Minor car accident other party got solicitor involved

[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??

Well
I've spoken to my insurance company and explained everything and the solicitors letter. They have proof of me notifying them of the accident last year when it happened and they have proof of the repairs I had done for the bill. They also notified me that you can chose weather to have the work done privately (which we did) or go through your insurance and your not allowed to do both in which he has and she informed me that I won't be paying for a penny of it because I've already paid for the work to be done and that the insurance will deal with it. She also told me that I'm not the first person who has had this sort of scenario with this man who I crashed into ! I don't drive like an idiot, I abide by the rules as much as anyone else I don't go out with the intention to hurt people I've never had a crash prior to this and I drive a van all day long as my job so I'd like to think i drive safely.
Glad to hear your such a supporter of this man! Just goes to show. The Insurance said the letter was sent to scare me and that he won't be getting away with it because it's not the first time he's done this

Sounds like it was all set up, it happens all the time. The insurance companies are investing a lot in to preventing this type of fraud now.

Which is why you like your insurance company deal with it.

As I say wasn't personal to that man, more the assumption that is not possible to be injured because xyz

But he admitted he was ok and even to last phone call I had with him which was 5 weeks after the crash he still said he was ok and because I see the family all the time I asked how he was and they said fine and that he didn't seek medical help. This is why I was frustrated. As I said I get it I went into the back of him but I honestly thought I was doing the right thing by checking my mirror & when you mentioned about the speed I still wasn't going fast it was only because I was partially in the second lane and he had stopped that's why I had clipped him. I wasn't up his rear end because that winds me up when people do that to me !
I only posted on here because I was so shocked by the solicitor letter and had never had anything like that in my life.

Glad it worked out. Did he give any explanation for why he slammed on his brakes?

Never mind, I just read your post where you mention his reason.

A great outcome!

I didn't realise you had told them about the accident at the time. Sorry!

A dashcam would be a good investment,. it won't help you with this, it'll stop it from happening again..

DH had someone drive into the back of him last year. He was stopped at a white line at a narrow part of the road where oncoming drivers have right of way.
The collision was not bad and neither car was badly damaged, neither driver was hurt.
The other driver apologised, admitted it was his fault and it was all sorted out with insurance very amicably.
Shortly afterwards DH started getting lots of phone calls, several some days, from no win, no fee solicitors asking him to put in a claim for whiplash.
No idea if they were all the same 'solicitor' because as soon as he realised who it was he refused to discuss it with them.
No idea how they get our phone number but it seemed like a big scam.

My car was written off by a Local Authority vehicle, whilst parked on the road outside my house. I too got the whiplash calls, but when I pointed out I was in the kitchen at the time of the accident, and that no-one had been in the car at the time, there were embarrassed noises and they poked off thereafter.

This was a crash for cash orchestrated by him. Hope it goes to court - he'll probably get done.

Crash for cash - and a crap criminal so he got caught. Excellent news.