Just how easy to get compensation

tom24

tom24

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A few weeks ago my daughter at a jct, crept forward in her car and bumped the one in front, who she saw moving over the give way lines but stopped suddenly.
All done at what, 2-3 mph, other driver doesn't want Police or ins involved, daughter has cracked number plate,she saw he had cracked bumper.
Fair enough, her fault,she'll buy him a new bumper...

He contacts her with a long list of damage, including unable to use rear hatch etc..

I tell her to contact her insurers and relate what happened.
She gets a letter stating they will be paying him, whoah says I and I contact the insurers telling them that a cracked number plate couldn't cause the damage claimed etc..
The fellow then claimed injury...daughters ins now state they will pay him for injury as they can't disprove he wasn't but they will be looking into the vehicle damage claim after I got them out to examine daughters car.

Now, point is, whenever I was involved with such, there was a requirement for GP, hospital reports etc...

Have I missed something or is it that easy to con money from insurers these days?

Perhaps should've put this in the wamt thread..
 
I would have expected the insurers to conduct a far more robust investigation.

If I was you, I would demand it.

Having said that, without independent witnesses, it is one word against another.
 
Yes, it's just that easy.
It's cheaper for the insurer to cave and pay compensation than to defend a case.
 
I would expect any insurer to investigate where personal injury is involved.

I spent 36+ years in the industry and have never known a personal injury claim to have been accepted without a medical report.
 
I may well do, I haven't seen the letter in full, just got the gist of it.
Neither my daughter or I are saying she wasn't at fault but she told me he jumped out the car and after exchanging details jumped back in with a merry wave, very fishy, I received a whiplash injury ( not in a car) and I knew from the get go I had been injured not weeks later.

Bl***y annoying when you know someone is at it, not that it's affecting her insurance premium by much but that's not the point, hate fraudsters.
 
I keep saying it but it's still good advice, fit dash cameras in your vehicles.
 
Nikon Ken said:
I would expect any insurer to investigate where personal injury is involved.

I spent 36+ years in the industry and have never known a personal injury claim to have been accepted without a medical report.
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Neither have I, unless they're just accepting a gp and/ or a+e 'opinion' , as we know it's a hard one to actually prove whiplash.
Mine was severe, c7 disc pushing into spinal cord after a lot of 'opinion' before a thorough mri.
 
After my experience with car insurance, she should claim it was the other drivers fault.

Also to go the route of least resistance, insurance companies would rather share blame than defend their own customers.:mad:

Happened to me on both occasions I've had a claim. Frankly I have lost all faith in insurance companies.
 
Phil V said:
she should claim it was the other drivers fault.
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Agreed. Unfortunately, if you rear end someone, the general view is that its your fault, you should have stopped, no matter how big a t***t the other person was being, hence all these cash for crash scams.

Phil V said:
Frankly I have lost all faith in insurance companies.
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I doubt that we are alone in that either!
 
That was what one of the folk on the other end of the line of her insurers said, basically if you're behind, you're to blame, no further investigation really needed...

Makes you think, why don't I just drive around in a £200 banger without insurance, probably never get caught ... jeez..
 
Cobra said:
Agreed. Unfortunately, if you rear end someone, the general view is that its your fault, you should have stopped, no matter how big a t***t the other person was being, hence all these cash for crash scams.


I doubt that we are alone in that either!
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Try it when some a******e reverses into you :(
Admits blame at the scene, then goes home and tells his insurance co you've run into him:(
And the insurance company won't accept your passenger as a witness:mad:
And the other witnesses claim that they sent forms back to the insurance co but the insurance co say they didn't :banghead:

I'll not give details of the first time, but the bitch that pulled out in front of me got her just desserts eventually.
 
Phil V said:
Try it when some a******e reverses into you :(
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Yep you rear ended them your fault :D
I had that a few years ago, although it was a side on, they claimed that I drove over them
when in fact they backed out of a spot into my stationary lorry.
They clipped the tie hooks on the side of the truck body, and scratched the boot lid.

By the time the insurance claim came though I'd totalled the side of their car. :rolleyes:
Unfortunately, this was well before the days of mobile phones or dash cams ( for images)

Phil V said:
I'll not give details of the first time, but the bitch that pulled out in front of me got her just desserts eventually.
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Karma :thumbs:
 
Reminds me I need to get a dashcam.

Also always take photos at the scene (although disproving previous damage wouldn't be possible).

Also are we allowing mods to bypass the swear filter these days? ;)
 
neil_g said:
Also are we allowing mods to bypass the swear filter these days? ;)
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with "tt's" its a small town in Orkney :D
And as an aside I had the map reference as a user title for ages. :D
 
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tom24 said:
A few weeks ago my daughter at a jct, crept forward in her car and bumped the one in front, who she saw moving over the give way lines but stopped suddenly.
All done at what, 2-3 mph, other driver doesn't want Police or ins involved, daughter has cracked number plate,she saw he had cracked bumper.
Fair enough, her fault,she'll buy him a new bumper...

He contacts her with a long list of damage, including unable to use rear hatch etc..

I tell her to contact her insurers and relate what happened.
She gets a letter stating they will be paying him, whoah says I and I contact the insurers telling them that a cracked number plate couldn't cause the damage claimed etc..
The fellow then claimed injury...daughters ins now state they will pay him for injury as they can't disprove he wasn't but they will be looking into the vehicle damage claim after I got them out to examine daughters car.

Now, point is, whenever I was involved with such, there was a requirement for GP, hospital reports etc...

Have I missed something or is it that easy to con money from insurers these days?

Perhaps should've put this in the wamt thread..
Click to expand...

Just some thoughts?

At the speed you mention I fail to see how she cracked his bumper! i.e. some pre-existing damage was there beforehand.

As for such junction incidents, I think I recall that the Highway Code says something along the lines of "do not enter a junction until your way is clear" in other words unless you can see the driver ahead has indeed cleared the junction you should avoid filling the space by creeping forwards.

Oh, with mobile phones now taking pictures of damage should be a must do reminder.
 
at the end of the day that is why she pays insurance.

I had a serious accident a few years ago and took the other person to the cleaners for personal injury and distress.
 
Box Brownie said:
Just some thoughts?

At the speed you mention I fail to see how she cracked his bumper! i.e. some pre-existing damage was there beforehand.
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Even at very slow speed it's easy for a tonne of car to crack a plastic bumper
 
Steep said:
Even at very slow speed it's easy for a tonne of car to crack a plastic bumper
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I've cracked a number plate parking at very low speed on a flower pot I didn't realise was there :lol:

Some of them are quite brittle.
 
Steep said:
Even at very slow speed it's easy for a tonne of car to crack a plastic bumper
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Unless the car has been fitted with a cheap non oem bumper or the weather is cold which can make the plastic brittle, bumpers should deform at low speed and invariably pop back out again with no damage, other than possible scratches to paintwork.
 
nilagin said:
Unless the car has been fitted with a cheap non oem bumper or the weather is cold which can make the plastic brittle, bumpers should deform at low speed and invariably pop back out again with no damage, other than possible scratches to paintwork.
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In real life and from personal experience a plastic bumper can crack with the slightest apparent bump. I don't say it will always happen but it can happen and depends on many factors like the age of the plastic, the thickness, temperature (as you say) the angle of attack, whether there's any reinforcing at that spot.....
 
Steep said:
In real life and from personal experience a plastic bumper can crack with the slightest apparent bump. I don't say it will always happen but it can happen and depends on many factors like the age of the plastic, the thickness, temperature (as you say) the angle of attack, whether there's any reinforcing at that spot.....
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In my experience, the cars I've had with plastic bumpers, they aren't made from a naturally brittle plastic, I've only had one not so much crack, but the whole corner shatter and that was in sub zero temperatures. In another instance, a car hit the rear of mine with enough force for a rear passenger to suffer a whiplash injury to her neck after her head hit the rear parcel shelf. The bumper survived intact but the rear valance behind the bumper was damaged and the lock plate moved inward by around 10mm.
 
I have had daily calls for over two years now after a non fault accident from companies pestering me to make a minor injuries claim. Up to two grand for minor injuries, phone call interview, job done.
I stuck to my guns and did not claim as I hate that culture getting s grip here but due to volume of calls almost claimed just to get peace.
I blame insurance companies for this as much as anyone, they obviously sold my data on to these ambulance chasers.
Once it is logged with the insurance company it is out of your hands, frustrating but nothing you can do.
 
Kevin, you may well be correct about insurance companies passing/selling on your phone number, but both myself & my missus (correct names were asked for) used to get these calls fairly regularly. Thing is neither of us had ever had an accident, so presume it was just cold-calling from electoral register/phone book etc & they work on the law of averages?
(since getting a BT Call Guardian phone, we no longer get cold-calls)
 
OldCarlos said:
Kevin, you may well be correct about insurance companies passing/selling on your phone number, but both myself & my missus (correct names were asked for) used to get these calls fairly regularly. Thing is neither of us had ever had an accident, so presume it was just cold-calling from electoral register/phone book etc & they work on the law of averages?
(since getting a BT Call Guardian phone, we no longer get cold-calls)
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I get that but these are multiple per day and they have all the specifics to hand
 
Look at it this way - it's gone to her insurers now so regardless of what they pay out or not, she will still suffer the same increase in premiums whether it's £100 or £10000. The insurance company is there to make money and spend the least - so they'll do whatever is cheapest, not what is right. If that means settling without expensive 2nd opinions, that's what they'll do. I'm sure they'll want some medical opinion but in my experience whiplash is very difficult to physically diagnose and the doctors base their opinion on what you tell them the symptoms are. I stand to be corrected though.
 
tom24 said:
That was what one of the folk on the other end of the line of her insurers said, basically if you're behind, you're to blame, no further investigation really needed...

Makes you think, why don't I just drive around in a £200 banger without insurance, probably never get caught ... jeez..
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While it's true that it doesn't need any investigation to determine fault, the insurer should really push back against potentially fraudulent injury claims, shame they don't all do so though :(
 
Graham W said:
I have no evidence for this, but I don't believe "Whiplash" occours where headrests are fitted. Imagine what would happen in a jolt from behind if you had no headrest.
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how many people actually rest their head on the head rest though? Most are poorly fitted, and your head can still travel an inch or two, enough to cause "severe"neck strain, when talking to lawyers / insurance companies / Dr's
(Allegedly ;) )
 
Cobra said:
how many people actually rest their head on the head rest though? Most are poorly fitted, and your head can still travel an inch or two, enough to cause "severe"neck strain, when talking to lawyers / insurance companies / Dr's
(Allegedly ;) )
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It's not because you rest your head on it, it's because it prevents your head from being thrown backwards in the event of a rear end collision.
I stand by my claim. :)
 
Graham W said:
It's not because you rest your head on it, it's because it prevents your head from being thrown backwards in the event of a rear end collision.
I stand by my claim. :)
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I don't dispute the fact that injuries would be worse without, but I was actually being a little sarcastic when I said


Cobra said:
your head can still travel an inch or two, enough to cause "severe"neck strain, when talking to lawyers / insurance companies / Dr's
(Allegedly ;) )
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:D
 
Graham W said:
I have no evidence for this, but I don't believe "Whiplash" occours where headrests are fitted. Imagine what would happen in a jolt from behind if you had no headrest.
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Cobra said:
how many people actually rest their head on the head rest though? Most are poorly fitted, and your head can still travel an inch or two, enough to cause "severe"neck strain, when talking to lawyers / insurance companies / Dr's
(Allegedly ;) )
Click to expand...


They are head restraints, not headrests. You aren't supposed to rest you head on them. They are there to stop whiplash by preventing the head being thrown too far back with force.
When someone drove into the back of my car years ago, it had no rear head restraints and my sister in law hit the back of her head on the parcel shelf which sits below shoulder height. She didn't even feel any pain until the next morning when she tried to get out of bed.
 
nilagin said:
They are head restraints, not headrests. You aren't supposed to rest you head on them. They are there to stop whiplash by preventing the head being thrown too far back with force.
When someone drove into the back of my car years ago, it had no rear head restraints and my sister in law hit the back of her head on the parcel shelf which sits below shoulder height. She didn't even feel any pain until the next morning when she tried to get out of bed.
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That's what I was getting at. I rest my case Your Honour. :-)
 
nilagin said:
They are head restraints, not headrests.
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But they are not restraints, they don't hold your head in any way.
Head buffers maybe.
 
Cobra said:
But they are not restraints, they don't hold your head in any way.
Head buffers maybe.
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Whiplash intervention devices perhaps?

I still remember the after market Paddy Hopkirk one, now that was almost like a restraint the way when seat belted in you not but rest your head firmly against it....... talk about uncomfortable but now doubt a good for what it was intended to do!
 
this happened yesterday


there are three of us in my car and it's pretty plain to see that an impact at such a slow speed wouldn't really cause whiplash
i am not suffering any symptoms anyway but what the other two passengers decide to do i don't know but one thing for sure if they do decide to go down the route of a claim the chances are they will be successful
 
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