Pestered to make a "minor impact" claim

CB1971

Hello all, I wonder if I can get a sanity check?


I was in a car collision last summer, which was the other party's fault. Their insurers admitted fault and I was able to claim in full for the cost of a replacement car while my car was being repaired, and the cost of towing and repairing my own car. Fortunately, neither I nor any of my passengers were hurt. All fine.


The claim was settled around a month after the accident. Since then, I have been pestered by weekly, and sometimes daily, calls from people claiming to come from different claims companies or agencies "working with the insurer". They all say more or less the same thing: that the other party's insurers have "set aside" a sum of money that I only need to claim, for the suffering (my words) caused by this minor accident. Every time I repeat that nobody was injured, even slightly, every time the caller insists that the money is already allocated and that I would be mad not to claim it.


Am I Mad?! This seems to me like I am being pressured to make a fraudulent insurance claim. We have had our claim in relation to the car itself settled in full, and I reported to our insurers at the time, and have adamantly repeated to all these callers, that nobody in my car was injured.


The calls, according to my mobile phone, have come from all sorts of numbers, all over the country. Usually I stop them after their first sentence, but occasionally I speak to them. Today's caller (from Glasgow, but with a Liverpool accent) spent several minutes talking over me and attempting polite persuasion but ended by telling me, when I said that I was going to contact the third party's insurer direct, that I am pathetic and I should get a f****** life. That kind of confirmed to me that this is not really a valid business, and not something I should follow up.


What really annoys me is that one caller said that now my details are "out there" the calls will persist for up to two years after the date of the accident; today's caller said it would be three years. In which case I will have to seriously consider changing my phone number, which I've had since 2000!


Please advise - am I right to hold out against these callers and refuse to make a claim? Is there anything I can do to stop the calls, beyond the massive upheaval of changing my phone number (I suppose I could make an insurance claim for the cost of that ;-) )?


Many thanks!

Quentin

The rep who told you the calls could keep on for 3 years was correct (you have 3 years to claim for injuries).


You are not alone in getting these calls. Along with other cold calls re PPI etc.


Changing number is only a temporary fix as they use all manner of technology to find "live" numbers.


Consider a call blocker

rr755507

You are not alone, somebody drove into my unoccupied parked car last year, all sorted through my insurance (Admiral) but ever since have been getting these calls daily

The callers number changes, so they are impossible to block. A large percentage of the calls also come from my area code, so hard to ignore.

The callers know my name, dob, car reg, so my details have obviously been sold to them. I haven't used any price comparison websites or given the crash details to anyone else, so either my insurance, their insurance, or the body shop are selling them on. Thanks Admiral.

magpiecottage

Do you have the number of the caller - or better still the CMC they claim to represent?

Once you have this information you can make a complaint against the CMC.

chris_m

Are these callers definitely referring to this accident, or are they just shysters calling you, amongst thousands/millions of other numbers, in hope of picking up a compo claim, of which they will of course cream off a not insignificant percentage?
If they are coming from an assortment of numbers, my suspicion is the latter. I had lots of these sort of calls despite not having had an accident - one even accused me of lying when I said I hadn't had an accident. In the end I got a call blocker and it''s true, silence is golden.

wongataa

CB1971 wrote: »

Please advise - am I right to hold out against these callers and refuse to make a claim?

Yes, you are doing the right thing.

CB1971 wrote: »

Is there anything I can do to stop the calls, beyond the massive upheaval of changing my phone number (I suppose I could make an insurance claim for the cost of that ;-) )?

Not really I'm afraid. When they call just hang up or if you are in the mood string them along for a bit making things up and then hang up. For fun you could always tell them you died in the accident

Browntoa

My stock replies

1 ) what insurer was that with , I change each year and my memories bad

Cue 3 minutes of them trying variations of " but have you had an accident" with me parrot repeating the above

They hang up in the end

rr755507

chris_m wrote: »

Are these callers definitely referring to this accident, or are they just shysters calling you, amongst thousands/millions of other numbers, in hope of picking up a compo claim, of which they will of course cream off a not insignificant percentage?

In my case yes. They know the date of the accident, and car reg, I've never had any cold calls until after the accident. The numbers they call from are all fake, but generally originate from London, Birmingham or my local area code.

CB1971

Thanks all!

They definitely all have full details of my actual accident, apparently passed on by the other party's insurers. I have decided to keep a log of the calls - my mobile's log goes back to October, so the earliest are missing, but it's still going to be an impressive list - and start asking the callers for their details. Whether I can do anything with it - don't suppose they're covered by the insurance regulators - is questionable, but it will keep me entertained for the next 2 years and 9 months.

System

CB1971 wrote: »

but it will keep me entertained for the next 2 years and 9 months.

You could try a few variations:

"Please hold. Your call is important to us, and will be answerd when an adviser becomes available."Then just leave the phone on.

Pretend you are a jehovah's witness or something. Say that God has chosen to work through them. Ask if you might send them some more information, leaflets, etc.

String them along with lots of increasingly irelevant information, and then reveal that you are 95 in an old people's home and it's so nice to get calls from people wishing you happy birthday. Tell them about other calls and visitors you have been having.

Pretend that the accident was a scam and you set it up to extract lots of money. Ask how quickly they can get it for you, whether they want you to send them some more fake cam footage. See just how crooked they can reveal themselves to be, or whether they actually realise you are making it up.

Give them each others' numbers as further witnesses to the accident.

Endless fun

chris_m

Hehe, I like the last one in that list, Clifford ;-)