Car Accident - 3rd party says it never happened

MLAtherton

Hi guys

Im just interested to see what everyone thinks regarding an accident i was involved in earlier this year as the 3rd party have basically said that the accident never took place.

Me and my Mum were sitting idle in traffic as the lights were on Red and the 3rd party, clear as day went right into the back of us. I jumped out to assess what had happened and took photos immediately on my phone; making sure to get both cars and license plates in view. My mum took details of the 3rd party driver and insurance, however i do not believe that the 3rd party made a note of any of our details, other than the passenger giving me his mobile number as contact and in return i rang him so he had mine. At no point did they get out there car to assess the damage or take any photographs. They were quite a horrible couple to deal with to be honest, the lady driving exclaimed “her brakes weren’t working” and the guy got quite aggressive with me when he saw me on the phone as he thought i had rang the police. He also said as we were leaving “tell your insurance i was in the back of your car when you ring them so i get some money too” laughing whilst he said so.

This happened in February and we have gone through all the procedures with the Law firm that is used within our insurance policy. We heard absolutely nothing back until yesterday when my case handler informed me that she had spoken to the 3rd party insurance company and they said the reason they havnt been replying too much is because there client informs them that no accident took place; laughable. My case handler expressed how absurd that is and informed them we will be looking to issue Court proceedings and that we have a trough of evidence that proves the accident took place. 

My issue is that although I have photographs of the accident the damage appears minimal however the car did require work on the underside and a brand new bumper so it was worse than it looked. The 3rd parties car paint is quite clearly on my bumper and if you do zoom in you can also see the cracking and damage as well. As evidence i have the photographs from the accident as well as more from when i returned home to inspect the damage closer, i have the damager report from the garage that did the repairs (through the insurance) and i also have medical reports of our injuries that were performed by a Private GP through the law company.

I am currently waiting for the Litigation team to get in touch with me about the court proceedings, however my case handler is content that the case will never get to court. She is also waiting on the litigation teams advice regarding releasing our evidence as she wants to make sure she does it when the time is right.

Do you think there is any cause for concern here? It is highly frustrating that someone has gone right into the back of me and then have the audacity to say it never happened.

Apologies for the lengthy post, any feedback and help is appreciated.

Michael

Grumpy_chap

Do any of your photos show the reg plate and / or driver / passenger of the car that went into the back of you?
I fear otherwise, if the photos just show it was a red car (or whatever colour), the other party could stick with their line and say it was a different red car.  Was there really any damage to their car?  Was the other car an old one?

MLAtherton

Grumpy_chap said:

Do any of your photos show the reg plate and / or driver / passenger of the car that went into the back of you?
I fear otherwise, if the photos just show it was a red car (or whatever colour), the other party could stick with their line and say it was a different red car.  Was there really any damage to their car?  Was the other car an old one?

Yes i have a couple of photos showing the 3rd party car and the license plate.There is one photo that you can see the passenger of the 3rd party car if zoomed in as well. The first photo i took is pretty much straight after the accident happened and the 3rd party car is pretty much an inch or so away from my bumper.

There was damage to there car yes, albeit minimal. There was cracking to the front bumper, license plate and a part of the bumper had come loose, again clearly visible. There car was 4 years old, registered in 2016 as a new car.

Thanks for your reply!

Grumpy_chap

I asked about the age of the other car because, if the damage was slight, and the car an old banger, they might bit be all that fussed.  One assumes with a 2016 car they will be keener to keep it in good state of repair.

I wonder what the motivation is to say "there was no accident"?  Protect NCB?  Uninsured driver?

It is quite odd - the opposite of a "crash for cash" scam.

Could it be that the couple who drove into your car had a "cloned" number plate so, when the insurer contacted the genuine owner of the correct car for the number plate, they replied honestly that they had not been in a crash?

macman

Since you say you were both injured, why did you not call the police to attend the scene?

MLAtherton

macman said:

Since you say you were both injured, why did you not call the police to attend the scene?

Injuries onset a few hours after the accident unfortunately, was running on adrenaline. Textbook case of whiplash unfortunately!
Grumpy_chap said:

I asked about the age of the other car because, if the damage was slight, and the car an old banger, they might bit be all that fussed.  One assumes with a 2016 car they will be keener to keep it in good state of repair.

I wonder what the motivation is to say "there was no accident"?  Protect NCB?  Uninsured driver?

It is quite odd - the opposite of a "crash for cash" scam.

Could it be that the couple who drove into your car had a "cloned" number plate so, when the insurer contacted the genuine owner of the correct car for the number plate, they replied honestly that they had not been in a crash?

Indeed it is quite odd, the name the driver gave on the day matched up to what the insurance company has on file as well so hopefully nothing to do with a cloned number plate, although i dont know much about how that works to say for sure!

Completely get what you say about if it was an old banger, minimal damage would mean nothing to them in that case. Luckily there car was white and mine is blue and you can see quite clearly the contact area as there has been paint transfer, something my case handler pointed out as being quite a vital for evidence.

The whole “it never happened” thing has honestly baffled me, they both saw me gathering evidence with photographs so why they would think i couldnt back up the idea of an accident is puzzling. The only logical reason that i could think would be because of the minimal exterior damage to there car, so they may think they can get away with it.

AdrianC

MLAtherton said:

Do you think there is any cause for concern here? It is highly frustrating that someone has gone right into the back of me and then have the audacity to say it never happened.

Some people are lying gits who are incapable of accepting culpability for anything. Hold the front page.

Right, that basic life lesson out the way...

As far as the two insurers are concerned, there are no independent witnesses. You say it did. They say it didn't. What evidence is there? A photo showing the two bumpers fairly close to each other. No context in that pic?

MLAtherton

AdrianC said:

MLAtherton said:

Do you think there is any cause for concern here? It is highly frustrating that someone has gone right into the back of me and then have the audacity to say it never happened.

Some people are lying gits who are incapable of accepting culpability for anything. Hold the front page.

Right, that basic life lesson out the way...

As far as the two insurers are concerned, there are no independent witnesses. You say it did. They say it didn't. What evidence is there? A photo showing the two bumpers fairly close to each other. No context in that pic?

Thanks for the reply Adrian, that is not the only evidence i have.

I have around 10 photos from the accident, showing the two vehicles, the registration plates, the location of the impact and the damage. I also have damage reports from the garage which backs up the claim that I was hit in the area that you can see in the photographs. 

The critical part, according to my case handler is that you can clearly see Paint exchange on a couple of photographs at the impact point which matches the 3rd parties car, thus indicating that a collision did indeed occur.

facade

Why didn't the other driver simply say that you accidentally selected reverse and backed into him?

what proof have you got that you didn't?

AdrianC

MLAtherton said:

AdrianC said:

MLAtherton said:

Do you think there is any cause for concern here? It is highly frustrating that someone has gone right into the back of me and then have the audacity to say it never happened.

Some people are lying gits who are incapable of accepting culpability for anything. Hold the front page.

Right, that basic life lesson out the way...

As far as the two insurers are concerned, there are no independent witnesses. You say it did. They say it didn't. What evidence is there? A photo showing the two bumpers fairly close to each other. No context in that pic?

Thanks for the reply Adrian, that is not the only evidence i have.

I have around 10 photos from the accident, showing the two vehicles, the registration plates, the location of the impact and the damage. I also have damage reports from the garage which backs up the claim that I was hit in the area that you can see in the photographs. 

The critical part, according to my case handler is that you can clearly see Paint exchange on a couple of photographs at the impact point which matches the 3rd parties car, thus indicating that a collision did indeed occur.

Well, it's up to your insurer to make the decision as to how to proceed. When you claimed from them, you gave them the right to make the final decision.

ratrace

Please tell me you have bought a dash cam since this has happened funnily enough since i have fitted the second rear dash cam tailgating has reduced maybe due to the fact that you can see it plus there is a flashing red light when it on its quite obvious.

My wake up call was when a clown cut me up while going around a roundabout and veered into my lane nearly taking the front corner off, when i caught up with him at the lights "i said thats was close you nearly hit me" and he replied "what you talikng about you came into my lane" with a smile from then on i knew people will lie no matter what especially when it comes to money. So i bought a dashcam from amazon best £80 i spent especially when my excess is £500 on my trade policy. sorry to go off topic a little but these are the type of people you have to share the roads with so its best to make sure you have a fighting chance should the worst happen.