car accident - no damage and ins company has paid out over £2000

determined_new_ms

Hi I have just discovered my car insurance paid out £2200 on an accident I had in Sept. I was at fault. There was no damage to the other car, I was literally going less than 5 miles ph as we were crawling along in traffic. I took photos of both the bumper and underneath the bumper of the other car. I drive a peugeot and the other car was a defender. I informed my ins and said I had photos to prove there was no damage and was advised they would keep me updated with it.

I've just done my ins renewal and discovered they've paid out without contacting me. Can this be right?

neilmcl

It's for your insurer to decide whether and how much to pay on a fault claim against you, they don't need your consent.

determined_new_ms

neilmcl wrote: »

It's for your insurer to decide whether and how much to pay on a fault claim against you, they don't need your consent.

I'm so annoyed about it. How can it be right? They should have challenged it when there was proof. This person has taken the pee royally

Hasbeen

Perhaps whiplash payments for all those in the little tiny defender?

Billy_Bullocks

determined_new_ms wrote: »

I'm so annoyed about it. How can it be right? They should have challenged it when there was proof. This person has taken the pee royally

How can you be sure there was no damage?

You only appear to have had a quick look at the roadside, are you qualified to assess for damage?

neilmcl

determined_new_ms wrote: »

I'm so annoyed about it. How can it be right? They should have challenged it when there was proof. This person has taken the pee royally

What difference does it actually make to you, your premium will rise regardless.

Tiddlywinks

determined_new_ms wrote: »

I'm so annoyed about it. How can it be right? They should have challenged it when there was proof. This person has taken the pee royally

Get over it...

You caused an accident. You inconvenienced the other driver.

I bet you have zero knowledge of the Defender model so how could you know there was no damage?

Just suck it up - your fault, your loss.

Tilt

Wasn't Churchill bu any chance?

I had a very similar situation back in 2001 which I liken to a 'smash and cash' scenario.

Car in front of me suddenly stopped for no reason after we had both turned out of a side road thus meaning that the distance between us was minimal. I braked but couldn't avoid making contact with the rear of his car. There was no damage to my car but the other driver immediately opened his tail gate of the 10 year old Astra he was driving and then attempted to shut it again but it wouldn't latch. He claimed that I had damaged the locking mechanism of the tail gate!

Anyway cut a long story short, an estimate arrived via a no win no claim accident management co which was for in excess of £600! I immediately contacted Churchill to give them my thoughts and it was arranged for me to have my car examined by their accident repair centre in the West Midlands. Their engineer videoed the front end of my car and asked "where is the alleged damage"? I then showed him the estimate from the TP which detailed excessive rear end damage to his car. The engineer stated that the damage on the estimate is not consistent with condition of the front of my car unless my car had been already repaired (which it hadn't and I was able to prove that).

It turned out that despite all the evidence that the claim was dubious at best, plus the TP never provided his insurance details, Churchill paid out for the claim which seriously affected my no claim bonus. In the end it actually turned out that it the TP never went through an insurance company but used the accident management co (Draw your own conclusions to that one).

After months of wrangling and the threat of me complaining to the Insurance Ombudsman, Churchill finally accepted that the claim was fraudulent and re-instated my no claim bonus. But in the meantime it caused me considerable financial inconvenience which dissuaded me from insuring through them again.

Tiddlywinks

determined_new_ms wrote: »

Hi I have just discovered my car insurance paid out £2200 on an accident I had in Sept. I was at fault. There was no damage to the other car, I was literally going less than 5 miles ph as we were crawling along in traffic. I took photos of both the bumper and underneath the bumper of the other car. I drive a peugeot and the other car was a defender. I informed my ins and said I had photos to prove there was no damage and was advised they would keep me updated with it.

Just another observation... Defenders don't have rear bumpers - they have metal crossmembers which can have expensive kit attached.

On ours we have a tow bar with full electrics - if that were to be damaged I'm sure the bill from a dealer for the parts, labour, loan car etc would be into four figures.

When someone hits you then you want recompense to include original parts, at an authorised dealer and a comparable loan vehicle to use whilst yours is away... that is expensive.

agrinnall

I had a low speed accident (my fault) and there was no obvious damage to my car. It was only several weeks later when it went in for a service that things started to come to light, that eventually added up to around £2000 (although quite a bit chunk of that was for new headlights because a small plastic part had broken and couldn't be repaired, new light units were needed).

[Deleted User]

Had a similar thing, guy went into the back at low speed. Looked okay initially but when it went in for MOT/service the was about £700 worth of damage.