False insurance claim against me

[bunnishiwa]

Hi,

Firstly I will start out by stating that I know any comments made on here by others are simply well meaning advice and personal experience and do not constitute 'real' advice. However, I can't do anything till tomorrow so thought it worth putting it out there.

Several months ago I came back from two weeks hols abroad to a police card on my door step from a station on the other side of the city. Called it following morning. They were investigating an accident and my name was put forward. The date the lady gave me was fortunately a day I remembered (I was on hols for the week and me n the misses were at home - approx. 100km's from the alleged 'scene') I explained this to the PC I spoke to who seemed satisfied, and I also said I would be happy for any examination of my vehicle to show that no repairs had been done. From memory (wish I'd written this all down) someone had hit a parked car and left (I think) just my name. Anyway, that was that and didn't think anything of it

Fast forward to today - received a letter from an insurance company with a recovery of costs demand for the accident for $4k..... Pretty f'd off as you can imagine.

Q. Do I call the police station back and speak to the original PC for more info? Do I just pass all details to my insurance company inc (I guess) a statement of my movements on that day? Something else? I am fully comp insured with rating one + protection and were I ever (touch wood) to have an accident damned right the insurance company would be paying - that's why I have insurance........ Obviously someone has my name (and possibly/possibly not my rego which would narrow it down)

Would love to hear from anyone who's known of similar situations or anyone (I know there's a few of you) who work for insurance companies who can advise

Cheers

[scott_drake]

your story sounds all over the place, give me a run down of exactly what happened and how in the hell did your name get put forward to the police...you need to find out who put the claim agaisnt you (legal point of view the police have to supply that information if someone is claiming against you in a "normal car accident"). see if the other driver has your drivers lic details, addres, rego plates etc... etc..


theres holes in your story mate,


which insurance?


Dont pay a FUKN CENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Trust me, just ignore the letter until insurance make the effort to call you otherwise you will be passed around for 2-3weeks until you speak to someone who knows whats going on, when you recieve that phone call from insurance (this would mean a person knows who you are and what it is regarding) then simply explain to the insurnance that you had nothing to do with the accident, you where on holidays etc etc....give them the police event number and hang up the phone.


end of story,

[bunnishiwa]

Car was sideswiped whilst parked. Someone left my rego (no other details apparently) at the scene.

Not paying a damned cent to anyone. I was over 105km's away from the scene of the accident on the day. And I do remember the day (thank god)

Not worth just passing on to my insurance company? Worth calling cops re info?

[scott_drake]

?

easy, does the car that got side swiped have your personal details?

im guessing no so thats why your on here...call the cops and ask for the details of the other car involved...

id be carefull because someone is trying to set you up

[Zaphod]

Marc,
Do not ignore the letter from the claimant.

Firstly contact your insurance company & explain what has happened so far. You do not need to deal with the claimant's insurance company, that is why you pay your insurance company.

From now on, record the name of who you spoke to, the time you spoke to that person and what was discussed.

Explain the facts the same way you did to the police.

Go back to the police station, try & find the person you spoke to; they are required to record anything discussed and will need to release these details to your insurer, if not to you. Let your insurance company know you are going to do this.

Contact the people you were visiting and ask them initially to send you written confirmation of the fact you were visiting, and the times / dates you were there (an email is fine); they may need to eventually provide a Statutory Declaration, but your insurance company will be able to assist in this.

Make it very clear to the insurance company that you are not responsible for the collision and offer them the opportunity to inspect your vehicle for repairs.

Importantly, Keep Calm - the claimant's insurance company may well attempt to harass you into payment, threatening the engagement of a collection agency - if this happens, record the time and date of the conversation and the name of the person you spoke to and refer them to your insurance company.

Also, if someone left your rego details without a name or contact No. it doesn't really count for much - had you left the note, you would have also left yor contact details wouldn't you. I suspect someone is trying to pass the blame, probably they hit the claimant's car, they were seen to do so and put a note on the car to assuage any onlookers.

It wouldn't hurt to contact the shopping centre management to see if the area was visible from their security cameras, although it may be too late by now - still very much worth a try though...


You'll be fine!

[bunnishiwa]

Thanks gents. I have called AAMI with all details and emphasised that my vehicle was over 100km's away that day (and that week even - who goes to Footscray???) and that my rego had been left fraudulently. I am sending them the letter from the other company and a statement for them to begin investigation

Hopefully this will blow over quickly

[Lancer1993]

Any updates on this?

Hope things are fine now.

[burfadel]

I had an accident last year, put through insurance etc. I got a letter a month or so later from the car rental company the other person used, Acorn Rentals, demanding immediate payment of $810 (it was $800 something). This is a rental company that is used by many insurance agencies apparently. The other person was with SGIC. Anyways on the document it did actually say contact my insurance company if I have a policy in small writing down the bottom.

The dodgy thing was they already knew I had insurance, it was on the demand letter! I rang RAA who I was with, they said they've experienced that before from this company and it was already paid, so just ignore it. I haven't heard from them since. Basically Acorn Rentals it seems was up hoping to catch me in the moment of distress and have the bill double paid. I didn't like that they got my address details through the insurance report, my address has got zero to do with them. It is effectively a scam by this dodgy company and they get away with it because apparently the demand letter was written by lawyers (apparently). Many people would pay it without knowing better. In this case RAA good, Acorn Rentals bad, and shame on SGIC for using Acorn Rentals..

In your case, was it just your name on the note? I doubt by name alone they can hold you responsible. Unfortunately in your case I'd be worried about repo rtc. It would be incredibly difficult to get your property back even if you were proven undeniably to be innocent. I'd be chasing this up, the claim against you appears to be fraudulent so you have grounds to ask for a police investigation into it. Bit of a tough call, not sure if they can use any form of traffic info like street cameras, or credit card info etc to show you weren't there at the time. The $4000 supposed damage seems pretty high, the damage to the offenders car must have been pretty bad. The other thing to worry about is where your name came from in the first place.