Someone making a claim against me 8 months ago?

Danei128

Hi all -

I'm a young driver and someone in November last year tried to fit through a gap which wasnt big enough and he clipped my wing mirror. My whole mirror came off literally however his was fine (the case popped out on one end). I took pictures which is how i remember this incident. And i took details of him after some discussion as at first he refused to give me his details. Anyway fast forward now - i have a new car and a new insurance policy as the old one has run out when I have a letter from some solicitor claiming that someone wants to claim their financial losses of the accident - which was literally none.. as my mirror popped back into place and there was no damage visible afterwards. Anyway - how do I go about this? I still am with the same insurance company, but on a different policy on a new car.. This letter also has my name spelled horribly wrong along with my address and it contains no details of my actual vehicle..

What should I do? Will my current insurance premium increase? Will it affect my NCB?

Quentin

You need to pass this on to your insurer unanswered and let them deal with it. (Your policy docs will tell you what to do when getting correspondence like this)


Make sure your insurer knows your side of the story.


If they end up having to pay out, then you will lose your NCD awarded from last year as well as 2 years from any existing NCD you had at the start of that year, and a premium increase is inevitable.


If the amount paid out makes it cost effective you can reimburse your insurer and get any lost NCD reinstated


(Third parties have 6 years to claim for damage)

Danei128

So if its not my fault (which it wasnt) and there was basically no damage to his car - the only visible damage was to mine then I will still keep it?

Also can they increase my current policy? Which I have already paid in full last week

Quentin

Yes if it's concluded that you were not in any way to blame there will be no impact on your NCD


Assuming this is a "genuine" claim over the incident you were involved in, then it may come down to a 50/50 if there were no witnesses and no way of knowing who's side is telling the truth.


(Presumably the third party has managed to persuade the solicitor you were to blame)

Danei128

Quentin wrote: »

Yes if it's concluded that you were not in any way to blame there will be no impact on your NCD


Assuming this is a "genuine" claim over the incident you were involved in, then it may come down to a 50/50 if there were no witnesses and no way of knowing who's side is telling the truth.


(Presumably the third party has managed to persuade the solicitor you were to blame)

Also can they increase my current policy? Which I have already paid in full last week.

I do have photos of the incident which I managed to track down - not only that but my vehicle is fitted with a blackbox which reports any big collisions to my insurance company

Quentin

Only if you are held in any way to blame (or partly to blame) could they increase your premium.


Make sure you pass on copies of the photos to your insurer.

teddysmum

Also, make sure that the person making the claim is the same one involved at the time, as it could be just someone who witnessed the bump and took down your car registration, meaning to 'try it on'.


As a family we have had four cases of wrongful accusation.


Both my son and husband have been accused of accidents when they could ,luckily prove that they were nowhere near the 'incident',as they were driving for work in a known location.


My husband received papers about an accident in his car, but it turned out to be the same make, model and colour but the typist mis-copied a digit in the registration (The dealer had batch registered lookalike cars ).


Then my husband was accused of damaging a Porsche, while making a delivery, but , luckily, he was being watched (reversing) on all sides by a customer's staff, so had witnesses.


It turned out that a panicking worker, at an adjacent company, had damaged his hire car and wanted a scapegoat.