Personal injury claim - is this a common scam? | Ask Honest John

Personal injury claim - is this a common scam?

I had a minor low speed bump with another car at about 1mph. The female driver was fine about it and we exchanged details. A few days later I received another call from my insurers to say that she had made a personal injury damage claim and they were writing to her insurers asking them to settle on a very low speed collision basis, as this would only cost my insurers £3000 to £5000. I was amazed, as at 1mph she could have had no impact effect as I just gently moved her along and she was unaffected when she got out of the car.

I strongly protested and said I was willing to go to court to dispute the situation. My insurers said it was a waste of time and that they no longer went to court, as they had lost every claim they had pursued and it was cheaper to pay the £3000 to £5000 cost than the £20,000 to £40,000 cost it would otherwise involve.

Asked on 9 August 2012 by AM, Edgware,

Answered by Honest John

This scam goes on all the time and I receive many complaints. It's criminal fraud but the CPS will do nothing about it, so it continues. Another reader mildly grazed a Mercedes CL63 AMG in a medical centre car park at less than 3mph and his insurer was ‘accident managed’ into paying £7000 for the repair and £13,000 for hire of an equivalent car while the repair was taking place. He also faces a ‘personal injury claim’.

The government has promised to reform the insurance business but hasn’t. Insurers say they have to play this game to make the money back that is taken from them by it.

Tags: personal injury claims insurance accidents

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