Insurance claim against me

[Little Lofty]

I received an email from my insurer two weeks ago to inform me of ‘my’ claim, I hadn't made a claim so rang them immediately. I was informed someone had made a claim against my van insurance for an incident that had happened on Saturday 15th November, I had no knowledge of any incident so they said they would inform the third party that I was denying all responsibility. I was told someone would ring me in a few days. A week passed and no one rang, so I sent a live chat, I was told the email had been sent and the third party would have to prove my involvement. I asked if they had any more info about the incident and where it happened, they had no info on the claim apart from that it was in Tunbridge Kent, that’s 320 miles away from me. This sort of put my mind at rest, as a I was now not 99% sure but 100% sure it was not me. I was told I would get an update, surprise, surprise I haven't heard a thing so done another live chat today. I was told that they have not contacted the third party as they are waiting for me to send photos of my undamaged van, this was news to me and a completely different story to what the other two had told me, I could feel my blood boiling and asked if I could lodge a complaint, I then got cut off before I could finish. I’m not sure where I go from here as I'm just going around in circles. Do I have to prove it wasn't me, or do they have to prove it was me? I think it’s just a wrong registration but getting it sorted is easier said than done when everyone is telling me a different story. I have sent photos of my pristine van and a time and dated toll charge invoice that proves I was hundreds of miles away on the day, I can also send cctv from my home camera that shows my van on my drive for most of that day, what a palava. Has anyone had a similar experience?

[Inbox]

Little Lofty said:

I received an email from my insurer two weeks ago to inform me of my claim, I hadn't made a claim so rang them immediately. I was informed someone had made a claim against my van insurance for an incident that had happened on Saturday 15th November, I had no knowledge of any incident so they said they would inform the third party that I was denying all responsibility. I was told someone would ring me in a few days. A week passed and no one rang, so I sent a live chat, I was told the email had been sent and the third party would have to prove my involvement. I asked if they had any more info about the incident and where it happened, they had no info on the claim apart from that it was in Tunbridge Kent, that s 320 miles away from me. This sort of put my mind at rest, as a I was now not 99% sure but 100% sure it was not me. I was told I would get an update, surprise, surprise I haven't heard a thing so done another live chat today. I was told that they have not contacted the third party as they are waiting for me to send photos of my undamaged van, this was news to me and a completely different story to what the other two had told me, I could feel my blood boiling and asked if I could lodge a complaint, I then got cut off before I could finish. I m not sure where I go from here as I'm just going around in circles. Do I have to prove it wasn't me, or do they have to prove it was me? I think it s just a wrong registration but getting it sorted is easier said than done when everyone is telling me a different story. I have sent photos of my pristine van and a time and dated toll charge invoice that proves I was hundreds of miles away on the day, I can also send cctv from my home camera that shows my van on my drive for most of that day, what a palava. Has anyone had a similar experience?

Have been through this, basically somebody got a number plate wrong and the system goes off cock-eyed.

I would suggest you gather any evidence you can find to prove where you were at the date/time of the alleged incident. Also get onto your insurer for more details such as a description of the vehicle as this can effectively prove it wasn't your car if the colours don't match, etc, etc.

Lastly, as things currently stand there is an open claim against you so you need to bear this in mind if your renewal is imminent as it could affect it. It will take a while to deal with, I think my situation took 6 months to clear up as the other insurer upon realising they got the wrong reg just stopped talking to my insurer. I had to keep bothering my insurer to get the claim marked as nothing to do with me on my record, you can't get the erroneous claim removed IIRC.

Best of luck but is a complete PITA.

Edited by Inbox on Monday 1st December 19:46

[Aretnap]

Little Lofty said:

Do I have to prove it wasn't me, or do they have to prove it was me?

The onus would ultimately be on them to prove that it was you. But only to a civil standard, ie in the balance of probabilities.

So if they have a reasonably credible witness who thinks the numberplate was yours (even if mistakenly), that's probably enough in the absence of any evidence to the contrary. It's then a case of what evidence you can provide to show that the witness is wrong. Sounds like you have good evidence that you were a long way away at the time, and that your vehicle wasn't damaged, which should eventually be enough.

[kestral]

Little Lofty said:

I asked if they had any more info about the incident and where it happened, they had no info on the claim apart from that it was in Tunbridge Kent, that s 320 miles away from me.

You need to get back onto your insurer. I fail to see how they can entertain any claim without information regarding the vehicle involved, the time and exact location, the driver of the vehicle and the circumstance and costs involved.