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Original poster

To just not be able to do this (accident claim)

128 replies

soyvanillalatte · 29/07/2016 10:04

Someone rear ended me at a red light this week. The car is being looked at for a quote and repair and I will be getting a rental car BUT the car may be written off and I could potentially end up out of pocket as there would be a gap between what I paid for it/what I would need for a replacement and the market value given by the assessors.

My Husband is on at me to claim for injury and says I am a fool not to as everyone does this and it is the way to make sure I can buy a "new" car if the my damaged one is written off, or indeed to just get some compensation for the inconvenience/accident. I am not injured and find the whole idea dishonest.

Am I being a fool? Is this something people do to make sure they get a payment from an insurance company?

Just to add some info: I find it incredibly hard to find suitable cars as I only drive an auto and the car I have is a 2004 but it has 10000 mileage so was about £1500 when I bought it a year ago.

OP posts:
KidProofTablet · 29/07/2016 11:14

YOU are not being a mug, but your DH is saying things that make him sound like a twat. If he's not a twat, he needs to think before he opens his mouth 😁

I'm glad you weren't hurt, but if you get any pain in the next few days, it may still be from the accident.

If I were you'd I'd be putting some time into looking at your insurance. If it's 'market value' then you can rove that it's not because you can't replace your car for that value. Don't take their 'assessment' laying down! It's not exactly uncommon to need to give them a shove into a more realistic market value.

Is there a reason you can't drive a manual? Unless there's a medical reason it really us easy enough and FAR less complicated than it sounds or first feels, it soon becomes very natural.

blindsider · 29/07/2016 11:15

Be prepared to be rung up weekly for about the next two years and be told by some spotty youth that Insurance companies have to put aside this money and it is yours and will just go to waste if you don't claim it. When you explain to them if people stopped making fraudulent claims our premiums would go down , they will try and tell you that is not how insurance works.... Hmm

Original poster
soyvanillalatte · 29/07/2016 11:16

I can not drive a manual as I don't have a manual license.

OP posts:
AnchorDownDeepBreath · 29/07/2016 11:18

Did you have gap insurance? I've got that so if I write my car off, I'll definitely get the outstanding finance back. I'm not sure if it's available on non financed cars, though.

Otherwise, it's either take the loss, or learn to drive a manual. There are many more manual run arounds for reasonable prices, so that's probably worth considering.

I am sorry about your car, and I'm glad you're not injured!

AnchorDownDeepBreath · 29/07/2016 11:20

Cross posts. In your situation I think taking your manual test is probably the best plan. Automatics are going be rare to find cheap enough and you'll live in fear of them breaking/being written off again.

Or get a car on finance?

Original poster
soyvanillalatte · 29/07/2016 11:20

Thanks anchor. Im not sure about gap insurance. We are going through the other party's insurance as they have admitted 100% liability..so not using our company at all.
I think you have to retrain and then do a new driving test to get the manual license.

OP posts:
Lexilooo · 29/07/2016 11:21

Claiming when you are not injured is fraud and contempt of court. Imprisonable offences. Realistically prison is unlikely but an adverse costs order is not and will see you more out of pocket than you are now.

I am 100% supportive of genuine claims but what your DH is suggesting is criminal fraud.

jellycat1 · 29/07/2016 11:22

It is a dishonest scumbag thing to do and I hope anyone who does it has karma come around and bite them on the arse.

TeaPleaseLouise · 29/07/2016 11:22

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

fabulous01 · 29/07/2016 11:25

Ok. I had a car accident and it has been horrendous. Probably 50/50 but the creep intimidated me, verbally assaulted me, we got the police (who were crap as the man said he would fix my car) so when I said no lets do it right ( I had new born twins with me) and it has been horrendous to sort. I can't get any compensation as the shit won't respond to solicitor information ( oh and other creep who he called to abuse me wasn't insured!) very messy.
This has taken over a year. So unless you have heart and belief to do it I wouldn't as the days of a quick payout are gone!
My person was a garage owner ..... So he knows way around process which is why he is being so horrendous

Hughpughbarneymagrew · 29/07/2016 11:26

DP is a medical professional who often sees people trying to get a diagnosis of soft tissue injury in order to substantiate an insurance claim.

He and his colleagues are very good at sniffing out fakers. I won't explain their methods but I think you would need a lot of medical knowhow and your wits about you to fool them.

As pointed out above, previously this didn't really matter as insurers had an incentive to settle just to make the claim go away. That has now changed and claimants won't get the benefit of the doubt any more.

So aside from fake claims making insurance more expensive, they are also making the claim process much nastier for those with genuine injuries, and putting the fraudster at risk of criminal record, never being able to get insurance again (can't drive legally without it and good luck getting a mortgage if you can't insure your house), and crippling financial costs against them.

Not worth it!

Original poster
soyvanillalatte · 29/07/2016 11:28

I couldn't do it in a million year. How do people lie like that?

OP posts:
chocolateismyweakness · 29/07/2016 11:31

Insurance companies are much wiser to this now. My brother was genuinely injured when someone deliberately drove into the back of him at speed then physically assaulted him. He claimed for his loss of earning due to having to take time off and although he did win he had to have all kinds of assessments and physio reports to prove his claim

Puzzledandpissedoff · 29/07/2016 11:32

Insurers got a new toy to play with, a "fundamental finding of dishonesty". A court gets a look at a claim and decides if it passes the smell test. If it doesn't the insurer is given a means to claim costs back from the other party ...

While I'm with everyone else in saying that you just don't commit fraud, personally I'd worry that this "new toy" may be open to abuse too - but from the insurers themselves this time

No doubt they'll insist "it's only for the worst cases" and is "completely independent", but given the censure some have received for refusing legitimate claims on the flimsiest of grounds, I'm concerned about the influence their considerable money could buy

NeedsAsockamnesty · 29/07/2016 11:37

My daughter got run over, actually run over.

She has spent over a decade having operations to try and fix her. We stopped counting at over 150. She has over 49% of her body covered in scar tissue and cannot walk very well.

I have lost count of the amount of times I was told to prepare for her not to make it through a night.

She has not recieved even 1p insurance money because of scumbag liars like your DH making the process so hard.

So thank the prick from me

picklypopcorn · 29/07/2016 11:40

I got rear ended by a woman who claimed she got a leg cramp and couldnt remove her foot from the accelerator Hmm

I was stopped at lights with my handbrake on but leaning forward slightly to scratch my leg, so ended up with a horrible bump on the head from the steering wheel and still can't walk my dogs on the lead without pain nearly 2 months later :( I can't sleep properly from the lack of a comfortable position, cant sit in my chair at work for more than 4 hours so have to spend my afternoons on a beanbag or on the floor, can't sit on chairs without backs.. the list is endless.

I put in a claim after the accident but actually felt guilty about it for ages thinking I'd be labelled as a scrounger etc because so many people claim for nothing it actually stops people with genuine injuries from seeking help :(

LurkingHusband · 29/07/2016 11:46

While I'm with everyone else in saying that you just don't commit fraud, personally I'd worry that this "new toy" may be open to abuse too - but from the insurers themselves this time

There was some discussion in the link I supplied ...

Bottom line is we (the great unwashed) are like kids here. We were warned and warned and warned, and when nothing worked, got the hard way - in this case the law was changed.

You would have thought that as a society we would have learned that the worst of all worlds is to have laws about something.

Anyway, motor insurance fraud is a passing thing, as is motor insurance - well personal motor insurance.

Puzzledandpissedoff · 29/07/2016 11:52

We were warned and warned and warned, and when nothing worked, got the hard way - in this case the law was changed

Yes - another classic case of the dishonest making things more difficult for everyone else Sad

LurkingHusband · 29/07/2016 11:54

Yes - another classic case of the dishonest making things more difficult for everyone else

And themselves ....

Discobabe · 29/07/2016 11:56

Why would you claim for an injury you don't have? You run the risk of getting zilch if caught. It was ruled in the supreme court yesterday that insurance companies can now review past cases if evidence of fraud emerges. A bloke had his settlement cut from £135k to £14k after being caught over exaggerating.

CheeseCakeSunflowers · 29/07/2016 12:01

Is the car still safe to drive, ie is it just dents at the rear which means its a write off. If you are able to still get an MOT on it and you are prepared to drive it as it is, or knock the dents out roughly yourself it is possible to do a deal with the insurance company where they pay you a smaller amount of compensation but let you continue driving it. It will be marked down as a write off but it is all perfectly legal. My DH did this and now drives a rough looking van for work.

MatildaTheCat · 29/07/2016 12:11

I've had to attend several medico legal appointments for a different reason and trust me, you do not want to go to one and if you did and were lying they would find out very quickly at which point you would be looking at prosecution for fraud.

It's unfortunate about your car but doing this is not justified, just plain criminal.

Original poster
soyvanillalatte · 29/07/2016 12:12

The car is not driveable...and is already in the garage.

OP posts:
LurkingHusband · 29/07/2016 12:19

It's a fact of life that insurance doesn't always fully compensate your loss.

Depends what insurance you have and what it's for. Although UK law is only concerned with monetary losses - or losses that can be quantified in monetary terms.

Pisssssedofff · 29/07/2016 12:28

I was told to do the same and I won't lie I'm glad I did. I was without a car for 3 months in the winter and spent £750 on taxis getting my children to school, I was told keep the receipts the other side will pay for those. They did not.
My car that cost me £3,000 was valued as a write off and I was given £400 for it. There was a full tank of petrol costing £60 in it the day I was hit, again receipt provided.

The whole claim was settled at £500. I did say I had whiplash and I did actually sort of, so I got a cheque for £2000. I was £1300 down for being hit by a drunk driver, in my fully insured, taxed and MOT'd car.

And that's what makes people cross.

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