To want to know whether to give my insurance details

[pouffepants]

Someone claims I hit his car in December, I didn't. I'm not aware that anyone did.

I was delivering (my job) in the road that day, and he has taken as evidence that I did it, the outcard that I left with his neighbour.

He contacted the company I contract work from (self-employed) who said it wasn't me, since I am referred to as 'he' and it says I drive a van. I'm female and drive a car. They wouldn't take the company's word for it so asked to contact me direct, which I said OK to.

But his insurance company have now taken to writing to me, saying that I have been found liable, and must provide insurance details to accept liability. I obviously wasn't happy about this, so got advice from my insurance company and the police, who said since I wasn't involved, then I shouldn't provide details, since that would imply I was involved.

So I've ignored all further requests, but now the other insurance company say that I'm acting illegally and must provide details or they will prosecute me for being uninsured. I've contacted my insurance company again, who say this is true, but won't advise further saying that if I don't provide details I'll be prosecuted, but if I do I will be held liable for the incident.

Surely the insurance company should be able to advise better than that! They are possibly uninterested because I have since changed insurance companies for completely different reasons.

No. My next door neighbours insurance asked for my house insurance details because she had a flood and it "obviously" came from my house. One shitty sarcastic letter back to the insurance co and they never bothered me again.

They cant prosecute you for being uninsured if you are.

You weren't involved, so they cannot prove that you were. Tell them you'll press charges for harrassment if they contact you again. And no, do not give them any more info!

This smells a bit, don't you think?

"his insurance company have now taken to writing to me, saying that I have been found liable, and must provide insurance details to accept liability."
Found liable by who? Certainly not the police. Certainly not a court of law. So who, exactly?

"now the other insurance company say that I'm acting illegally and must provide details or they will prosecute me for being uninsured"
Let them try. They'd be laughed out of court.

I must admit I am thinking that this is all just one big try-on. Is it an actual insurance company that you recognise sending you this crap?(Please name and shame if they are.) Or a broker that could be the complainant's accomplice dodgy?

Do NOT give them your insurance details. Tell them to take you to court. I'm pretty sure that they would back off at high speed. I might even be inclined to consult the police to ask if this is a known insurance fraud, and if this could be passed to the appropriate department.

How on earth do they plan to prove that you caused any damage? They don't know what you look like (as they got gender wrong) they don't know what your vehicle is (got that wrong too) presumably whatever damage you supposedly caused would have left damage on your vehicle too - and there's none there.

they're chancing their arm. very common unfortunately. tell them to bog off and that if they make any further unfounded allegations or threats you will take legal action.

And its not for the insurance company to go after you for no insurance - not that it matters because if the police did contact you about it you can show proof you had insurance :)

Tell them that when they provide you with their evidence that you are responsible, then you will provide them with your insurance details.

Hang on - random glimmer of brain engaging - when you make an insurance claim, well when you go through the automated vending machine to get to a person - you get a warning about only claiming on one policy because insurance companies share information.

They damned well know you are insured, and who with. They just want you to admit liability so they can do a knock-for-knock with another company.

Tell them to piss off (sorry, Im feeling rather aggressive tonight. These people piss me right off because they play on your fears.

Yeah, they say they share information about claims. But they always want proof of your NCB.

Agree they're trying it on. Ignore, ignore, ignore.

can you go into a police station and provide your insurance to them and explain your situation

I think you can only be prosecuted for failing to provide insurance details if you have actually been involved in an accident/incident.

As there is no proof you have hit this chap's car then there is no onus on you to provide details, so I don't believe any prosecution could succeed.

Thanks everyone, that's pretty much what I thought, I'm just getting jumpy with these increasingly scary aggressive letters.

His insurance is with Tesco, but when I refused to give them my details I started getting letters from a law firm in Merseyside.

I haven't actually spoken to them for a while now, so should I ignore them completely, or should I phone and tell them again it wasn't me? Or will that be construed as me admitting something? Not sure how, but I'm getting paranoid now!

I've been to the police station, but they're completely uninterested. Said it's a civil matter, unless he reports me as having left the scene of an accident.

I would phone your insurance company, explain the situation, copy the letters with a cover letter saying you know didly squat about the matter, you assume it's a scam and can they deal with it. Admit nothing. Not even being in the same area (unless asked directly).

Dont phone them for heavens sake! Email or write a letter, then you have a copy for yourself. Dont admit anything - if they havent got your gender or car correct I would assume they were trying it on.

Make sure you dont put miss or mrs or ms anything just Regards P Pants.

You have already told them you were not involved. If they want to prosecute you for being uninsured, then it is no sweat off your back as you can prove to the court that you were insured, you were just not involved in this accident, right?

I would ignore or find out whether there is an insurance industry regulator that you can report their behaviour to.

Have you actually written to their insurance company to tell them that you were not involved in the accident?

you should write to them along the following lines.

"This is clearly a case of mistaken identity. If your policyholder had any eyewitnesses to this accident, they would be able to tell you the make, model and registration number. If you had these details, you would be able to gain confirmation directly from the Motor Insurers' Database that I am insured. If you feel you have compelling evidence that I was involved, I would be grateful if you would disclose this to me for my consideration.

I reiterate that neither me, nor my vehicle were involved in any way. I would, with the greatest respect, remind you that you have no power to prosecute me for uninsured driving. If you choose to report me to the police, they can happily establish my insurance status in a matter of seconds. They would then have no basis on which to prosecute me.

Whilst I understand that you have an obligation to investigate on behalf of your policyholder, I hope that looking at the basic facts will show that there is no evidence at all as to my involvement, beyond the fact that I visited the street that day."

Kind regards

very strange my friend got a letter from a company in merseyside about a crash that she was supposed to have had. She has not had a crash either, her ins broker told her they would look into it and when they came back to her they said it was a scam. I would send the letter back to them . Do not tell them they have wrong vehicle or wrong driver, give them no information.

I started getting letters from a law firm in Merseyside.

Ah yes. One of the notorious ambulance-chasing firms. There are several of them who all seem to inhabit the Merseyside - Manchester area.
This is a bluff to get you to admit the accident so that they can press for huge damages so that they get their large slice. If they can make it stick they will claim for damage to the vehicle, hire of replacement vehicle, loss of earnings, and (of course) whiplash injury.

Be VERY careful what you say on the phone or in writing. They will try to catch you out by referring to "your accident" to get you to agree by default. Just ignore everything. As others have said they daren't take you to court unless they have evidence.

I would strongly suggest either telling them to fuck bugger off or simply ignore them completely.

They can't prosecute you for being uninsured! They're an insurance company, not the police or CPS!

At the most they could try to report you to the police but if they don't have your details what are they going to say to them? In any case, they would find out you were insured so it's a non-problem.

I would also advise that you don't provide your insurance details to the police unless they require you to do so; if those details ended up in the 3rd party insurers hands it could be used as evidence that you were admitting liability (for something that didn't even happen.)

Don't send the letter back to them. That acknowledges you have received it. Just keep it.

You don't need to give insurance details to the police: they can check the insurance database themselves if they want. They will only ask you if they have reason to check and can't find a record.