Accident advice

[WHISTLED]

Right I feel physically sick at the moment..

A few weeks ago I had a small bump at the lights, literally tiny.. I had pretty much come to a halt but my feet were wet and i slipped off the break and nudged the guy in front... I was only just moving but I did hit him.

We got out and there was no damage to his car, he had a tow bar so had bent my reg plate, we exchanged numbers and address's. That was it.

Today I have coem home and have a letter from a specialist accident NWNF solicitor asking me to contact them with my insurers details and to provide the letter to my insurers.

I am fuming as although admitedly i did bump him there is abslutely no change he has any injuries. Reading between the lines thats what he is after as there is no ref to his own insurers just stating that he holds me liable for 'losses'

Clearly trying it on!!

The letter has the wrong postcode completely despite me giving correct so I am going to ignore this one and hope it goes away.

What would you do?

[fireman328]

Dont ignore it inform your insurers and let them deal with it.

[WHISTLED]

Insurers will just settle, I lose my no claims..

Tempted to get a witness that says he overshot the line and reversed into me

[Wayfair]

As unjust as it may be seen as you only just touched him you have to remember that he did nothing at all to make you touch him, he was just sat minding his own.

So I agree with fireman, tell the insurance company, don't lie and after a couple of sleepless nights forget about it.

Your insurance company wont just settle the claim without him having to jump through hoops if they think he is pulling one over on them.

At the end of the day it was you, all you and nothing but you!!

Bitter I may sound but I have had both sides of the coin as bedfellows in the past..

[slowcoach]

I had a similar accident where a plank in a hurry nudged me from behind as soon as the lights changed to amber, after dragging him out of the car we checked for damage, there was none, so after giving him a good rollicking we both went our ways. Next day I was in agony with whiplash.

[Tarantella]

Is there a cctv camera monitoring the accident scene?

[Jimmy-J]

Same here, this happened to me some years back, I just nudged the back of the car, I could see the ££ signs in their eyes! They both claimed whiplash etc. I lost my no-claims and my insurance almost trebled!

All back to normal now, i'm rebuilding my no-claims and my insurance has come right back down. It just really ****es me off when you know they're pulling a fast one.

I'd hate to see the list of injuries they'd have suffered after 5 minutes on the dodgems!

[Mick Fisher]

Let your Insurers deal with it.

The way Insurance Companys renage on claims these days I reckon he will be lucky to get anything.

[Sirius]

Insurers will just settle, I lose my no claims..

Tempted to get a witness that says he overshot the line and reversed into me

Do it and teach him that 2 can play at that game.

[MovedGoalPosts]

The trouble is, with all these no win no fee, ambulance chasing advertisments on TV, radio and everywhere, you are encouraged to make a claim in the expectation you can get a few grand for something trivial. It's why car insurance premiums go up and up.

I'm not denying that there are genuine cases of injury out there, but in years gone by, most people wouldn't even have thought of claiming. Now people expect to claim.

Unfortunately, you have no choice here but to ensure your insurers have all the full facts (there is no point in falsifying things, it will only get found out), and hope that they do argue the case. Certainly I'd expect them to be wanting some form of medical report to substantiate an injury.

[Russ]

Do it and teach him that 2 can play at that game.

And risk a fraud charge if found out?

If the driver is chasing injury compo from a legit injury caused by the bump then tough, there goes your no-claims, that's life.

But if he's trying it on then he sums up everything that's wrong with today's money-grabbing culture.

[superbiatch]

I've just gone through a compensation claim where I was stationary at red traffic lights with handbrake on, and some silly daft bint in a C1 not only hit me but shunted me into oncoming traffic from behind. Unfortunately for her I do have a previous shoulder and neck injury, which flared up again afterwards so i decided to push for treatment which i got privately.

Anyway, as legit and straight forward as my case was (her insurers admitted liability the day after) I did feel as though i was heavily interrogated and had to attend more than the usual amount of medical appointments etc to prove my injury. As I had nothing to hide, this was little more than an inconvenience to me.

So i think you can be sure that insurers are not just taking this lying down anymore, they are looking at cases and requiring more evidence which is hard to provide if you are lying. Hopefully if the knock was as minimal as you describe an damage limited, your insurers should fight any case for compensation simply because the accident was not serious enough to cause any injuries. Good luck :tu:

[lucy7]

Insurers will just settle, I lose my no claims..

Tempted to get a witness that says he overshot the line and reversed into me


Do not rise to any temptation of that sort.
That is then you risking a criminal charge for lying.

You did bump him, no matter how hard or sort it was, so they will and can claim against you.

I had 3 cars do the same to me as I was the end car in a small pile up, only going at 25, the first car braked to avoid a cat!
The car in frount of me was a massive big jeep, and my then car a punto managed to knock that car and two others and cause whip lash to them all.
I don't think so!

People lie, the claim culture we live in is tempting for some to do it.

Honesty is always the best policy, especially with insurance companies.

[Russ]

You never know, he might even end up doing what some morally-bankrupt people have done in the past and got family members to say they were in the car too, all receiving 'whiplash'...

[tweetypie/8]

Do it and teach him that 2 can play at that game.

telling porkies aint the way to do it,and if he gets someone to tell lies on his behalf more fool them it could come back and bite them on the a..e big time,bad advice sirus.

[redhand]

Under the terms of your insurance you must report the accident to them, so contact them. The person will have to under go a independant medical to confirm any injuries. Also your insurance will not want to pay more than they have to. From your car reg they will be able to obtain your insurance details and it will go down as a Non Reported which will look worse on you.
I work for a Law Firm that handles car accident claims and Personal Injuries so therefore I am talking from a professonal stance.
Underwritters always need both sides of the story if to make a final judgement otherwise they will just have the other persons side.

[fireman328]

I had a similar accident where a plank in a hurry nudged me from behind as soon as the lights changed to amber, after dragging him out of the car we checked for damage, there was none, so after giving him a good rollicking we both went our ways. Next day I was in agony with whiplash.

You Oldhamers are well known for causing trouble ;);)