Insurance Claim, reassurance required please

[Holst]

Hi all.

About 4 months aggo I reversed my works van into a parked peugeot 205.
Broke the front indicator and dented the wing a little. No other damage and no damage to my vehicle (bar a slight scratch on the plastic bumper).
Took photographs of all the damage.

Found the owner and as my work excess is £500 (franchise buisiness) I offered to just pay cash to cover the damage and he accepted. At the time I wrote down what happened and I asked him to sign to say it was true.
I then informed work and the insurers that I had an accident and that I was going to pay for the damage myself.

After a week or so I saw him again and he asked for £190 to cover the damage.
He didnt provide a written quote so I asked him to get me one.
A week or so later he gave me a bit of paper in the form of a quote for £190. I suspect he printed this himself, or had it made up by a friendly garage.

As I couldnt be bothered argueing over £50 or so I agreed to pay the £190 cash.
I then wrote down exactly what was damaged and the ammount I was paying and got him to sign it as a recipt. I thought this would be the end of it.

Three months later and work tell me that his insurance are making a claim for the damage!!!

Works insurers know what happened and what ive paid, they also have copys of the recipt and stuff.

Whats the legal position as far as my liability. I have honesty tried to be fair and not screw this guy over. I could have easily driven off and he wouldnt have known it was me.

I also have a witness to me paying who works at the same company as he does.

Basically im just after some reassurance that I did the right things.
Was there anything else I could have done to protect myself in this situation?

Thankyou for any help.
Matt.

[Parrot of Doom]

Let him take it through the insurance.

Then sue him for the £190.

[justinp1]

Sod that,

Get your insurers to contact his insurance company and say he is making a fraudulent claim!

Fax or photocopy all your paperwork for proof.

[J1mmyD]

What he's doing is fraud.

You have no NCD at stake and you've already informed your insurance company regarding what's transpired.

Just let your insurance company have the details and they will refuse the claim. It's then for the car owner's insurance company to pursue an action for the fraudulent claim.

Don't lose any sleep over it - as far as you're concerned, you part in this is already over.

(Edited for speeling erers)

>> Edited by J1mmyD on Thursday 2nd February 19:38

[falcemob]

Do you ow the franchise or just work for them? if the latter, why are you paying and not the company? My company has far more than a £500 excess but I would never think of paying for any accident damage I may do.

[Holst]

I own the franchise and the first £500 excess is for me to pay

I think ive done everything right but I wasnt sure if this was fraud or not.

Hopefully the insurance company will sort it out for me.

To be honest ive got better things to be doing than bothering about this idiot. Im more worried about the trouble than the money (not that he is getting another penny from me!!)

One thing I did notice is that he hasnt had any work done to his car.
According to one of the people he works with he is supposed to be doing it up. Looks like a bit of a rusty white shed to be honest, I thought £190 was generous as it would probably be a write off if he claimed, hehe.
I "could" have fixed that damage myself for about £50 if I could find a matching wing (in rusty yellow white) I assumed he would do this and pocket £100 for his trouble.

Thanks for the replies.

Was there nothing else I could have done to try and avoid this?
To be honest this seemed like such a stupid move on his part that I was worried there was some loop hole or somthing that he could exploit to claim twice.

>> Edited by Holst on Thursday 2nd February 19:47

[bimsb6]

should have paid him by cheque so you can produce evidence should it go to court .

[Holst]

Talked to the insurers myself today.

The told me that they beleived it was a fraudulent claim and that his insurers agree

So I think im in the clear, hopefully he will get done for fraud (although I suspect he wont)

Thanks for the help guys.

The reason I paid cash is that my buisiness is run on cash so this was simpler (and more tax efficent)

[eliminator]

Never make that last statement on a public forum. You really don't know the occupation of those reading.

[mattley]

Holst said:

The reason I paid cash is that my buisiness is run on cash so this was simpler (and more tax efficent)

Why would that be? surely it's a legitimate business expense.

[eliminator]

If it's all above board, why is it more tax efficient to pay cash than cheque?

As I said, you don't know the occupation of those reading the post. BiB are not the only enforcement agency in this country.

Still - let's move on.