay, I didn't know about that; but the injury occurred two years previous and who's to say he didn't aggravate it doing boxing or painting....

Claims teams are split into different skills, starting with the basic claims registration team all the way up to the team that deal with multimillion pound personal injury claims.

The higher up the chain you are the less likely you are going to be answering your phone, basically. Hopefully if they have asked a callback then its from a PI claims handler and so better to speak to them than someone else.

Most insurers simply rate on if you've had a claim and if you have, was it fault or not. A few do add in if there are injuries or value but its the minority.

In theory the one that says is the medical experts. Of cause with relatively minor soft tissue injuries its never going to be clear cut.

At the end of the day, dont worry about it. Your insurers will deal with it appropriately. They may fight it based on what you say, they may decide it isnt economical to fight it as it'll cost more than to simply pay but that is their choice.

Lifes too short and its why we have insurance

vaio

9217niall wrote: »

.......DO I hang fire on details as he is claiming someone will ring him tomorrow morning to go through his "claim" at 10am and needs my details.

Yes I have already claimed for my car, so this won't have any bearing on my premiums if he claims?
It's still frustrating as can see it's not the case.

Okay, I didn't know about that; but the injury occurred two years previous and who's to say he didn't aggravate it doing boxing or painting....

You are obliged to give him the details and it's actually a criminal offence not to provide them if asked.

Sounds like he has a claim handler on the case and they could easily find out who your insurer was so just give them to him and avoid the upset.

More generally, you injured him so your insurer should (and will) pay. As others have mentioned, just because he was suffering from a previous injury doesn't absolve you from responsibility but obviously, if you feel he is exaggerating his injuries, then make your insurer aware of it.

Having said that, don't forget that with insurers pragmatism & cash are king so don't be surprised if they do nothing about your suspicions and, as he's your sisters boyfriend, maybe expect a falling out with them/her if they hear about your suspicions.