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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

To ask if this would occur to you?

52 replies

MarmiteMagic · 17/02/2012 13:19

A woman crashed into the back of my car the other week. We were both going quite slowly so there was minimal damage - a slight scuff on my bumper and and a teensy scratch on hers. Nobody was hurt and no point doing anything to the cars as damage barely visible and both cars over 5 years old,so we decided not to bother swapping details.

Now three people I've told this to have asked why I didn't take her details so I could put in a claim for whiplash! Really? Would you? I wouldn't do it and it never occurred to me.

So would it occur to you and would you go through with it? Just curious, I'm not judging ( on this occasion anyway!)

OP posts:

HipHopOpotomus · 17/02/2012 13:54

It would never occur to me!

worldgonecrazy · 17/02/2012 14:04

lauriefaircake the problem is that there are plenty of medical professionals who will write letters/sign forms for a share of the profits from false claims. "Proving damage" can be very easy if you know the right people.

Original poster

MarmiteMagic · 17/02/2012 14:41

I'm glad everyone is honest and seems as shocked as I was at the suggestion! Restores my faith a little.

OP posts:

Heswall · 17/02/2012 14:46

I was hit from behind recently and may loose my job because I cannot turn my head to drive safely and yet people are raising their eyebrows at my whiplash claim which is pissing me off, £1500 is not even going to cover one months loss of earnings and yet that is what I am looking at in compensation.

Jenny70 · 17/02/2012 14:55

I certainly wouldn't falsely claim whiplash, but I probably would have exchanged details, just in case the damage was more than immediately apparent (most bumpers are plastic and bounce back, disguising damage underneath).

Also, I have little faith in random strangers that bash into my car, and I'd want their details in case I find them claiming to the police that some other damage to their car was from me, but I drove off (or some story). Would like to have details, just to feel like I have done the appropriate thing....

memphis83 · 17/02/2012 15:04

I would have swapped details and had the car checked out in case there was damage you couldnt see to the car, My Mum got hit from behind and it looked like judt a cracked numberplate but there was £1000 of hidden damage.

I wouldn't claim compensation for whiplash without having it, but DH was in an accident the police officer took him to one side and said 'does your neck hurt? I think you need to get it checked' then winked at him He obviously didn't we couldn't believe the police would suggest it!

Original poster

MarmiteMagic · 17/02/2012 15:11

Well I guess next time I'd swap details but tbh I suppose I wasn't that bothered as for reasons I don't want to go into I knew I'd be able to find her again if I needed to.

I was more interested to see if it was normal to consider making false insurance claims given that 3 out the dozen or so people I've told about the accident have suggested it. I thought that seemed quite a big proportion.

Maybe it's not that they're dishonest, but that they assumed I am?! Must stop wearing that Balaclava and carrying a sack with SWAG on the side...

OP posts:

Sirzy · 17/02/2012 15:14

There is to much of an assumptions that people will make personal injuries claims irrespective of if they are injured or not IMO.

A few years back I was in an RTA where a bus drove into the car I was travelling in. I was the only one injured, 6 people walked off the bus uninjured thankfully.

When I was at A and E my mum (was was driving) was asked if she wanted to be seen for her claim?? In the following 6 months I received 8 letters from solicitors working for people 'injured' on the bus wanting me to confirm they were on the bus - all of them got shredded!

webwiz · 17/02/2012 15:15

Someone crashed into the back of us at the beginning of the year and caused so much damage that the car had to be scrapped. I was amazed that neither me or DH had any after effects from it as it was an almighty bang. It wouldn't occur to me to claim though without actually having whiplash. The police were keen to check that no one was hurt but they were a bit more professional than in the case of Memphis's DH.

flyingspaghettimonster · 17/02/2012 18:41

You should have swapped details regardless of visible damage. It happened to us and we didn't think there was any damage, but there was some under the car the cost $500 to fix. The whiplash thing is stupid though... and they are the problem with litigation-happy society.

Cherriesarelovely · 17/02/2012 19:31

how depressing OP! No, it would never occur to me to do such a thing. It is so dishonest and selfish.

oldraver · 17/02/2012 19:33

No it wouldn't occur to me as its lying

Cherriesarelovely · 17/02/2012 19:35

MateyMoo almost the very same thing happened to DP and I a few years ago. She had bad brusing on the chest and slight neck pain but by that evening she had completely seized up and the injury still troubles her now, years on. In fairness many people don't actually realise that they have been injured until later because they are shocked. On the other some people lie!

InterruptingCow · 17/02/2012 19:37

It wouldn't occur to me to do that but it did occur to the idiot who drove his car into mine. He was going the wrong way down the road at the time (!) and didn't have his seatbelt on so any injury was entirely his own fault. Unfortunately, there were no witnesses and I had to accept 50/50 liability and my premiums have shot up. Of course, I could have claimed whiplash for me and my two children which would have covered the increase in my premiums but I wouldn't be that dishonest.

runningwilde · 17/02/2012 19:40

No, that's a shitty thing to do. Just highlights how some people will do anything for money and fuck how it affects everyone else.

oiwheresthecoffee · 17/02/2012 19:44

I wouldnt lie no.
But i agree damage to you or the car is often not apparent at the time. A friend of mine is currently claiming some damages after a fairly nasty accident that was not her fault. She was completely unharmed (thank god because she could quite honestly have been killed) but now has PTSD and has been quite upset about it. Actually now i think of it she may have had whiplash but not too badly. I dont even think shes claiming for it just the PTSD , which has really been upsetting for her as shes usually the one that copes so well with everything. Its not always a bogus claim after the initial event which is why its a good idea to swap details for both parties.

Ive never forgiven the bloke who bumped me at the traffic lights. I felt it and pulled over. He didnt bother. Luckily there was no major damage except to the paintwork which i cant afford to fix. If i hadnt been so young and naieve in assuming if he hadnt stopped it must be fine and no damage done id have taken his number plate and reported him.

GavisconJunkie · 17/02/2012 19:47

No, it's fraud & surely more hassle than it's worth.

However, I'm from (but no longer live in) a town where at least 2/3 of the population (perhaps an exaggeration!) have at some point claimed for whiplash; I'm sure half of them have never been in a damn car! As a result I know it's sadly common.

I was brought up thinking you had to have severed a limb or had the gable of your house collapse before even considering claiming for anything!

Shenanagins · 17/02/2012 19:56

What annoys me about some of these people who tell you to claim for whiplash are often the ones who complain about their premiums going up. They just don't get it.

ribena71 · 17/02/2012 19:58

My husband went into the back of someones car in July 2009 (at a very slow speed, the traffic had literally just started moving so we're talking 5mph) and the driver has just put in a claim for whiplash!

ragged · 17/02/2012 20:01

It occurred to me that this might be a set up by a journalist, because this issue is all over the media right now (peers suspiciously, but OP seems legit).

The part of the debate that irks me is the headline "X says that whiplash doesn't exist" -- when X actually said that many, maybe most of the insurance claims are false. Which maybe they are. Still makes the headline misleading.

I get whiplash in my neck regularly, it's kind of a family joke. It's not debilitating, just annoying. I'd have a hard time successfully claiming given my stupid chronic predisposition to it, doubt I could imagine bothering even it were the truth.

wherearemysocks · 17/02/2012 20:02

Its shocking how many people do this, and then think that they are honest people.

It works the other way as well though, my bil was in a really bad accident a few years back, totally the other drivers fault he came too fast round a corner and went head on into bil. bil had very bad injuries, he was diving a van and the front was all crushed in trapping and crushing his legs. He was bed ridden for months, and it was at least 2 years before he could walk with sticks or even consider going back to work. He had to change profession though as he could no longer physically capable of doing his job.

Anyway it took years to get any compensation. During which time he obviously couldn't work and they had a new born with sn so dsis couldn't work either. They nearly lost their house (only didn't because of a loan from a generous relative). But it took so long to get any comp because when he was a teenager he was in trouble with the police a little bit, nothing too serious, but it meant that his honesty was called into quesion and therefore he had to have loads of extra assesments.

nbee84 · 17/02/2012 20:08

Somebody went into the back of me last year and I lost count of the amount of people that asked me if I was going to claim for whiplash! I did have a sore neck and shoulders for about 3 days afterwards, but only in a mildly achey way and I was still able to go about my day to day life without hindrance so in my mind there was nothing to claim for. I'm a terrible liar so would have felt so guilty and worried about being caught out if I did try to claim.

arfur · 17/02/2012 20:11

Mm are you supposed to notify your insurance company even if you don't claim? Just wondered if it might be worth having it on your records then if anyone did claim later you at least have informed them?! Not sure just a thought.

Pandygirl · 17/02/2012 20:11

No, it wouldn't have occurred to me. I have actually been bumped into from behind a couple of times, and people have been surprised that I didn't try to claim.
The first time I did get a bit of a stiff neck for a couple of days afterwards, but that is not the same as whiplash which can be seriously debilatating (and I understood from a specialist on pm could not happen in crashes where impact is under 10 mph).

MAYBELATERNOWIMBUSY · 21/02/2012 00:02

re arfur post, would advise against what sounds like an honest and reasonable course of action , some ins co"s will bump your premium and then some ! also do take lots of pics pref before vehicles are moved and include driver and vehicle"s no. plate , note type of road ,time of day, traffic volume and whether, seems a lot but , 2 month"s later ! the camera (cheepo disposable) usually convinces other driver you know what you are about (from extensive personal exp. , unfortunately>"it"s like a jungle out there, makes me..........."

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