Fraudulent claim against me, help!

MancBee

Everyone has gone up (when you put the open claim in)... the other half did the quotes originally forgetting about this incident, which is how we came to the doubled premium figure. 
But yes could well be wanting rid as we discussed with the renewals guy what it would be if the claim got closed and they were still £150 ish more than the others.

jimjames

It's an interesting point whether the question you're asked for quotes on new policy - have you been involved in an accident - is answered truthfully as no. Even though there is a spurious claim the OP can say they have not had an accident or made a claim. I guess it really depends on the exact wording of the question.

MancBee

Indeed the wording of the comparison sites is very much "have you been involved in an accident" and the truthful answer is no I have not. There is no way to put in "have you been accused of being in an accident". 

Sandtree

MancBee said:

Indeed the wording of the comparison sites is very much "have you been involved in an accident" and the truthful answer is no I have not. There is no way to put in "have you been accused of being in an accident". 

Unfortunately unless each question is 3 paragraphs in length there will always be grey areas or out and out unintended consequences. 

There was a thread earlier on the Insurance forum of someone noticing that rather than being asked if you were at fault for the accident or not it asked you to select from "I hit someone", "Someone hit me" or "We hit each other". If you turned right out of a side road without looking and are t-boned you'd almost certainly be at fault but most would select "someone hit me" which is clearly pointing to non-fault.

With aggregators in particular though you have to double check the answers when you get to the insurers/brokers website as whilst the aggregator may ask have you been involved in an accident the insurer may ask about accidents or claims which will change what the correct answer is.

ontheroad1970

And you definitely do not want cover being cancelled due to non disclosure as that is a whole new world of financial pain

AdrianC

The insurers aren't stupid with their wording.

The Meerkats ask...
"Have you had any motor accidents, claims or losses in the past 5 years, no matter who was at fault or if a claim was made?"
with a break-out box when you hover over the question...
"It is really important to tell us about any claims (including unsettled claims), accidents or losses that are motor vehicle related."

Given that question, can the OP really answer "No"? He cannot, not without lying being somewhat flexible with his interpretation.

MancBee

ontheroad1970 said:

And you definitely do not want cover being cancelled due to non disclosure as that is a whole new world of financial pain

Oh yep whoever we were thinking of changing to we were going to call to explain it all anyway if we still have no resolution, not chancing wording interpretation, as sandtree said, the boxes would be infinite to be able to cover all eventualities.

I would not be lying saying I've not been in a motor accident, nor made a claim or a loss. But it is pedantic and I understand what the insurers are asking hence we would be calling to get the new cover anyway. 

AdrianC

MancBee said:
I would not be lying saying I've not been in a motor accident, nor made a claim or a loss.

But you HAVE had a claim... You didn't MAKE it, but you've HAD it.

Sandtree

MancBee said:

I would not be lying saying I've not been in a motor accident, nor made a claim or a loss. But it is pedantic and I understand what the insurers are asking hence we would be calling to get the new cover anyway. 

If the question was purely on an accident then you have plausible deniability to say you havent been however given these questions are also intended to cover fire, theft, vandalism etc they will almost certainly cover claims and/or accidents rather than accidents in isolation. 

Whilst it may not have been voluntary a third party registering a claim against your policy would by industry standards be considered as you having made a claim against your policy. You could attempt to argue semantics with the insurer and subsequently the FOS but you'd be on much thinner ice than if the question was limited to accidents alone.

MancBee

And as I said I will be calling to explain the situation not relying on check boxes. You are now not being helpful so I would suggest the thread be closed.