Insurance claim madness!, What's the strangest one you've had? Options

[red_boots2]

Not looking for advice, just wondering if anyone else has had something equally as mad / non-nonsensical?

I was driving round a roundabout the other day (my right of way) and whilst on the roundabout a car edged out and 'bumped' my rear wheel arch. We pulled over and exchanged details all polite and normal. He'd bumped my car so gently there wasn't a mark on either car so I was surprised when he insisted we swapped details. Low and behold three days later my insurance company ring me and ask me why I'd reversed on a roundabout into someones car!

Queue lots of time spent on the phone with my provider explaining that I didn't reverse on a roundabout, drawing diagrams and writing a statement!

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[nigelbb]

I've got a claim that's from an accident last November i.e. >8 months ago. It was dark & I had just pulled out & 50m on was driving up a small hill with a bend to the left. I saw a car coming the other way & Bam!! I lost my door mirror. At first I couldn't understand what had happened as the road wasn't narrow & both of us were well on our respective sides of the road. When I had pulled over & went over to the other car that had pulled up at the bottom of the hill it became clear. He was a taxi who had just dropped off a fare. They had got out the rear passenger door & not shut it properly so as he came down the hill with a right hand bend the door swung open & smacked off my door mirror.

We exchanged details & I took photos of him & his car including the taxi plate. I informed my insurers (eSure) the next day. My car was repaired within a few days & I had a loaner car but before taking delivery of my repaired car I had to pay the £250 excess direct to the repair garage.

Since then I have phoned eSure every month or so but it now turns out that the other party is denying liability. Given the circumstances it's hard to see how. I now regret that I didn't report the accident to the police as a conviction for careless driving would surely have established where liability lay.

eSure have been pretty useless & don't seem proactive at all which is difficult to understand as they are on the hook for a portion of the repairs (not sure how much as I didn't see a invoice). When I called the other day they said that they would have to sue the other driver & was I prepared to give evidence in court.

[ManxRed]

Not looking for advice, just wondering if anyone else has had something equally as mad / non-nonsensical?

I was driving round a roundabout the other day (my right of way) and whilst on the roundabout a car edged out and 'bumped' my rear wheel arch. We pulled over and exchanged details all polite and normal. He'd bumped my car so gently there wasn't a mark on either car so I was surprised when he insisted we swapped details. Low and behold three days later my insurance company ring me and ask me why I'd reversed on a roundabout into someones car!

Queue lots of time spent on the phone with my provider explaining that I didn't reverse on a roundabout, drawing diagrams and writing a statement!

Just wait til you get the whiplash injury claim!

[The Rookie]

My last 3 (all non fault) collisions all had the other party telling the truth. The problem is with no independent record you rely on a degree of honesty which is now sorely lacking, hence the proliferation of dashcams!

[Redivi]

I've recently provided some dashcam footage to the police and an insurer regarding a hit and run that I witnessed

Thought it was a simple case of a driver misjudging a gap when she passed a parked car (much too quickly) and clashed door mirrors
Oncoming traffic had just passed another parked car

Had to provide a witness statement and diagram
What surprised me was how many times I had to view the footage before the statement, diagram and footage were coherent

[jdh]

Driving along in my van and a car failed to stop at a T-junction, they t-boned me on the passenger side between the side door and the rear wheel. Details swapped, a quick visual check revealed nothing too much in the way of real damage to my van and away I drove, they did the same with their front bumper now wedged in the back of their car. According to their insurance claim it happened at a crossroads and I was coming across the junction at them and drove sideways into the front of their car!! Once I pointed out on the map where the accident was and where the respective damage was the claim was put through straight away.

[DancingDad]

Had one years back when I was on third party insurance and it was my fault.
All amicable at scene, exchanged details, neither myself or insurance company heard a thing from it.
Can only assume the guy wasn't insured or something like that and was happy not to claim.

[southpaw82]

I did once see a woman reverse her car from a stop line into the front of the car behind her. I did wonder how that got reported to the insurance company.

[DancingDad]

I did once see a woman reverse her car from a stop line into the front of the car behind her. I did wonder how that got reported to the insurance company.

Similar happened to me, my very first accident.
The other guy swore blind I had driven into him.
No witnesses of course.

[KH_]

I had one quite a while ago, it didn't go to insurance but the chap tried it on all the same.

Second in line at a roundabout and made the mistake of assuming the 3.5 ton flatbed in front would continue once he entered the roundabout.
Turns out, he wanted to go left on the roundabout (from the right hand lane!) and stopped half way onto the roundabout.

I nudged the back of him and put a small dent in my bonnet.
Swapped details and got a phone call from his boss later in the day.

Popped in to see them after work and he was trying to claim that I bent a 2 or 3 inch square under-run metal bumper on the van a good 4 inches out of line and wanted a few hundred quid to replace it.
Told him to stick an insurance claim in and I'd report the accident to the police as required by law.

Funnily enough, never heard any more!

[red_boots2]

I had one quite a while ago, it didn't go to insurance but the chap tried it on all the same.

Second in line at a roundabout and made the mistake of assuming the 3.5 ton flatbed in front would continue once he entered the roundabout.
Turns out, he wanted to go left on the roundabout (from the right hand lane!) and stopped half way onto the roundabout.

I nudged the back of him and put a small dent in my bonnet.
Swapped details and got a phone call from his boss later in the day.

Popped in to see them after work and he was trying to claim that I bent a 2 or 3 inch square under-run metal bumper on the van a good 4 inches out of line and wanted a few hundred quid to replace it.
Told him to stick an insurance claim in and I'd report the accident to the police as required by law.

Funnily enough, never heard any more!

Had one years ago, I went into the back an older driver who indicated then changed his mind, but I was too close and it was fault and accepted it was my fault straight away, my car was fine his had some paint damage to the rear bumper...

Anyway we swapped details, I he asked if I wouldn't mind writing his details down for him as he had Parkinsons and couldn't hold a pen and he couldn't remember his phone number. About 3 weeks later he rang me from a witheld number and left a voicemail explaining he'd had 3 quote for the repair £560, £300 and £120 and asked which one he thought I should go for. I never rang him back as he didn't leave a number. I felt bad for a while and never did hear from him again.

[notmeatloaf]

You should feel bad, it sounds like he had gone out of his way to help you and you didn't put your hand in your pocket for the sake of £120?

It's people like you that end up sending people to claims management firms because they don't want the hassle of someone agreeing to pay at the scene then playing silly buggers when they actually get the bill.

[Redivi]

For obvious reasons I never reported this but, after working hours, I managed to reverse a pool car over a drop into the newly excavated site for my employer's swimming pool

The site had a slope so, although I couldn't drive out, I was able to reverse to the other side where the ground was level, making sure I rubbed out the tyre marks and cleaned the car afterwards

The only problem was all the lengths of string marking the planned foundations etc that had to be removed and replaced as accurately as I could remember

[glasgow_bhoy]

You should feel bad, it sounds like he had gone out of his way to help you and you didn't put your hand in your pocket for the sake of £120?

It's people like you that end up sending people to claims management firms because they don't want the hassle of someone agreeing to pay at the scene then playing silly buggers when they actually get the bill.

He didn't have a phone number to call him back on...

[southpaw82]

You should feel bad, it sounds like he had gone out of his way to help you and you didn't put your hand in your pocket for the sake of £120?

It's people like you that end up sending people to claims management firms because they don't want the hassle of someone agreeing to pay at the scene then playing silly buggers when they actually get the bill.

I never rang him back as he didn't leave a number.

Ar5e.

[666]

Swapped details and got a phone call from his boss later in the day.
....
Told him to stick an insurance claim in and I'd report the accident to the police as required by law.

What law would that be?

[red_boots2]

You should feel bad, it sounds like he had gone out of his way to help you and you didn't put your hand in your pocket for the sake of £120?

It's people like you that end up sending people to claims management firms because they don't want the hassle of someone agreeing to pay at the scene then playing silly buggers when they actually get the bill.

You missed the bit where I've said he didn't leave me his number at the scene as couldn't remember it, called me from a withheld number and left a voicemail but didn't leave his number again!! I'd have gladly dipped into my pocket for £120. I sent him a letter in the post with my details on as I had his address but never heard from him again. I even asked in the letter if he wanted me to pay the garage direct or write him a cheque!

(Granted my grammar was appalling so it should have read I couldn't ring him back)

This post has been edited by red_boots2: Tue, 17 Jul 2018 - 18:02

[notmeatloaf]

Fair enough, I missed the bit where you didn't have his number.

[KH_]

Swapped details and got a phone call from his boss later in the day.
....
Told him to stick an insurance claim in and I'd report the accident to the police as required by law.

What law would that be?

Didn't say there was one, that's what I told him

[Churchmouse]

I did once see a woman reverse her car from a stop line into the front of the car behind her. I did wonder how that got reported to the insurance company.

Just had something like this. Wife pulled out from a side road behind a car which had passed her. But the car immediately stopped and reversed into a parking space behind her--without looking. I was kicking myself because I'd "never got round" to fitting the dashcam to that car, which would have shown the entire incident clearly. Insurance company was talking 50-50, but this happened just outside of the only commercial CCTV camera in the area, so wife asked to view the recording under DPA 2018, which caught the whole incident, clearly showing that she had stopped before the other car reversed. We emailed a copy to our insurer. They called me today and said the matter had been settled 100% in my wife's favour, and that we would be getting our excess back in due course. Justice was done, but without that CCTV footage...

--Churchmouse