Neighbour says someone has seen me hit her car, but I know I haven't, what do I do?

Jasonn1

Hi all

So what's happened is that my neighbour came to my door the other day and said that her neighbour (elderly lady) has seen me hit her car, but this is a lie and I have no idea why she's doing this. The damage to her car is a scratch on the bumper, there's a scratch on my car as well (it was in poor condition when I bought it 2nd hand) but the height of the scartch on my car is around 60cm from floor, but hers is 45cm from floor, I tried to explain to her it's not possible for me to have damaged her car but she doesn't want to accept it. I really don't know what to do, am I responsible to pay for her damages just because she says her neighbour has seen me hit her car? I'd really appreciate some advice as I don't have experience dealing with situations like this.

Thrugelmir

Have a look at the car owned by the neighbour who is making the accusation. 

Merlin139

Tell your neighbour to take her witness to the police station and get them to deal with it.

facade

What has likely happened is the owner of the car has seen a scratch, thrown her hands in the air and run around panicking. The elderly neighbour heard this and said you did it, as she has seen you park next to it, and maybe it looked a bit close from her window.

Try and find out where the elderly neighbour was standing, and what sort of view they had.

Your options seem to be

Deny it, explain again how the scratches don't match and the elderly neighbour is mistaken because of where she was viewing from, refuse to pay, and preferably move house PDQ, before your gnomes get decapitated, you wake to find "Peedo" painted on your car/windows, you get people ringing the doorbell at 2AM etc.

Pay up, if you are rich, as money makes most problems go away (I assume this isn't really an option)

She can find out your insurer and put in a claim if she wants to pursue it, telling her the details of your insurer isn't required as you were not involved in an accident.

Car_54

facade said:

She can find out your insurer and put in a claim if she wants to pursue it, telling her the details of your insurer isn't required as you were not involved in an accident.

Not quite. The OP is clearly "A person against whom a claim is made", and must give his insurance details on demand  [Road Traffic Act 1988 s. 154], whether or not he believes the claim has any substance.

He should also inform his insurers.

facade

Car_54 said:

facade said:

She can find out your insurer and put in a claim if she wants to pursue it, telling her the details of your insurer isn't required as you were not involved in an accident.

Not quite. The OP is clearly "A person against whom a claim is made", and must give his insurance details on demand  [Road Traffic Act 1988 s. 154], whether or not he believes the claim has any substance.

He should also inform his insurers.

I didn't know that. So literally anyone can demand your insurance details at any time because they feel like trying to make a claim against you, and you have to supply them.

Jasonn1

facade said:

What has likely happened is the owner of the car has seen a scratch, thrown her hands in the air and run around panicking. The elderly neighbour heard this and said you did it, as she has seen you park next to it, and maybe it looked a bit close from her window.

Try and find out where the elderly neighbour was standing, and what sort of view they had.

Your options seem to be

Deny it, explain again how the scratches don't match and the elderly neighbour is mistaken because of where she was viewing from, refuse to pay, and preferably move house PDQ, before your gnomes get decapitated, you wake to find "Peedo" painted on your car/windows, you get people ringing the doorbell at 2AM etc.

Pay up, if you are rich, as money makes most problems go away (I assume this isn't really an option)

She can find out your insurer and put in a claim if she wants to pursue it, telling her the details of your insurer isn't required as you were not involved in an accident.

Haha, the first suggestion sounds great, luckily I haven't got any gnomes for her to decapitate. Any idea how my insurance company might deal with this? Would this cancel my 5 year no claims bonus?

Jasonn1

Car_54 said:

facade said:

She can find out your insurer and put in a claim if she wants to pursue it, telling her the details of your insurer isn't required as you were not involved in an accident.

Not quite. The OP is clearly "A person against whom a claim is made", and must give his insurance details on demand  [Road Traffic Act 1988 s. 154], whether or not he believes the claim has any substance.

He should also inform his insurers.

Any idea how my insurance company would deal with this situation considering that there's no evidence of an accident and the scratches don't match?

Jenni_D

If someone makes a claim against you(r insurer), the insurer will treat that as if there is a live, unresolved case. If your renewal falls whilst the case is still live then any no claims discount (bonus) will be altered (in accordance with the policy terms) as if it was a Fault claim and so the premium adjusted accordingly. If/when the claim is resolved and it is either cancelled or classified as Non-Fault (i.e. they didn't have to pay out anything) then your renewal should be revised to account for the non-claim.

[Deleted User]

Jasonn1 said:

Car_54 said:

facade said:

She can find out your insurer and put in a claim if she wants to pursue it, telling her the details of your insurer isn't required as you were not involved in an accident.

Not quite. The OP is clearly "A person against whom a claim is made", and must give his insurance details on demand  [Road Traffic Act 1988 s. 154], whether or not he believes the claim has any substance.

He should also inform his insurers.

Any idea how my insurance company would deal with this situation considering that there's no evidence of an accident and the scratches don't match?

They would do nothing but log it on the system.

That's the best course of action. Wait to see if the neighbour asks for insurance details. If so, give them and inform your insurance company that there is a bogus claim being made. It's up to the neighbour to prove it was you, and a single witness when the physical evidence doesn't line up won't get them very far.

In the meantime the only thing to do is take a photo of your car and hers, ideally with a tape measure showing the height of the scratches from the ground.

facade

Jasonn1 said:

Any idea how my insurance company would deal with this situation considering that there's no evidence of an accident and the scratches don't match?

They should refuse the claim as it never happened, but they will keep an open "at fault" claim against you for a couple of years whilst it gets sorted out, which will increase your premium, and you have to declare it if you move insurers.

If the witness is convincing enough, they may well pay out, as it is much cheaper for them than to argue in Court, in which case you will have an "at fault" claim to declare.