Hi All, 1st Post...Advice Needed on What May Be a Scam

[Drew888]

I searched for an insurance forum seeking a professional opinion.

I got a call from a lady telling me that it's about my wife and a collision claim and that AAA could never get a hold of us so this claim went to their company for collection. She then asked me how I'd like to pay for it. I believe she mentioned AAA paid for repairs under UM.

My wife tells me that she was in a parking lot parked in backward (reversed into the spot). As she was about to pull out she waited for a car to slowly drive by. My wife intended to go in the opposite direction of the car crossing her path. As she started to roll out of her parking spot the car slammed on her brakes for no reason. Not another car nor pedestrian in sight.

My wife ends up bumping into the side of this persons car making contact with the other cars rear bumper. My wife tells me that they both got out, the other driver appologized many times and told her not to worry about the little scrape as her car was very old (and had plenty more 'little scrapes'). Both parties only exchanged phone numbers.

Ok, so I'm thinking why should I cut this person a check when she could be scamming us, but then she could have decided to claim it after the fact but I never received any calls from AAA in the first place.

Can we stand on the grounds that she dismissed it at the scene of the accident? There were no witnesses and no police report. What about fleeing the scene of an accident. Where/how might that apply?

Something else mentioned to me in that one call was that the person claiming was male but the person driving was female. Possibly her husband got a little miffed she was in a small accident.

Do I call this company back to say we have a different story and since there aren't witnesses we'll settle this 50/50 (there is probably $300 in damage, to our LR3).

What would you suggest I do?

Thanks,

Drew

 

[CHUMPS FROM OXFORD]

Tell them to have the insurer contact you directly...in writing.

 

[djs]

Better yet, simply refer them to your insurance carrier. They will deal with this for you. If its a scam, they will know it and deal with it appropriately.

And no, despite what someone might say, you cannot 'dismiss' at the scene of the accident.

Dan

 

[Drew888]

I just spoke with my wife about this and this time I asked for all the details ( I somewhat dismissed it the first time).

Apparantly, this person did not get a license plate #, and my wife says she never wrote anything down. My wife tried to exchange information and the lady was being very defensive and not wanting to. My wife then just manages to get her name and number and had to hand her my wifes name and number. Also on the note to this other person, my wife includes our insurance carrier but not the #. If AAA actually tried to make this a claim they had my wifes name, number and carrier. There is no way they could not have found our insurance information and simply delt with them in the first place.

The company is Claims Resource Services. So far, until I had all the facts, I just told them that I still have to discuss it with my wife and we left it there. There reply was "and we'll keep calling until this is resolved". This company doesn't have a plate, has an incorrect accident date, doesn't know our vehicle or color, they are saying a different person was behind the wheel (of their car). They are asking for $1300. My wife asked the other driver "where did I hit you? Is that little scratch it", and the lady replies "no that was already there".

It doesn't add up. It's just way too easy to make something like this up.

I call in a few minutes to ask for AAA's insurance # for this person and go from there. I'm not about to give up my Ins. info just yet. I'm not convinced Ins. companies do anything other than just pay out.

Another thing, if the two insurance companies finally talk, how do they come to a reasonable amount to pay? I mean there are no before pictures and no inspection so no way to verify the claim.

Thanks again,
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Better yet, simply refer them to your insurance carrier. They will deal with this for you. If its a scam, they will know it and deal with it appropriately.

And no, despite what someone might say, you cannot 'dismiss' at the scene of the accident.

Dan

Why not? Sorry, I'm completely insurance ignorant. I haven't had an accident in 30 years.

There is not even a rub mark on our car. My wife wasn't on the gas but simply removed the brake and slowly rolled into her. There are marks on her car but all of them were already there.

Isn't there a minimum loss amount of some kind? If an owner of the car says "I really don't care, don't worry about it", why can't that hold up? Should she have gotten it in writing?

 

[Sales71]

Dear Husband just contact your insurance company and have them take care of it. They get paid for that kind of stuff they have a claim department that handles this type of claim. They will figure out if its fake or true claim.

 

[djs]

Step back a little bit, you've gotten a bit emotionally wrapped up in this and its clouding your judgment (understandably so).

Let me walk you through this as I see it from what you have stated. This comes from years of dealing with clients with similar issues. This is based on California, some of which will vary by state, but not much (oops, looks like you are in CA anyway).

From your story, your wife is at fault. Tough pill to swallow, but from the way you explained it, that's the way it works. She was both pulling out of a parking spot AND the other car was stopped. It doesn't matter if the other driver stopped for no reason, stopped suddenly, stopped because she dropped her lipstick. Stopped is stopped. With very rare exception, a stopped car can not be at fault for an accident (exceptions are not involved in this case).

Since she was at fault, you (she) are responsible for the damages. Since there is damage to your car and from the way you described the accident, its reasonable to assume there was damage to her car. It does not really matter that there is some existing damage, you (your wife) are responsible for the damage you caused. Existing damage only comes into play in the amount of the settlement to avoid 'betterment'. With scratches, some betterment somewhat unavoidable.

You said they want $1300. This might be high but not outrageous. If someone gets a paint sprayer out, its at least $700 for a quality repair. Yes, you can get it done for less, but this isn't a complete repaint of the car by any means. A small scratch repair, paint and blend it in, a few days rental car coverage, you get there pretty quick.

What are your options:
- Truthfully, most clients change their story. They were now stopped, the other driver ran into them. I don't recommend this option, its to obvious from the damage and you'll lose all credibility. Just history tells me that people spend 30 seconds trying to convince me it wasn't their fault. My motto: "Accidents happen, cars are easily fixed, hopefully nobody was seriously injured. If nobody is seriously hurt, fix the car and move on" (okay, long motto).
- Get the claim number from the collector. Call AAA and deal with them. At least confirm its a legitimate call to you. Odds are, it is, but if they have the date of the accident significantly wrong, they may have the wrong person. Your carrier may not have found the policy if AAA contacted them. It's not as easy as you think. Policy is in your name, wife had the accident. Several clients have the same name, etc. Phone number given was a cell number but policy is in the home number. You would be amazed how hard it can be to track down a policy without the right information.

- Pay the bill. Not really my recommended course of action. Talk to your agent first on this. It may or may not make sense but there are to many factors involved to answer that without knowing a lot more details.

- File a claim with your own insurance company. Have them pay the bill. You would be amazed how easy this step is. Insurance carriers deal with almost this exact situation everyday. No, they don't just write a check, but when the checkbook comes out, it is their checkbook, not yours. Your wife will get rated for an at-fault accident (talk to your agent first), but she is already required to report this to the DMV anyway, so she will likely get rated anyway.

I personally would try to avoid dealing with the collection agency. You might have to if you don't want to deal with your insurance company, but I would try to work with AAA directly if I didn't want to file the claim under my carrier.

Dan

 

[Drew888]

Thanks Dan,

Easy enough, but out of curiosity... from above.




Originally Posted by djs

Better yet, simply refer them to your insurance carrier. They will deal with this for you. If its a scam, they will know it and deal with it appropriately.​

And no, despite what someone might say, you cannot 'dismiss' at the scene of the accident.​

Dan​

Why not? Sorry, I'm completely insurance ignorant. I haven't had an accident in 30 years.

Isn't there a minimum loss amount of some kind? If an owner of the car says "I really don't care, don't worry about it", why can't that hold up? Should she have gotten it in writing?

 

[djs]

Usually, whatever is said at the scene is pretty much ignored later. People are a bit distraught, panicked, worried, and very emotional. It's not a good time to make this type of decision.

I've known people to accept full responsibility for an accident that wasn't their fault. I've know people to say 'don't worry about it', interpreted as you don't have to pay for the damage when it was meant as its not a big deal and can be fixed.

Bottom line is if you cause the damage, you are responsible to fix the damage. Not a hard concept to grasp. Yes, there are times when you might get into a minor bump and people say don't worry about it and mean it, usually there are other issues involved though (such as no drivers license, not their car, no insurance, active arrest warrants, whatever).

In general, a court will say its not rational for someone to have $1300 of damage inflicted on their car and say 'don't worry about it'. Because its not rational, they usually won't accept it.

Other forum lawyers (those of us without legal degrees) are welcome to offer alternative thinkings, but I've been down that road with clients a few times and have never seen anyone pay attention to it.

Dan

 

[Tampa Bay Rep]

I did a search and found this comment on another site about someone being harrassed by a collection agency as well:

"I've been a lawyer since the mid 1970s. In all that time, I've never, ever heard of a collection agency being involved with an auto claim. I smell a scam".

You might want to ask your insurance company about this.

 

[STIBROKER]

My wife ends up bumping into the side of this persons car making contact with the other cars rear bumper. My wife tells me that they both got out, the other driver appologized many times and told her not to worry about the little scrape as her car was very old (and had plenty more 'little scrapes'). Both parties only exchanged phone numbers.