Personal injury claim after bump

Nicola83

Recently myself and my partner were involved in a minor collision whereby a parked car at the side of the road pulled out without looking and hit the passenger side of my car, scraping and denting both passenger side doors and the rear wheel arch. He admitted fault and we have an independent witness who got it all on dashcam so it's a straightforward non fault claim for me on my insurance.
My question is, we've since been contacted by a company called UK legal assist who have basically told us the third party's insurance has agreed a personal injury pay out of £1500 per passenger.

This is after me telling my insurance company there was no injuries as the bump was only minor and whilst the car did move slightly, it was nowhere near at enough force to cause injury.
The guy I spoke to has basically told me to lie that we had soreness around our neck, back and shoulder area so we would get a pay out! He said he'd get a courier to come out with some paperwork for us to sign and we'd be ready to go. Now obviously I'm not going to lie as it's insurance fraud and I'm not going to get another insurance company to pay out for something that never happened, all I want is my car fixed, nothing else.

I'm guessing my question is, does this happen a lot after an accident? And more to the point, how did they know about it? Would my insurance company have passed my details to other people?

FutureGirl

The insurer has not 'put £1500 aside per passenger'.

It's likely your details were sold to UK Legal Assist. Your insurer wouldn't have passed them over, but it could have been the garage / hire company

If you're not injured, tell them that.

garth549

These companies are a disgrace. They word their scripts very carefully to make it sound like guaranteed £1000's for any 'slight discomfort' you've had since your accident. All you have to do is give them the nod.

After someone hit me from behind I had one company call me 3 times and they wouldn't take "I'm not injured' for an answer. I wanted to report them to someone at the time but never got around to it. They were clearly trying to get me to pursue a fraudulent claim presumably so they could get a juicy commission.

Edit:

I've just remembered a story I read where one of these companies convinced a single mum to start multiple claims for her and 2 children. When the third party insurers disputed the claim she withdrew it. This company then sued her for £1000's in lost commission as per the contract she signed with them.

Anyone reading this - never, ever be tempted to sign anything from one of these companies. Find your own legal representation if you're genuinely injured.

Nasqueron

£1500 is go away money, my other half had that from a guy who went through a give way into the side of her car and shunted it a fair bit (the thing was severe enough to the extent he was claiming neck pains and the fire brigade were going to cut the roof off his car upon which he miraculously recovered). The insurer of the guy who drove into me when cycling also offered £1500 first time around, bumped it up after a medical

System

Be prepared for lots of calls in the months to come about the accident , i was hit almost 5 yrs ago and still get calls saying "we hear you have recently been involved in an accident " the last one i said yes it was fatal i didnt survive ! strange enough i havent had one since .

Zorillo

I've found threatening to report them to police for insurance fraud buys a bit of temporary relief.

Nebulous2

Insurers do sell your details to these companies. They also punt you to one when they are sure it is a non-fault claim as they get commission. The claims companies also give you vastly over-priced hire cars and the insurers have begun to kick back by questioning and refusing the costs.

A claim company tried to persuade my wife to claim for injury when she wasn't even in the car at the time - it was parked.

All-in-all it is a massive racket.

Nasqueron

Nebulous2 wrote: »

Insurers do sell your details to these companies. They also punt you to one when they are sure it is a non-fault claim as they get commission. The claims companies also give you vastly over-priced hire cars and the insurers have begun to kick back by questioning and refusing the costs.

A claim company tried to persuade my wife to claim for injury when she wasn't even in the car at the time - it was parked.

All-in-all it is a massive racket.

NHS hospital sold mine on lol