How do I prove kids were in car?

[Icantstopeatinglol]

Hi, I just wanted some advice really. A (stupid) woman drove into the back of mine and dh car a few months back when we were on the way back from an afternoon trip with our 2 dc. She has lied all the way along saying there was no damage to the cars....which has now been sorted as garages have shown there was £2.5k of damage over both cars. She has also stated no dc in car!? To be fair she was very shook up but was only interested in herself as all she went on about was how she'd had such a bad day and this was going to affect her insurance badly! We do have rear tinted windows so she probably couldn't see them anyway though she has stated she noticed a pushchair in her statement. My ds banged his head and was quite upset afterwards and dd was thrown forward so much it woke her up and consequently she has woken up screaming quite alot since (this has never happened before). Anyway, the other insurance company are now saying they have received a 'statement of truth' or whatever from said woman saying no children in car?! What do we do now? Why is it upto us to prove our dc were in the car when this woman has lied all the way along?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

I doubt that the insurance company are sitting about thinking you're lying, they're just going through the motions they always do to try and lower the pay out and in turn you'll go through the motions to counter it. It's like a dance and it's not about your character or hers, it's big business doing what they do.

Yes I really don't care about your motives OP - it's what Larry said, I don't know what you are actually asking.

As someone has just said, it doesn't matter if the children were in the car as the seats would still need to be replaced (as long as the seats were in the car).

I don't think you can prove it either way though. This is exactly why getting the correct procedure rolling in the first place is so important. I know it is too late for you but for anyone else reading, they will know know that it's quite important to photograph the scene, inform the police asap, and get checked out for any injury, including your children and especially if they have any sort of head injury.

Anyway I am sorry for what you have been through and I understand your frustration. I hope you can get it resolved.

Thanks all, I've told dh to speak to the insurance company about replacing the carseats and looking into it today. I think I am just frustrated at the fact we had a lovely day then some idiot drove into us and has lied in her statement. Not just about the kids but she also said she told us to ring the police...she didn't, and there was no damage at all...there was. But those who are saying it doesn't matter are right, I just get annoyed thinking were being made out to be liars. Hey ho though, it could have been alot worse if we had crashed into the car that was going round the roundabout at the time! I don't even know where that car went we got such a shock.

Good luck and I am really sorry if I came across as aggressive or anything. I was putting the boot in and it wasn't necessary.

That's ok rooners, I know I wasn't very clear. Think I've taken it to heart being called a liar. I know I'm telling the truth so if the other driver is happy to lie so be it. My dc are safe and fine which is the main thing in all of this.
My neck however is another issue as I already have joint problems so just hope it hasn't caused further damage but time will tell.

Unfortunately though if she didnt see the children then the truth to her is that they weren't there!

Yea I understand that too but she's already been proven to have lied and we haven't therefore surely what we say should be listened to and not her but I'm past caring now to be honest. I'm going to claim for the carseats regardless.

Claiming for car seats it doesn't matter if the children were in the car or not. If car seats were in the car they need replacing straight away so I don't see why insurance havent done that as standard.

We did tell our insurance company sirzy but they just said they don't do that so we didn't think anymore on it. Dh is going to ask again today though so hopefully we'll get sorted. Dd needs to move up car seats soon though so will replace them regardless of wether they pay for them or not.

Icant show your insurance company this

there is a .pdf of a letter that you send to them.

Icant you might want to look into the sort of cover you have, and look around for another co that covers car seats as standard. You'll be using car seats for a number of years to come, and its probably an important element of cover for your family. At the very least, even if your insurer didn't actually include that type of cover on your policy, they should have advised you that the seats should be replaced.

Just so you know, if someone else raises the question of occupancy in another car, it's them that needs to prove the number of people in the car, not the other way around. What you will have in your favour is what you told your insurer when you reported the acc. You have a tinted rear window. You can comment on how the other woman appeared in shock etc. and you can also describe where she stood, who she spoke to, and if she was close enough to get a clear look inside your car. If she has made no comment on your interior, you can point that out too. You do have a lot in your favour to dispute what she's said, and I'm sure her insurer will then take the view that its not worth the expense of risking litigation to argue over the cost of car seats, and pay up. In order to prove someone who is claiming for injury wasn't actually in the car, you need cast iron evidence to take that forward. From everything you have posted, I don't think there is strong enough evidence for her insurer to maintain their stance here. Just giving them your own 'statement of truth' should be enough to get you the end result - the cost of replacing the car seats.

Thanks tensionwheels and Katy, I'm annoyed that our insurance company didn't tell us to replace the carseats and they do look fine but obviously that doesn't mean anything. I did look into it at the time but it was hard to tell what was the right thing to do and as our insurance co didn't seem concerned I didn't think it was a problem. I will be sorting it out today though, my kids are my world.

ICantStop,

Where does a lawyer come into this? Are you making a personal injury claim for yourself? If so, surely the lawyer has encouraged you to claim for the children, too?

Larry, were claiming for me and my dh and the solicitors advised if we didn't claim for the dc we couldn't go back so we claimed but were thinking of withdrawing their claim as they're actually ok but were going to claim for their carseats.

Icant that's probably the sensible option, the car seats will just form part of your claim and any argument over whether your DC were in the car or sufficiently injured to warrant claims can be sidestepped altogether. It just clears the way for your other 2 claims to be dealt with more pro-actively/in a straight forward manor.

Yea dh is onto it today and I'm online looking at suitable replacements now. Thanks for your help.

me and ds (1) was in my stationary car when i was rear ended. Absolutely the other persons fault, and we claimed through their insurance. At time i got a bit of headache and it wasn't until later that I felt the pain of whiplash. I made an appointment with my gp and had my ds with me (but appt not for him). GP asked about ds though and he had been acting pretty much as how you describe your dc. GP told me that ds was also suffering from whiplash but there is not much to do other than calpol. I had to put claim in for car seat from other insurers. Are you claiming off other persons insurers, as youve not made it clear. If other person is at fault you should not be claiming off your insurance at all. We were awarded £500 for ds whiplash and £200 for his car seat. People saying that children cant get whiplash if in a car seat are speaking shite imo.

Sorry not what your asking but just sayin!

Thanks Ilovebaby, yea we are claiming of the other persons insurance co but when we reported it through our insurance they just kind of dismissed it so we didn't think we needed to. I am going to now though.

replace the carseats that is

Sorry for stating the obvious, but make sure you keep the receipts for the carseats.

You say you were all on a lovely day out.

Do you have any photos or other evidence (receipt from 4 ice creams or credit card receipt for entry or lunch etc) from the day out that you were all together on the day out?

Because then, if you were there and you were on the way home, where else could the children be... They are hardly going to be making their own way home at that age!

With regard the car seats and them not being changed earlier, I would make sure that you get it down in writing somewhere that you asked about car seats early On when making the claim but were told that they wouldn't replace them (sorry on phone so not trawling back for exact details) and that the implication was they would be fine to carry on using, you certainly weren't advised that regardless of whether or not they paid for car seats to be replaced, that they should always be replaced after any accident. And that now you have learnt that this is the case you are horrified that the incorrect advice you were given (particularly as it was at a time soon after the accident when you were still in shock and pain and not in robust health to be challenging what they said, you assumed that they would be on your side and providing correct advice) has meant you have been driving around with unsafe car seats for your kids.

Hopefully if you have a solicitor they will word it better but if some people up thread have said that you are likely to be penalised for not changing the car seats ASAP, then if the reason you didn't is because of what the insurance company did or didn't tell you at a time when you were vulnerable then that needs to be taken into account too.

I am sorry you have had such a drubbing on here.

Just write your statement of truth as you see it. The insurance companies will have to work it out. Regardless of what you say and what she says, she is at fault due to the indisputable fact that she ran into you.

Claims aside, I would take your children to see an osteopath to work out any stresses as a result of the accident. This might help with sleeping.

Thanks mistyb, I'm tempted to take the kids to make sure they're ok just to put my mind at rest. They do seem ok now but I'll see how they go.
I'm tough skinned though so the judgey comments don't bother me to be honest. I've got more important things to worry about than people I don't know having a go for no reason. I don't give them a second thought :)
I do appreciate the advice from everyone though.

Zipzap, I do have receipts but as you don't pay for under 5s and I was on a corporate pass the dc aren't showing on the receipt! Typical! I did see a co-worker at the theme park we visited and he wrote a statement saying he saw us and the dc which we included in our statement of events but they seem to have ignored this?