3rd Party Insurance Claim made against me

ClareCulf

I received notification from my insurance company that someone had made a claim against me because damage had been done to their car while it was parked and I had parked next to it. I am assuming they have made the same claim to everyone that appeared on CCTV over the course of the day that it was parked there. However there was no notification of what the damage was or where or how it had been caused. There was no damage on my car and I have no knowledge of any being caused. I have had an inspection of my car and cooperated as much as possible whilst still not knowing what it is I am alleged to have done.

I have now been notified that the 3rd party is not pursuing a claim against me but that this attempted claim will remain on my file (I don't know how long for) as they may attempt to claim at a later date. How is this fair?? How can someone make a claim not telling the person what they have done, then drop it and leave the innocent party with a note on their insurance record?? (which can presumably be seen by all insurance companies) What happened to innocent unless proven guilty?? I am so frustrated...

Quentin

Whenever you are not happy with your insurance company the route to go down is a complaint in line with their complaints procedure

Then if you are not happy with the reply or they ignore you for 8 weeks you can escalate to the FOS for their adjudication at no cost to you

[Deleted User]

Is there actually any negative side to having this on your file? You don't have to declare it when you renew insurance or do a comparison. They may just want to keep it on file because if the 3rd party changes their mind later they need all the documentation accumulated so far.

Quentin

DELETED USER wrote:

Is there actually any negative side to having this on your file? You don't have to declare it when you renew insurance or do a comparison.........

In addition to disclosing claims you often have to disclose incidents that could lead to a claim

garth549

^^ But what if there is no 'incident' that you're aware of!

So I can just go to a random car park, pick out a random car, get their insurance details, phone them up and say I'm intending to make a claim for damage without elaborating and the person that policy belongs to has to declare this for the next 6 years and live with increased premiums?

How is that right or remotely fair?!

Retrogamer

garth549 wrote: »

^^ But what if there is no 'incident' that you're aware of!

So I can just go to a random car park, pick out a random car, get their insurance details, phone them up and say I'm intending to make a claim for damage without elaborating and the person that policy belongs to has to declare this for the next 6 years and live with increased premiums?

How is that right or remotely fair?!

Yes, but it won't be 6 years.

ClareCulf

I know it is ridiculous - in no other walk of life would this be acceptable behaviour,.... Imagine going up to someone who had walked past you and accused them of assault and that remaining on their file for 6 years just in case you decided that in the next 6 years you might pursue the claim...

ClareCulf

Well that's how long they are keeping it open for....

Quentin

ClareCulf wrote: »

Well that's how long they are keeping it open for....

Third parties have 6 years to make claims for damage


But (as advised in #6 above) you won't have to disclose this for 6 years!


The maximum driving history required by insurers is 5 years in respect of claims/losses etc, and you will find some who ask for your history over less then 5 years

Jumblebumble

Quentin wrote: »

Third parties have 6 years to make claims for damage


But (as advised in #6 above) you won't have to disclose this for 6 years!


The maximum driving history required by insurers is 5 years in respect of claims/losses etc, and
you will find some who ask for your history over less then 5 years

I had always understood ( perhaps wrongly) that no one else can claim against your insurance but that they claim against you and the insurance indemnify you.
I would be tempted to formally complain to your insurers that this is a bogus claim and that you will report the other party to the police for attempted fraud and then see what the Ombudsman has to say.
The prospect of the insurance company paying £500 or so often takes the matter out of staff who cannot make decisions and into the hands of someone who can and helps to focus their minds on resolving the matter fairly

FutureGirl

Innocent unless proven guilty refers to criminal matters. This is a civil matter.

Your insurer has likely received notification from the parked cars insurers - so your insurer should be asking for the information from their insurers (IE seeing their engineer report etc).

How do you know there is CCTV footage? Has your insurer seen this?

Other poster is correct in that the parked car owner claims from you, and your insurance indemnifies you. However they are incorrect regarding the rest of their post.