Help, I think someone is trying to extort money from me by saying I hit their car

GeorgeDawes_2

Last September, just two days into my new car insurance policy, a neighbour falsely claimed on my car insurance (Diamond).

To cut a long story short, I took high res photos of both vehicles, secretly recorded a conversation with the guy trying to get me to pay him privately, passed these onto Diamond who then sent out an independent assessor. Their report stated that the impact profiles of both vehicles is not compatible. Conclusion: the damage to the TP does not appear to have been caused by the PH.

The claims department then said:

I am also pleased to confirm that your NCB has not been affected as a result of this matter and we have obtained enough evidence to warrant non involvement from our perspective.

Now, I ring up Diamond and the person in renewals gives me a quote of 2 grand! Apparently it is still logged on their system as a 'claim' because the TP insurer (royal sun alliance) has not closed their claim yet as they are still "investigating it" (the supposed incident happened almost a year ago).

I got Diamond's claims department to liaise with their renewals department, explaining that I was the victim of fraud, but there is nothing renewals can do until the TP insurer closes their claim down - even though their own claims department is on my side!

Diamond say they can't force the hand of the TP insurer (Royal Sun Alliance) to close their claim either, and it could remain 'open' for years.

Apparently when I go around shopping for new quotes I have to tell these new companies about this "incident" or "accident", even though *there was neither an incident nor an accident*!

How am I going to get out of this? Why is that guy allowed to affect my premium when nothing actually happened *and I obtained evidence that nothing happened*, and my insurer accepts that nothing happened?

Do I report Royal Sun Alliance to the Ombudsman? This alleged incident occurred a year ago, why are they allowed to keep the claim open indefinitely?

Why can't Diamond just give me a renewal quote based on their evidence - that nothing happened?

Can I go ahead with a new policy elsewhere and not declare this, assuming that the TP insurer will close the claim soon - and if not, I can always send a new insurer the paperwork from Diamond which backs me up in saying that it never happened?

I'm guessing if I mention it to new insurers, they will just treat it like it actually happened, because it's easier to just tack a high price onto a policy than review evidence.

straighttalker

They've got up to 6 years to present a claim for vehicle damage. Looks like you're stuck with it.

bod1467

Raise a small claim against RSA for the difference in premium you're having to endure because of their inaction?

Have Diamond said what your renewal would be if the claim was closed out?

GeorgeDawes_2

bod1467 wrote: »

Raise a small claim against RSA for the difference in premium you're having to endure because of their inaction?

Have Diamond said what your renewal would be if the claim was closed out?

Interesting idea about raising a small claim against RSA. What made you think of that? is there a precedent for this?

An online comparison site put my premium at around the 900 mark for Diamond.

bod1467

Small claims was just a thought - no idea if there's any precedence for this. (Not that small claims set any precedent anyway). Anyone with reasonable cause can take anyone else to small claims court, as long as they follow the claims guidelines and pay their fees.

How does £900 compare to last year's premium? How does it compare with what other insurers offer (per comparison sites)?

arcon5

Get quotes without the incident then ring the cheapest and explain the situation

Nodding_Donkey

You can't report RSA to the ombudsman as you are not their customer. I had this happen to me and LV (my insurer) discounted it at renewal time, relying on their own assessment of the case. I think you really need to push Diamond on this.

Quentin

GeorgeDawes wrote: »

Can I go ahead with a new policy elsewhere and not declare this......

No, don't do this - you do have a claim against you at present which it sounds like has not been removed from your record and will be on the shared database for other insurers to see.


Your main thrust should be against your own insurer.


Make a formal complaint that through their maladministration you are being put to unnecessary expense, and include a copy of their letter you quote in your OP.


Ask them to correct your record, and reimburse you any expense this has caused you.


Then if unhappy with their reply you can escalate to the FOS for their adjudication at no cost to you.

patman99

You can get Diamond to send you a letter stating what your current NCD is and that a claim was made against you, but was deemed fruadulent by them based on evidence provided by an assessor.

You can then get a few quotes using a mix of comparison sites and quotes direct from the likes of Churchill, Direct Line, LV & the Co-Op none of which use comparison sites.

I'll bet you will get a lower quote than Diamond are giving you.

GeorgeDawes_2

Unfortunately the 'record' which is besmirched and is driving up my policy is the CUE Claims database. This the one which all insurers use, so anytime I get a quote anywhere it will record as if I was involved in an "incident", whether or not there was a claim. It is the responsibility of the third party insurer to close the claim, but they are allowed to keep it open indefinitely.