Minor car accident- didn't need to claim but now other party making a claim HELP

[Tweet2tweet]

In early October I was involved in a minor car accident. Was at a traffice light filter on green and the white van in front did an emergency break at the green light for no reason and I bumped the back of him (at less than 5 miles per hour). There was no damage to his vehicle (I took pictures) and only minor damage to my car.
I called the police as the driver became quite agressive and they came and confirmed no damage to his car but asked us to exchange details. I did this as was in shock (am pregnant and had my DC under 2 in car).
The damage to my vehicle cost less than excess on insurance so I just sorted it and as no damage to his van and hit so slowly no claim should have been made (police woman even said that he hda nothing to claim).
Anyway just had letter from my insurance company saying he is making a claim. Am so scared. There's nothing he can actually claim but I think he is going to try and play the system to get money.
I called police but didn't call my imsurance company as had no claim to make. Was that wrong? Will insurance company not help me now? They are not open on weekend so can't speak with them.
Abyone have any tips or advice please?

[GobblersSparklyExplodingKnob]

If he has (or claims to have) found damage to his vehicle caused by the accident then he has the right to claim, if you went into the back of him then you are liable.

There is nothing for you to worry about though, it will just all be sorted through your insurance companies, I would think your company will try very hard to contest it and not pay out seeing as so much time has passed I can't see how he will prove it was anything to do with you.

It's all moot though, as I said before it won't affect you other than your policy going up. Don't be scared though, you haven't done anything wrong

[Tweet2tweet]

Thank you so much for getting back to me. Do you think that they may cancel my policy because I didn't call them at the time?

[Babbit]

It's called a slam on and is quite common at the moment - drivers braking suddenly to take advantage of the legal position that the driver who goes into the rear of another vehicle is always at fault. He will be alleging he has whiplash. It is important to stress to your insurers the speed you were travelling at at the moment of impact and let them deal with it.

[notnowImreading]

They won't cancel your policy, although they may mark it down as a 'late claim'. I had the same thing happen a couple of years ago and although you might get post that seems quite stressful (ie a court summons when your insurance company contests the claim) you won't have to go to court and the insurance company's lawyers will sort it all for you. My premium went up, but only by about £4 per month. Don't panic!

[Tweet2tweet]

My brother was also in car so I have a witness (though he is a relative). As the light had just turned green I was going from a stop start position so certainly no more than 5 miles per hour. The police told me about the going into the back of someone rule and said that, although they could understand how it happened the highway code says you should have a minimun of 5mtrs between you and next car (or something like that).
I just feel like I've really messed up by not calling insurance. I have n ever been in an accident before and although it is my fault I chose to listen to family members who said not to bother as the damage was so minimal.
I would be completely wiped out if they claim lots of money and insurance won't cover me. I'm probably being overly anxious but don't have lots of money and feel so foolish now.
The driver didn't speak very good English and just seemed to know how to swear and be aggressive.

[Tweet2tweet]

Thanks notnowImreading - that's very reassuring. I think I'm just one of those people who always follows rules so feel really anxious that I didn't realise exact process.
It's so bad people try to play the system- we have an old car worth very little, I'm noticably pregnant and had a young toddler with me. You'd think people would have some morals about their behaviour.
My father in law told me about the sudden stop scam too. So cruel.

[PartridgeInARustyBearTree]

Someone went into the back of DH once and he thought no damage had been done, but when the car next went in for service, they said it was actually noticeably shorter than it should be - it took quite a bit off the resale value. So it's quite possible that damage has only appeared later.

[Liskey]

Sounds like a late claim for whiplash as said earlier. Most insurance companies claims depts are open at weekends to report claims otherwise try not to panic. Tell the insurance company police were involved.

[tittytittyhanghang]

Someone went into the back of me at lights a few months ago. At the immediate time it didn't look like there was any major damage but thankfully i still took other drivers contact details. It wasn't until later on when dp had a look at the car that all the damage became apparent, and there was a lot underneath, so much so that we had a blowout on the dual carriage way at 70mph as something had been knocked out of place underneath and was rubbing on the tyre, as well as a lot of scratches that i hadn't really noticed . And i did claim for whiplash. I didn't think i got any on the day of the accident but i certainly knew about the day after. At the end of the day you were at fault, and were obviously driving to close to the car in front, and as such have to suck up any claims.

[clam]

And, for the record, you should ALWAYS inform your insurance company about any bump, even if you don't intend to claim, exactly for this scenario.

[Mockingcurl]

My son works in a legal firm and deals with these "slam on " claims all the time. He says to phone your insurance company straight away and tell them in great detail what happened. Tell them in no uncertain terms that they are not to settle without consulting you first. Get a copy of the police report and invoices of the repairs. Send copies of all of these to your insurance company.

This happened to my son a few months ago. He phoned his insurance company straight away and followed it up with a letter. He has not had to pay out.

You must always phone your insurance comps straightaway even if you don't intend to claim. Scammers bank on you not doing so, and then come in with a claim a couple of months down the line.

Good luck.

[Acekicker]

Don't panic, just call your insurers today and get the forms etc. I hit a car in a car park once making tiny dent/scratch in wheel arch and left my details (name and phone no. but not address as I didn't fancy people coming to my flat in person to sort it out). I heard nothing for 10 months until a car hire company called me to say they were taking me to court. Turned out they'd just guessed my address as I had an unusual foreign name and they'd been sending all correspondence to someone else in my town with that name (not a relative, I didn't know them). They'd tried ringing a couple of times but never left a message etc. I had to call my insurers and explain as the car hire co. had replaced 2 entire wings of the car and I couldn't afford to pay it. I couldn't even remember which side of my car had hit the other car (no damage to my car at all). The insurers were fine with it when I explained why I'd done nothing. The fact you called the police should go some way to demonstrating you weren't trying to pull a fast one. Also raise your concern that it might be a scam when you speak with them.

[HidingFromDD]

Could well be a scam, particularly if they then claim for whiplash. Stress to insurance co that you have witnesses and ensure that they fight the claim.

There's a lot of these atm as they rely on the fact that it's cheaper to pay out than fight it. That depends on the policy of your insurance co tbh, who is it?

[confuddledDOTcom]

My mum got caught on one of these too. They got greedy and forgot the details (each "passenger" gave a different statement - I use quotes because they weren't even consistent on how many in the car) so it quickly became obvious it was a scam.

Birmingham is one of the worst areas for it, apparently, and it's mostly done by Asian men. If any of that helps.

[bunchamunchycrunchycarrots]

OP the fact you didn't report the incident at the time isn't going to invalidate your insurance. You pay for the cover, and while not reporting an incident is technically a breach of your policy conditions, the reality is it makes no real difference. All you have done by not reporting at the time is give your insurer the opportunity to properly investigate the circumstances and any claim against you. If you have photos, make sure you provide them to your insurer as they might help. And pass all correspondence onto your insurer and let them sort it.

[61aj]

Please help. I am in a similar situation. Had a minor accident when an elderly person scrape my car. No major damge. We exchange name and address. I kept a full note and took photographs of my car. Did not hear any thing from from other side for months. I was waiting to see if other side claims then I will submit a claim. I assumed the other side also decided not to claim. After over 5 months delay a very cryptic letter with not much details has arrived from other side while I was away. opposite side. The girl was not very helpful at the weekend and advised to contact customer service between 9-5 tuesday under existing claims, she kept on repeating about the delay in reporting. Please advise. What will be best to do? I don't want to speak to the opposite side agents as not much detail has been given Should I send this letter to my insurer to liaise with the opposite side. Would they create any difficulty for me. Please advise.

[Saydz92]

I had a crash last august. I was on a road in my town - a one way system with two lanes. There was a car in front of me who was going slow but then sped up then slowed down again so I backed down to 12 mph as I wasn't sure if he was sure where he was going as there was a turning for the left .. I thought the best thing was to check my wing mirror to see if anything was coming in the other lane so I could overtake and go around him. In the instant I checked my mirror he slammed on and I was halfway around him so my front end hit his back end but only smashed his drivers back light and scratched a bit of the paintwork on his bumper. I pulled over and checked he was ok - my front end of my car was a mess, arch was caved in bumper hanging off and a smashed light.
There was a police station right outside where I crashed so I went in and explained and the copper went oh that's unlucky and turned her back on me and walked back into her office.. I went back out to check on the man and he said I'm ok don't worry it wasn't intentional there's barely any damage. So I offered to pay for the light and the scratch sorting so he didn't have to go through his insurance to save him time and hassle. He agreed to this we exchanged details and left. I rang him every day and within a few days I had his new light ordered and rang him to explain the garage was ready to fit it and every time I went down to the garage they said oh he hasn't been down yet. So I rang him again and said they have the light ready to fit and eventually after a week and a bit he went.

A few weeks later he then rang me and said he had found a tiny dint on his bumper but I do not remember this dint I only saw a bit of the paintwork scratched and he said he wanted the whole back end re spraying and this tiny dint pushing out and he had got a quote off his mates garage for £200! I said yep that's fine get it booked in and I waited weeks and every time I rang him he said oh my friends on holiday at the min I'll book it in when he gets back.
I rang and rang and never heard anything off the bloke again. Then before xmas I received a letter saying I had to do a telephone statement because he put a claim in for whiplash and they held me accountable even though I told the truth and explained he slammed on a main road..
they said all that would happen would be I'd lose my no claims and my premium would go up and that was that.

I came home to a letter last night off a solicitor that works alongside his insurance company saying I have 7 days to pay a fee of £621 for car repairs and £65 for storage / recovery. And if I don't pay then they'll take me to court without telling me and I'll have to pay for everything.
The letter was sent Tuesday and I only received it last night when I got home from work . I know this man is trying to pull a fast one because I already paid for the damage and he never answered his phone in the end for me to have his re spray done obviously because he wanted to set me up.

I've never heard anything off my insurance and surely they should be helping me with this??

[Megatherium]

I suggest you start a new thread, Saydz, everyone will answer the OP in this one. Just tell your insurance company about the letter and leave it to them.

[annabeauty]

Hi everyone. I have a very annoying situation that just keeps on playing on my mind. I had a silly car accident (some small animal run out on the road and i tried not hit it).

I did damage to 2 parked cars, one guy didnt have a car insurance. another was a write-off and so was mine. Both my car and the other write-offs were really cheap cars (mine around 1k and nother 2k or so).

Only one claimed insurance so far as the guy with no insurance probably doesnt want to get into trouble.

So the question is: my insurance took my car and said they will pay me very little (around 500 after all the deductions), so i said keep my car to pay off the reminder of my insurance and cover as much cost as possible for the 3rd parties.. so my claim is minimum and i dont claim myself, only 3rd parties do...

Now i worry they will think this is strange and drag the process on and on, i emailed them and explained all this. I really dont want to talk to them, as i am so down about all this, each conversation is painful...

I purely did it to claim as little as possilbe due to being at fault...

Any help will be hugely apprciated... i cant sleep at night!

Thank you ladies xxx

[Redglitter]

You'd probably be better starting your own thread than posting on a zombie thread tbh

[MrsQuim]

Hi Anna start your own thread for more helpful replies

[Dippydooo1]

Hi need advice worried. .just went into back of someone at very low speed spoke with driver he said his back bumper was bit loose and would accept ³£20 (I know I was prob gullible) but paid it no details were exchanged and we both went on our way .The logo on my car is cracked but that's about it should I inform my insurance to cover myself?

[Collaborate]

Why has this become the ancient thread that anyone and everyone seems to revive? Does no one know about the need to start your own thread?