Attempted collision for insurance scam, should I do anything
Discussion
Hi, so this annoyed me, but I was being a bit thick at first as I didn't immediately twig what was going on.
Leeds Armley Gyratory, a big roundabout between the city on the way to the M621, it's usually quite busy.
I'm driving home from work which takes me onto the roundabout onto the A58 towards Leeds, I'm in the left lane (there are 3).
I need to get into the middle lane so put my indicator on, there's a little white Peugeot that backs off to let me over.
Cool, however as soon as I start to change lane he boots it so I almost go into the side of him, as I now didn't have anywhere to go I gave it some beans to overtake him and complete my manoeuvre. At this point I just thought he was being a prat.
Now I'm in the middle lane, there's immediately this tatty Audi A3 that constantly weaving about and hitting the brake, again I'd not joined the dots and just thought that Leeds was its usual exciting self.
Lane 3 was clear so I indicate to move over again to pass the Audi, as soon as I move over the Audi swings over in front of me and stomps on the brake.
I had to brake hard but was able to suitably reduce my speed to not hit it.
I wasn't sure whether the car behind me had hit me, I'm in a Ford Ranger with a tow bar on, I heard a small clonk but wasn't sure if it was just my tools in the back shifting under the braking.
I'm annoyed at the Audi and continue on, the Peugeot is behind me in the same lane and he's flashing his lights, so I figure he's probably hit the back of my truck. I wasn't concerned that he'd done any damage as he could have only hit the tow bar.
There's no room to pull over so had to drive up off the main road, there's then this clean 3 series BMW on my right with a girl in a suit shouting at me to pull over as the Peugeot had hit me. Unsure what it had to do with her at this point, hadn't noticed her.
So all 3 of us pull over, exciting.
She immediately says 'you pulled in front of him, didn't indicate, I'm a eye witness and I've got you on my dashcam!' And he gets out and says 'you pulled in front of me, I was at a safe distance!'
I respond 'well evidence would suggest that it wasn't that safe a distance.'
I said that I had to brake as the Audi had done an emergency stop in front of me, I'd pulled up but the lad hadn't.
BMW then says 'yeah she was being a d@!ck', so I said, cool do you have them on your dashcam?
She then says 'no, it's not working'. This amused given her previous claim about having evidence against me.
So I speak to the lad, ask him for his details, he said he didn't want to go through insurance as he was a new driver and a claim would affect his premium and he couldn't afford it. His car was a bit of a nail, but so was my first one.
The girl immediately has eBay open up on her phone saying that the car will T-Cut but needs a new grille and you can buy them on eBay for £80.
So it's looking very deliberate at this point, but I said to the lad that if he gets me details for the grille I'd give him something towards it, so I ask for his details, he wouldn't tell me them, so I said 'what's your number I'll call you so you've got mine', the girl says to him 'and you don't need mine', so they obviously knew each other. He said he wasn't injured and everything was fine. I took some photos of his car and left
So nothing to worry about in that instance, but it occurred to me that they were clearly attempting to cause an accident and then make a claim, they just weren't very good at it and weren't factoring the ability of a big truck to stop on a dime.
But if they did it to me, they'll attempt it again and maybe they'll succeed.
Is there anything worth doing, I could call my insurance to warn them but I guess GDPR would prevent them putting his reg on a database of attempted scammers?
Just think it would be nice to prevent them from doing it to someone else.
Leeds Armley Gyratory, a big roundabout between the city on the way to the M621, it's usually quite busy.
I'm driving home from work which takes me onto the roundabout onto the A58 towards Leeds, I'm in the left lane (there are 3).
I need to get into the middle lane so put my indicator on, there's a little white Peugeot that backs off to let me over.
Cool, however as soon as I start to change lane he boots it so I almost go into the side of him, as I now didn't have anywhere to go I gave it some beans to overtake him and complete my manoeuvre. At this point I just thought he was being a prat.
Now I'm in the middle lane, there's immediately this tatty Audi A3 that constantly weaving about and hitting the brake, again I'd not joined the dots and just thought that Leeds was its usual exciting self.
Lane 3 was clear so I indicate to move over again to pass the Audi, as soon as I move over the Audi swings over in front of me and stomps on the brake.
I had to brake hard but was able to suitably reduce my speed to not hit it.
I wasn't sure whether the car behind me had hit me, I'm in a Ford Ranger with a tow bar on, I heard a small clonk but wasn't sure if it was just my tools in the back shifting under the braking.
I'm annoyed at the Audi and continue on, the Peugeot is behind me in the same lane and he's flashing his lights, so I figure he's probably hit the back of my truck. I wasn't concerned that he'd done any damage as he could have only hit the tow bar.
There's no room to pull over so had to drive up off the main road, there's then this clean 3 series BMW on my right with a girl in a suit shouting at me to pull over as the Peugeot had hit me. Unsure what it had to do with her at this point, hadn't noticed her.
So all 3 of us pull over, exciting.
She immediately says 'you pulled in front of him, didn't indicate, I'm a eye witness and I've got you on my dashcam!' And he gets out and says 'you pulled in front of me, I was at a safe distance!'
I respond 'well evidence would suggest that it wasn't that safe a distance.'
I said that I had to brake as the Audi had done an emergency stop in front of me, I'd pulled up but the lad hadn't.
BMW then says 'yeah she was being a d@!ck', so I said, cool do you have them on your dashcam?
She then says 'no, it's not working'. This amused given her previous claim about having evidence against me.
So I speak to the lad, ask him for his details, he said he didn't want to go through insurance as he was a new driver and a claim would affect his premium and he couldn't afford it. His car was a bit of a nail, but so was my first one.
The girl immediately has eBay open up on her phone saying that the car will T-Cut but needs a new grille and you can buy them on eBay for £80.
So it's looking very deliberate at this point, but I said to the lad that if he gets me details for the grille I'd give him something towards it, so I ask for his details, he wouldn't tell me them, so I said 'what's your number I'll call you so you've got mine', the girl says to him 'and you don't need mine', so they obviously knew each other. He said he wasn't injured and everything was fine. I took some photos of his car and left
So nothing to worry about in that instance, but it occurred to me that they were clearly attempting to cause an accident and then make a claim, they just weren't very good at it and weren't factoring the ability of a big truck to stop on a dime.
But if they did it to me, they'll attempt it again and maybe they'll succeed.
Is there anything worth doing, I could call my insurance to warn them but I guess GDPR would prevent them putting his reg on a database of attempted scammers?
Just think it would be nice to prevent them from doing it to someone else.
Absolutely tell your insurance company about it. The last thing you need is them attempting a claim from you as a "he didn't stop".
GDPR doesn't prevent the sharing of this kind of information. It prevents personal identifying information being held with no good reason, but won't prevent insurance companies holding details of claims and incidents.
GDPR doesn't prevent the sharing of this kind of information. It prevents personal identifying information being held with no good reason, but won't prevent insurance companies holding details of claims and incidents.
Yes I took pictures of the car that hit me and the BMW, but didn’t get the A3 as I was still driving.
Never really liked dash cams as they seem a little passive aggressive. I know they’re useful but it’s like you’re looking to catch someone out.
It’s the first time I’ve been targeted by a scammer this way
Thankfully my Ranger is a bit of the Deranged configuration
I’ll give the insurance company a shout
Thanks
Never really liked dash cams as they seem a little passive aggressive. I know they’re useful but it’s like you’re looking to catch someone out.
It’s the first time I’ve been targeted by a scammer this way
Thankfully my Ranger is a bit of the Deranged configuration
I’ll give the insurance company a shout
Thanks
qube_TA said:
Yes I took pictures of the car that hit me and the BMW, but didn’t get the A3 as I was still driving.
Never really liked dash cams as they seem a little passive aggressive. I know they’re useful but it’s like you’re looking to catch someone out.
It’s the first time I’ve been targeted by a scammer this way
Thankfully my Ranger is a bit of the Deranged configuration
I’ll give the insurance company a shout
Thanks
I have a dash cam and it actually changes the way you drive, after all if you are at fault the camera will show it.Never really liked dash cams as they seem a little passive aggressive. I know they’re useful but it’s like you’re looking to catch someone out.
It’s the first time I’ve been targeted by a scammer this way
Thankfully my Ranger is a bit of the Deranged configuration
I’ll give the insurance company a shout
Thanks
Only used video three times in 8 years, in support of 2 non-fault accidents and to report an idiot that overtook me to run two red lights.
BertBert said:
To be contradictory, I'm not sure what good calling your ins co is going to do. You aren't going to claim. If someone else claims against you, then you'll have to "defend" that anyway.
This ^. The only outcome of reporting it to your insurance company is a log on your file and inflated premiums for the rest of your life as you are now considered to be a higher risk. This kind of driving is completely normal at the gyratory, especially with the current roadworks and nobody able to follow the offset lane markings. It's always been a free-for-all as you turn under the railway bridge, with everyone in lane 2 and lane 3 wanting to be off for the small industrial estate or Kirkstall Rd, and everyone coming down the filter wanting to be in lane 2 and 3 for the tunnel, and you've only got about 300 yds to sort yourself out.
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