Hi again. Think i'll be giving a call to my insurers in the morning then. I appreciate all the advice and support! I initially didn't want to go through insurance, but a passenger tried to pull a fast one and claimed for personal injury for themselves saying they were in the taxi even though there were no passengers. This is how all this has cropped up unfortunately. Definitely a steep learning curve, but one i'll definitely remember. Now to get this sorted!

Hi again. Think i'll be giving a call to my insurers in the morning then. I appreciate all the advice and support! I initially didn't want to go through insurance, but a passenger tried to pull a fast one and claimed for personal injury for themselves saying they were in the taxi even though there were no passengers. This is how all this has cropped up unfortunately. Definitely a steep learning curve, but one i'll definitely remember. Now to get this sorted!

now you're adding attempted insurance fraud by another party, that's really really not fair.  Use your insurance to fight that or else you are going to be in deep trouble.  best of luck!

Hang on - how can they claim off of you for personal injury when the other driver is as fault and they were in his car (allegedly)? Surely they have to claim off of the taxi driver's insurance and then they claim off of your insurance?

 

If I were you I would ring your insurance company now, do not have any dialogue verbal or written with any other party allegedly involved and refer them to your insurance company, and also report it to the police and get a reference number as someone has allegedly suffered an injury, so it needs reporting.

 

This stinks of someone seeing you are young and inexperienced in terms of a RTA and insurance claims and now trying to pull a fast one. It wouldn't surprise me if next they said that they were stationary and you reversed in to them!

 

Were there any independent witnesses who can corroborate your side of the story, if so, get in touch with them and get them to do a written statement to support your claim against the taxi driver.

 

Crash and flash for cash merchants should be banned from driving full stop, never mind being prosecuted for insurance fraud.

I'm afraid I'm with the other guys here, now the insurance know, you may as well claim, it's already on the system anyway and more than likely will affect any future insurance. And besides, you shouldn't be running around trying to get a nearly new car fixed, there could be further unseen damage as mentioned.

This sort of thing happened in Hull when one of the buses had a collision and 30 odd people put in claims saying they were on the bus and were injured.  CCTV showed 12 passengers on there! 

 

Another instance where CCTV in the car would help and I am not a fan of having one in my car but I am being tempted.

I whole heartedly, agree front and rear dascams are very good for insurance claims (and some insurance companies offer lower premimums for them too) but, that should be their limit, no trying to report other motorist, videoing someone elses wife dogging in the park car park or reporting Mechanics working on your car in a manner you don't see fit.  As shown in other posts, infomation can be used in so many ways, I can only wonder when the Police will be given authority to sieze your dascams and recording media as evidence which may be used against you in a Court of Law.

 

Sorry back on post, Alex yes you've gone through a very steep learning curve today and I'm glad to hear you intend to learn from it, you'll probably find or not as the case maybe, that the alleged injured party knows the Cabby whom is trying to get the money to pay for the damages to your car !  Sobering thought, I hate repeating myself but, run DMC said it so well "its like that 'n' thats th way it is" HUH ! sorry couldn't resist that bit.

I agree, probably someone who knows the cabbie. Get it reported ASAP and I hope you got any independent witness details at the time, something I learnt the hard way when I clipped a bus that turned right across the front of me. Despite there being no witnesses at the scene a week later magically the bus driver produced a witness to say that I had jumped a red light. I fought the case with my insurance company and seeing as the witness couldn't even say what colour my car was the statement was discounted.

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+1 andyVee

 

my daughter was involved in a rear end shunt with a taxi in harrogate (yes we do have them there) actually minimal contact on both vehicles but taxi climed panel damage and 3 occupants w2hiplash. she told me the taxi was empty. engineer could find no contact damage on her corsa. Direct line (her insurer)  settled with their claim for whiplash and alleged repairs as it was cheaper than contesting it. she lost her no claims and a considerable increase in premium consequently - like TMWNA says its neither just or fair

I'm seriously considering getting a cheapo dashcam, especially given the way people drive around Manchester (I'll give you a clue- my 15-year-old sister is probably a better driver than 90% of people here, and that includes 'professionals' driving buses). It really should be illegal for insurers to put your premiums up for a non-fault accident. All alexl94 was sitting innocently at the traffic lights. Why should he be punished for some moron in a taxi, who's now trying to scam the insurance company?

Really appreciate all the responses, I can't stress that enough! Just to clear a few things up incase there is any confusion, at the time of the incident there were no passengers in the taxi. I informed the police straight away that there had been accident and due to it occurring on a main road the police were able to access the junctions CCTV cameras and turn them to face me and monitor the situation. So if my insurers could access this footage it would clearly show just me, my girlfriend and the taxi driver at the scene. I have informed my insurer that I believe the claim to be fraudulent and also informed them of the polices actions and sent over images of damage to my vehicle. 

 

This so called passenger of the taxi initially tried to claim for injury through my insurance, but once I told my insurer the detail's and what had happened they've redirected the claim to the taxi's insurance! Another rather interesting thing was the taxi driver at the time said it's not his taxi and he borrows it off a friend, but insists he was insured. It's all a bit dodgy to be honest. Just somebody trying to get a quick pay day! 

 

This is definitely one of life's lessons, although one of the more annoying ones especially as its no fault of my own! I'll definitely be investing in a pair of dash cams after this.

Edited 20 May, 201511 yr by alexl94

Not that I know for a fact but, I'd check which make/models of dashcams if any are given insurance company approval/discounts, it'd be a false economy to fit one which wasn't only to find out later its no good for the purpose intended.  Ask your insurance company and NOT the makers of the dashcam, to date they have no financial interests in any manufacturers.

Good job on calling the police. So far I have never done that and always wonder if I should to protect myself a little more.

Something I learned from experience, ALWAYS call the police.

 

I have been stung by someone changing their story after the event.

 

It took me a while to get over that it wasn't just "wasting their time". As it happened, I saved a couple of hundred quid of police time and cost myself a couple of grand over the next 5 year's insurance premiums on cars and bikes.

 

 

If there is ever any doubt of who is at fault, I'd make sure that I reported any injuries I'd suffered when I called for the police. As I understand it they are more likely to attend if there is an injury than property damage only.

 

I ignored my sore head and bruised knee and elbow - where in hindsight it might have justified an attending copper.

Something I learned from experience, ALWAYS call the police.

 

This is required in most European countries.

Quite often here you see a relatively small fender-bender (like someone not paying attension in a traffic jam) with the two cars just abandoned in the middle lane waiting for the police to come, take some pictures & tell them to be on their way.

Its quite frustrating when you are held up like this but also comforting to know that you wont get given false details or have a problem when the other party doesn't respond to your phonecalls.