Thank you to everyone on this thread and especially to you Desperate Dad... Your son should be very proud of you!
I am Desperate Mum and I've just read and copied some interesting facts from all the years of contributions.
My son has just received his first claim letter for a significant amount and whilst I don't condone his behaviour, I will not see any member of my family being ripped off to top up the coffers of greedy insurance companies
Unfortunately for said insurance company., we know the people involved in the claim and the figures just DO NOT stack up!
Can't say Im looking forward to the next 6 years of battle, but i'm inspired by you DD and hope i can find your strength.
You need to be patient, persistent and resilient.
I still don't know if it was incompetence, or due to my son having no money that resulted in them taking no action, or they just pursued softer targets that don't fight back. I still don't know why other insurers don't follow their line. It can only be because it's on shaky legal grounds that have not been tested in UK courts. Otherwise surely they'd all be doing it.
The thing that kept me going was that they pay up with little or no challenge and expected my son to cover the inflated costs.
It's an industrywide issue that it's far easier to make pre-medical offers or accept costs without challenge rather than carry out their own examination/investigation. Soft tissue damage claims are hard to prove/disprove so they'll just pay up.
They outsource it to claims management companies who charge exorbitant fees for car hire, car repairs and pay 'medical experts' to confirm whiplash.
Challenge everything.
Pull them up on their mistakes - for example, they gave me the name and address of the claimant by mistake/incompetence.
I ran a check on the other parties vehicle, it had been written off twice before. Pictures of the damage were unclear, no police report, etc.
I didn't pay much attention to any of deadlines they tried to set, there was nothing binding as far as I could make out.
Whatever you do don't ignore any official court papers though! Mine never got beyond implied threats of court but there is a process they must follow which should give you plenty of warning.
Still intrigued to find a single case that ever went to court.
regards,
DD