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.

[Little Lofty]

They were on the ball this morning, my complaint must have worked. They rang the third party insurer and explained I live 300 miles away and asked for a description of the claim, it is alleged I hit their parked car and they got ‘my’ reg from CCTV. It seems obvious to all that they have supplied the incorrect reg to their insurer, maybe the image was poor so they have guessed, pity they hadn't reg checked it though, and made sure the reg matched the car on the CCTV. Still a palaver as this should have been done two weeks ago, but I’m getting somewhere, they have until the 10 December to prove it was me or withdraw the claim.

[CanAm]

[Little Lofty]

The claim should have closed yesterday and a phone-call this morning had my hopes high as I thought they were ringing to confirm it was closed. Alas, not only is not closed (don’t ask me why as the third party didn’t respond) but Admiral now want my van inspected, ffs. Every time I speak to them the story changes, they don’t seem to have a clue what they are doing. I’ve made an official complaint but i’m not holding my breath for a quick resolution.

[Inbox]

Little Lofty said:

The claim should have closed yesterday and a phone-call this morning had my hopes high as I thought they were ringing to confirm it was closed. Alas, not only is not closed (don t ask me why as the third party didn t respond) but Admiral now want my van inspected, ffs. Every time I speak to them the story changes, they don t seem to have a clue what they are doing. I ve made an official complaint but i m not holding my breath for a quick resolution.

Sounds like arse covering going on, time to put everything in writing to them and make sure you have something to prove that it is irrefutably impossible for you and your vehicle to have been where/when it has been claimed.

I didn't get this level of crap from my insurer when this happened to me.

[Red Devil]

Little Lofty said:

The claim should have closed yesterday and a phone-call this morning had my hopes high as I thought they were ringing to confirm it was closed. Alas, not only is not closed (don t ask me why as the third party didn t respond) but Admiral now want my van inspected, ffs. Every time I speak to them the story changes, they don t seem to have a clue what they are doing. I ve made an official complaint but i m not holding my breath for a quick resolution.

If your timed and dated toll charge receipt is such that it would be impossible for your van to have reached the location of the alleged RTC then there is no valid reason for Admiral to demand an inspection. It is complete waste of time and resources for you and for them. In your shoes I would seriously consider looking for a different insurer come renewal time, but make sure the current nonsense is sorted first.

If I get lousy service I don't bother with the monkeys, I escalate to the organ grinder. The details of Admiral Group's CEO and her e-mail address are out there. Correspondence should get passed to her executive team for resolution.

Altough it's not directly related to your specific situation, this shows how badly they treat their customers - https://cardealermagazine.co.uk/admiral-sets-aside...