Car insurance claim made against us

[Pasqual]

Hello,

Yesterday we received an email from our insurance company reminding us we had legal cover that could help deal with our recent claim.

This was totally out of the blue, so I contacted the number on the website (just incase the email wasn't legit) where they confirmed they had received communication from another party that my car had hit theirs and driven off, but that they couldn't given any further details. They asked if I was denying being involved and I said yes.

At the same time, my husband got a phonecall from someone else at our insurance company looking to ask some questions about the incident, my husband stated he has no idea what he was talking about and asked for details. The caller stated they couldn't give any information and ended the call.

I phoned back an hour later and finally got to speak to someone helpful who stated the incident reportedly took place 450 miles away from our hometown, 2 days prior.

We were asked to send proof that we weren't there. We have both been ill for over a week with flu so spent that day at home, taking turns of looking after our 2 toddlers and sleeping. So there's no receipts/transactions we can use as proof.

We have submitted photographs of our car, photos taken of our child in our home at the time the incident allegedly occurred, proof of a telephone call with an OOH doctor that morning and a text message exchange which we replied saying "we will be at home all day, we are both really unwell"

Our insurers have responded to say that we need to be able to provide concrete evidence we were not 450 miles away from home, but I have no idea what else we can do?

Our policy is due for renewal in 4 weeks, so having a claim is going to bump our premium up too. 😔

I'm just wondering if anyone has been in this situation/has any advice? Should I contact the police non emergency number and express concern that our plates have been cloned?

How sure are you that it's actually your insurance company you're talking to.
Did you call on a number you have for them or a number they provided.

Do you have a google maps timeline - that would sure where you (or at least you phone was)

Listen to prh, he always knows his stuff!

The likelihood is it'll get sorted out - it just might take ages. The onus is definitely on the other side to prove it was you.

What happens in the meantime, though? Does it get put in a 'disputed' sandbox that can be ignored until any further developments or, as I rather suspect, will it have to be declared by OP and result in higher premiums, loss of NCB and an extra 'risk marker' on the driving record? Will a new company even want to accept somebody with a case still ongoing? Being stuck with your current insurer traditionally means higher 'loyalty' (only yours, not theirs) penalty pricing.

Ask your insurer to send out someone to inspect your car and provide an expert report. This will show there is no damage.

In the meantime, the claim will remain open until liability is decided. Unfortunately, this may have an impact on renewal premiums. In my experience, these cases can take a while to be resolved while the insurance companies go back and forth.

I've had this happen to me. My insurer though took my word it wasn't me and they said the onus was on the other party to show it was. Took about 8 months to sort though and increased my premiums on renewal as counted as a claim whilst unresolved.

Cloned number plate (in the case when it happened to DS, he was able to prove via his tracker). Mistake by police in taking down a number plate when it happened to me and I was being invoiced ££££s for a knocked down lamppost. I could prove I was 450 odd miles away and live on an island.

You'll have to pay a higher premium, yes, but once it's sorted, the insurance company normally reassesses and drops the price, giving you any money back. Put as much detail as possible when you tick the box.

It sounds like your insurance company is trying to sort it out, and the more proof you have, the more it's not your car, the quicker and easier it is for them. Try not to worry, but think about login details for Netflix or similar accounts that can show the IP address of where you were. Also, if you were at home, your phones were probably using WiFi, which is more reliable, so you should have a record of that on your phones.

Neighbours, see if anyone saw your car outside.
Did you order a takeaway or anything at all on the day, check your bank account,
When did you last buy petrol?

It sounds like your insurance company is trying to sort it out, and the more proof you have, the more it's not your car, the quicker and easier it is for them.

I'm amazed that they are even giving it the time of day, without any evidence shown by the claimants. Any chancer could make a note of the details of a car in their street/town/seen on holiday/found online, claim that it hit theirs and then have their hand out for money.

Surely the only obvious response would be to tell them to come back when they DO have proper evidence and then you will begin to consider their claim.

I'm guessing that your car registration has been cloned. You are right to get the police involved.

Not that you should have to prove it at all, but assuming they can come up with footage/photos of the number plate and the number itself matches (i.e. cloned), what about other differences on the plate itself - such as a dealership name at the bottom or UK/home nation flag or similar at the side?

I've phoned insurance back and finally managed to speak to someone with a bit of common sense.

She advised they have been given our registration and the make and model of our car. The other insurance company have stated there is dashcam footage but haven't provided it, so my insurance don't have any further information at this point.
She's advised we don't need to do anything at this point as they've went back to deny any involvement and to request further information/proof.
It's now a waiting game.

She did say it's not likely to be sorted before our renewal is due, so we're going to have to declare a claim which is rubbish as our premium will increase 🤬

Also spoke with the police with regards to cloned plates.

Thanks for all the advice folks, much appreciated

How about the person that is making the claim proving it was your car i.e photo of accident

This is interesting, I have a similar incident but rather than the insurance it's the police who have been in touch about an accident without stopping. Again I was not at the area given and it's is still ongoing. I wonder why my insurance haven't been contacted also?

I am in a similar position. The difference is I was actually in the place they say, but no incident occurred other than a road rage one by the other party. No contact was made. Clearly they got so angry they decided to make an incident up. Currently been going on around 8 weeks and they have suddenly found a witness. I'm not happy with my insurance company's relaxed attitude to be honest but it's like talking to a brick wall. The onus is most definitely on me to prove my innocence.

Once it is settled in your favour, you can ask your insurer to rerate your premium and get a refund of anything extra you had to pay as a result of this.

Keep a record of dates and who you spoke to. You may need to raise a complaint to the FOS if this isn't resolved in a timely fashion

It's more likely to be the reg being misheard/misread than it is cloned plates. Especially if your reg has any letters than can be mistaken like S/F or U/V.

I work in insurance and you see a fair amount of denying involvement claims but they're rarely cloned plates.

The onus of proof is on the claimant but your insurer will ask you for evidence because if you can provide proof to make the third party drop their claim it will be resolved faster. They have the option of instructing an assessor to inspect the vehicle but if you're far away from the incident location and the photos clearly show no damage it may not be necessary. They're more used if someone has pre existing damage or where someone says they were at the scene but is denying that contact was made between the vehicles.

Once the claim is removed from the policy they should be able to recalculate your premium and refund any additional costs you've been paying (this is what my employer does, I'd assume its universal)

This happened to me last year. I received an email in April from my insurers informing me that someone had accused me of hitting their car in January. There was no further information, so I didn't know when or where this was supposed to have happened; the insurers had received information from the other insurance company.
I sent photos of my car and chased the insurers every month to ask whether they had received any information about where the incident had supposedly occurred.
End of December received an email saying they were satisfied that I was not involved. I am still trying to figure out when and where this was supposed to have happened!

If you have an iPhone, go to Privacy > location services > significant locations and see what it says for that day. It should say your home address!

Spoke to a friend who works in insurance. You can (as a last resort) go to the ombudsman — and if your insurance company ultimately refuse to believe you, you should tell them you plan on referring the case. As a pp has stated, however, the onus to provide proof shouldn’t be with you. In the meantime, it all sounds very stressful, and the last thing you need when you’ve been ill.

If you have an iPhone, go to Privacy > location services > significant locations and see what it says for that day. It should say your home address!

Only problem with proving where you were, though, is that it isn't necessarily proof of where the car was. It's quite feasible that you could have let a friend or family member borrow it and they drove it hundreds of miles away.

I think it's most likely somebody misreading a letter of the registration (maybe even somebody using a black screw in an odd place to make it look like their name) - it's odd that it also happens to be for another car of the same make, model and colour, though.

I think it's most likely somebody misreading a letter of the registration (maybe even somebody using a black screw in an odd place to make it look like their name) - it's odd that it also happens to be for another car of the same make, model and colour, though.

Its actually quite common, I think because of the manufacturing process? So they'll create a batch of one model and then register them all at the same time.

Do you or your neighbours have a Ring doorbell which would have had your car in view on the day of the accident?

She did say it's not likely to be sorted before our renewal is due, so we're going to have to declare a claim which is rubbish as our premium will increase*

^
I find that shocking when it's not a 'real' claim-error/fraud. I'd double-check that advice.