Ridiculous Insurance/claim problems.
Discussion
My OH was crashed into by a scrote on a pushbike. Dont start on the whole anti-cyclist thing, because I am one. This was not a cyclist, it was a scrote on a pushbike. Different things really!
She was driving in traffic along a busy town-centre road - scrote jumps off kerb, rides up the WRONG side gutter, pulled a wheelie, fell, headbutted and crashed into OH's car, making a right mess of it. Bonnet, wing, door all smashed in, wing mirror snapped off etc etc.
Lying in kerbside bleeding.
When police arrived OH was initially arrested by a know-it-all, power-tripping beat Bobby, locked in the back of his car and treated like crap, luckily a more senior/wiser Traffic cop arrived and actually used his brain, and listened to what the various witnesses told him, deduced what had actually happened which was of course that OH was blameless and said scrote deserved all he got. OH un-arrested, questioned, sent on her way.
Couple of days later get the old 'We're gonna do bugger all about it, case closed' from the Police.
As an aside - shortly after the incident said scrote attempted to add my OH on Facebook, of all things - at which point his 'status' was a boast about how he'd had his face mashed up by a car 'hitting him' (not the truth).
I found this disgusting - whether he was trying to find out where she lived, or try tap her up for some money I dont know...
This was a couple of months ago now.
Now - OH's insurance company have rung to say that Scrote is trying to claim from her.
This is ridiculous - how on earth can HE be claiming anything? I have personally paid out to fix up the massive mess he's made of my OH's car in the meantime, and the Police had told us theres nothing to be done.
My first thoughts are - this kid does not have an insurance policy for his cycling, I guarantee that.
I am rather inclined to believe what he's probably done is gone to 'scamming-immoral-inury-lawyers-R-us' or suchlike.
What do we tell OH's insurance company? Theres absolutely no way that this kid is entitled to anything - it was an utterly moronic act by him and he was lucky not to bleed to death.
She has just told me that apparently her Ins Co. are NOW sending someone round to look at the damage to her car - which I have since fixed up myself!? What bloody good is that?
The claim from his side is - 'she was travelling at speed when she hit him' which is absolutely barmy.
What to do? For now I've told her not to agree anything, or admit anything in the first instance.
Surely - the whole point of her insurance is that they are there to fight her corner - not to roll over and let someone fraudlently claim against them/her?
I know that this could well be just a 'chancers' attempt at getting some money out of her and it may just dissapear out, but if this is going to draw out and get complicated ill hit the roof. This attitude of the scrote towards the whole situation stinks, and is exactly all that is wrong with insurance, claims, blame culture etc.
If anyone can offer some proper advice that would be great, as my OH is freaking out and panicing her head off down the end of the phone - just after getting over the incident in the first place.
She was driving in traffic along a busy town-centre road - scrote jumps off kerb, rides up the WRONG side gutter, pulled a wheelie, fell, headbutted and crashed into OH's car, making a right mess of it. Bonnet, wing, door all smashed in, wing mirror snapped off etc etc.
Lying in kerbside bleeding.
When police arrived OH was initially arrested by a know-it-all, power-tripping beat Bobby, locked in the back of his car and treated like crap, luckily a more senior/wiser Traffic cop arrived and actually used his brain, and listened to what the various witnesses told him, deduced what had actually happened which was of course that OH was blameless and said scrote deserved all he got. OH un-arrested, questioned, sent on her way.
Couple of days later get the old 'We're gonna do bugger all about it, case closed' from the Police.
As an aside - shortly after the incident said scrote attempted to add my OH on Facebook, of all things - at which point his 'status' was a boast about how he'd had his face mashed up by a car 'hitting him' (not the truth).
I found this disgusting - whether he was trying to find out where she lived, or try tap her up for some money I dont know...
This was a couple of months ago now.
Now - OH's insurance company have rung to say that Scrote is trying to claim from her.
This is ridiculous - how on earth can HE be claiming anything? I have personally paid out to fix up the massive mess he's made of my OH's car in the meantime, and the Police had told us theres nothing to be done.
My first thoughts are - this kid does not have an insurance policy for his cycling, I guarantee that.
I am rather inclined to believe what he's probably done is gone to 'scamming-immoral-inury-lawyers-R-us' or suchlike.
What do we tell OH's insurance company? Theres absolutely no way that this kid is entitled to anything - it was an utterly moronic act by him and he was lucky not to bleed to death.
She has just told me that apparently her Ins Co. are NOW sending someone round to look at the damage to her car - which I have since fixed up myself!? What bloody good is that?
The claim from his side is - 'she was travelling at speed when she hit him' which is absolutely barmy.
What to do? For now I've told her not to agree anything, or admit anything in the first instance.
Surely - the whole point of her insurance is that they are there to fight her corner - not to roll over and let someone fraudlently claim against them/her?
I know that this could well be just a 'chancers' attempt at getting some money out of her and it may just dissapear out, but if this is going to draw out and get complicated ill hit the roof. This attitude of the scrote towards the whole situation stinks, and is exactly all that is wrong with insurance, claims, blame culture etc.
If anyone can offer some proper advice that would be great, as my OH is freaking out and panicing her head off down the end of the phone - just after getting over the incident in the first place.
Did you tell them that the accident occurred? The insurance company are probably grumpy if you didn't tell them, especially since the police got involved.
In any case, the correct thing to do is to tell the insurance company everything ASAP, tell them the police were called, and tell them that the report will say the scrote is to blame.
In any case, the correct thing to do is to tell the insurance company everything ASAP, tell them the police were called, and tell them that the report will say the scrote is to blame.
snotrag said:
Surely - the whole point of her insurance is that they are there to fight her corner - not to roll over and let someone fraudlently claim against them/her?
The problem is if it cost £25k to defend the case (which you won't get back anyway) or £3k to pay out, which would you do?It's a pain in the arse, but if it's cheaper to pay out than defend, are you really surprised they just pay the £3k and get on with it?
(not saying it is right or fair, but I can see it from a business perspective as to why)
I guess ultimately, they need to push a case such as this right the way through to the end and see what happens and then use that from that point forward.
Just some basic information from the highway code, that might help your case. If it can be proved he was using the roads recklessly, you should be fine.
Clothing.
You should wear
•a cycle helmet which conforms to current regulations
•appropriate clothes for cycling. Avoid clothes which may get tangled in the chain, or in a wheel or may obscure your lights
•light-coloured or fluorescent clothing which helps other road users to see you in daylight and poor light
•reflective clothing and/or accessories (belt, arm or ankle bands) in the dark.
He probably had none of the above. This suggests negligence on his part.
Dangerous cycling in itself can present itself with a fine to the perpetrator. If you have witnesses to prove he was cycling dangerously, you could turn the case around on him. You might need a decent laywer mind.
Hopefully it can be turned on its head. Sorry to hear your insurance company is doing this.
Clothing.
You should wear
•a cycle helmet which conforms to current regulations
•appropriate clothes for cycling. Avoid clothes which may get tangled in the chain, or in a wheel or may obscure your lights
•light-coloured or fluorescent clothing which helps other road users to see you in daylight and poor light
•reflective clothing and/or accessories (belt, arm or ankle bands) in the dark.
He probably had none of the above. This suggests negligence on his part.
Dangerous cycling in itself can present itself with a fine to the perpetrator. If you have witnesses to prove he was cycling dangerously, you could turn the case around on him. You might need a decent laywer mind.
Hopefully it can be turned on its head. Sorry to hear your insurance company is doing this.
Yes, Insurance company were fully aware from the beginning.
I chose to fix the car up myself because frankly that was the easiest and cheapest solution - its been sorted with scrapyard parts and made 'presentable'. Theres actually every chance that if it had gone to an assessor it might have been written off, - 3 new panels, a headlight and a wingmirror at dealer prices plus paint and welding probably nearly matches the value of the car. I fixed it for less than £100. Makes me wonder who the mug is sometimes
Said 'cyclist' (As a cyclist I resent calling them that) did not take any of that into account. We're talking - Town centre, trackie-shod scrote on a squealing Bicycle-shaped-object, out of control, wrong way down the road...
I chose to fix the car up myself because frankly that was the easiest and cheapest solution - its been sorted with scrapyard parts and made 'presentable'. Theres actually every chance that if it had gone to an assessor it might have been written off, - 3 new panels, a headlight and a wingmirror at dealer prices plus paint and welding probably nearly matches the value of the car. I fixed it for less than £100. Makes me wonder who the mug is sometimes
Said 'cyclist' (As a cyclist I resent calling them that) did not take any of that into account. We're talking - Town centre, trackie-shod scrote on a squealing Bicycle-shaped-object, out of control, wrong way down the road...
The Moose said:
The problem is if it cost £25k to defend the case (which you won't get back anyway) or £3k to pay out, which would you do?
It's a pain in the arse, but if it's cheaper to pay out than defend, are you really surprised they just pay the £3k and get on with it?
Flawed logic. If they continually payout (as they are doing) they will have to payout a lot of 3k claims. These will eventually add up and exceed the cost of fighting the claims.It's a pain in the arse, but if it's cheaper to pay out than defend, are you really surprised they just pay the £3k and get on with it?
I recall somebody working for a council that is now contesting all claims, they've found the amount of compensation claims has dropped dramatically.
Insurance companies/councils should pick their battles. Contest stupid claims, and payout genuine ones. Job, jobbed.
snotrag said:
Surely - the whole point of her insurance is that they are there to fight her corner - not to roll over and let someone fraudlently claim against them/her?
A reasonable assumption but totally wrong. Unless it's beyond any shadow of doubt that the other party is at fault then the insurance are more than happy to shaft their customer and go 50/50. Forget any investigation or examination of evidence, they're only interested in keeping their own costs down. They don't give a monkey's who's at fault because it all evens out for them in the end.If you have his details, issue a summons in the small claims court for the cost of repairs to your car.
Tell your ins co your are suing him and they should await the result of your legal action.
You can do this online.
If he does not respond you can ask for judgement against him, you may get nothing out of him, but for a few quid can can put the lid on the matter.
Tell your ins co your are suing him and they should await the result of your legal action.
You can do this online.
If he does not respond you can ask for judgement against him, you may get nothing out of him, but for a few quid can can put the lid on the matter.
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