Debt Collector Letter from an at Fault Party's Insurance Claim

LLostbutfunded on 17/08/2019 - 17:13
Last edited 22/08/2019 - 20:19

Hi everybody,
last year, an old couple reversed into my car as I was parked in a car park (they were reversing out of a parking spot from the opposite side). Luckily for me, I was still in the car and saw the entire thing (I also had the evidence recorded on my dash-cam). Upon inspecting my car, the only real damage that I could see was a massive dent on my number plate where the other car's tow-bar had reversed in, but other than that, everything seemed fine. The couple offered me a cash payment of $200 if I didn't make an insurance claim (as allegedly they had no insurance), and as they were fairly apologetic, I decided to take the cash and get a new number plate from the RMS with the $200.

Not a big deal ….. or so I thought.

Fast-forward to the present and I seem to have received a debt collection notice of $1,000~!! relating to the above accident. After calling their insurance company, they informed me that the couple made a claim accusing me of rear-ending them causing $1,000 worth of repairs. As it had been quite a long time, I no longer had the dash-cam footage or the photos that I had taken. The oddest thing was that I had heard absolutely zilch from both my insurance company and theirs and this debt collection notice was the first time I was even made aware of this situation. To make matters worse, a couple of months ago, I had purchased a new car and had decided to go with a different insurance company.

At this point, this situation is more of a he said, she said, but with both couples against just myself. Is there anything I can do?

TL;DR: Couple reversed into me in a car park last year. Paid me $200 in cash to forget about it. Just recently received a debt-collection letter citing that they made a claim that I rear-ended them.

UPDATE: Thanks for all the help everyone. I called their insurance company today to dispute and demand for proof. According to them, they were not able to find me to inform me of the claim because "I must've changed phone numbers". Anyway, i requested that they send me proof and any documents related to the claim.
I am still yet to hear from them …

UPDATE 2: Have still yet to hear anything from the insurance company. No proof, no receipts for damages, nothing. I'd rather not wait another 50min in their switchboard to contact them.

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Comments

  • yippy on 17/08/2019 - 17:24
    +8

    Speak to the insurance company that covered your car during the time of accident.

  • [Deactivated] on 17/08/2019 - 18:06
    -5

    So you took the cash and didn’t get them to sign something in writing? If you didn’t notify your insurance back then I Guess your screwed.

  • try2bhelpful on 17/08/2019 - 18:24
    +8

    A bit late now but I would’ve kept the video. Not sure why you didn’t offload the video and keep pictures. A lesson for the rest of us. I would go to their insurance company and explain the situation and that the couple are trying to commit fraud. You could even mention you took a video at the time.

    • Lostbutfunded on 17/08/2019 - 22:51

      Yeah, that's a mistake on my behalf. I had kept the video on my hard-drive for about 3-4 months before clearing it out. I really didn't expect it to spring back up again as it was such a minor inconvenience that I didn't think too much of it.

      Will give the insurance company a call tomorrow morning to explain the situation.

      • Yummy on 18/08/2019 - 00:00
        +4

        Always upload on YouTube.

        Also, tell em to eff off and demand for a proof. ;)

      • Love a bargain on 18/08/2019 - 13:05
        +1

        Digital storage is so cheap these days that I found that most things that's made it to my hard drive will stay in "storage" forever

        Still have plenty of files from 20 years ago

        • try2bhelpful on 18/08/2019 - 16:11

          The problem is trying to find stuff as you go from different form factors. If you tried to read a floppy nowadays you would be hard pressed to find a reader. Apparently NASA had this issue with some old tapes. Not quite so much an issue with hard drives but the USB interface might be an issue soon. The secret is to ensure you transfer important stuff, like kids pictures, travel shots etc, as you go along.

          • Love a bargain on 19/08/2019 - 14:15

            @try2bhelpful: I've always had external hard drives for storage (those have been around for long enough). Can't really see USB going away any time soon. If they do, my files would get moved as I upgrade my storage solution.

            Funny enough, I've recently found a few old floppy discs. I suspect some are brand new and a few have been used. There's no way for me to tell if they contain any sensitive information or not since I don't own any machines with floppy drive anymore.

            • try2bhelpful on 19/08/2019 - 14:37

              @Love a bargain: I meant more the USB A connector rather than the USB C - eventually you will need an adapter. However, I wouldn't expect USB to hang around forever. I'm sure there were people making the same comments about serial connections.

              • Love a bargain on 20/08/2019 - 13:40

                @try2bhelpful: Yes, it might become obsolete at some point (as with all technology).

                However, I believe that it's will be years before that happens given how most things comes with USB-A connectivity (for connecting to computers). Even then, having to us a simple adaptor (like the micro-USB to USB-C adaptors that are used these days) is not the end of the world and definitely won't render external HD inaccessible

                • try2bhelpful on 20/08/2019 - 16:59

                  @Love a bargain: Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps. However, making sure you move important data as technology changes removes the problem anyway :).

                  • Love a bargain on 21/08/2019 - 12:29

                    @try2bhelpful: Totally agree with the need to move the data as your upgrade your hardware. What I was trying to say is that it's generally not an overnight process and you're normally in control (unlike the roll out of NBN & the switching off of the old phone network).

                    • try2bhelpful on 21/08/2019 - 19:58

                      @Love a bargain: Is anyone in control of NBN?

                      We have gone naked adsl and mobile phones, now. No more landline phone. The only ones using it were the telemarketers.

                      It, probably, won’t be too long before laptops go USB-C only. However, adapters are likely to be around for a while.

                      The other problem is finding stuff on the myriad of hard drives in my draw. Must consolidate.

                      We had a crashed hard drive and found the magnets act as a good “door closer” for our gate. Holds it closed whilst we lockup and stops the cat pushing it open and escaping.

                      • Love a bargain on 21/08/2019 - 22:31

                        @try2bhelpful: When the NBN goes live, the old phone network get switched off so ADSL is no longer an option. It's the forced switch over that I was referring to.

                        I'm too paranoid about HD crashing (have had a few internal HD dying on me back in the early days of laptops - when machines were poorly ventilated and inadvertently killed the HD after a period of time) that I make sure I have at least 2 copies of everything that I want to keep (at least at the time when I do a backup).

                        But yes, I agree that the number of HD can get out of control.

                        • try2bhelpful on 21/08/2019 - 23:28

                          @Love a bargain: ah, sorry missed what you were trying to get at. Yes, we will get stuck when NBN comes in. The bypass would be wireless.

                          Yeah, I fried a hard drive in one of my laptops as well, we managed to get it to come up in an external cradle and get most of the data off it. Then recycled as door closer.

      • try2bhelpful on 18/08/2019 - 16:12

        Don’t suppose it is still in your trash can?

      • spc12go on 31/08/2019 - 00:05

        @lostbitfounded if you kept the video on the hard drive and you haven’t re-partition or formatted the drive you May be able to recover the video. There are a few free file recovery tool out there. Give it a try you may be able to recover the file. Good luck.

        I did managed to recover some files that way.

  • whooah1979 on 17/08/2019 - 19:41
    +6

    a debt collection notice of $1,000~!!

    You may write back denying liability and ask them not to contact you again. Any further correspondence should be addressed to the insurer at the time of the collision.

  • sraymond on 17/08/2019 - 20:13
    +6

    Sounds like they answered one of those cold calls asking if you have been in an accident recently. They took all the details and then onsold it to a collection agency.

  • aboogee on 17/08/2019 - 20:27
    +1

    my real estate agent told me i could only claim water consumption usage from tenant within 9mths or something.
    surely there is a similar concept / time frame for car insurance.
    otherwise whats stopping me from claiming someone rear ended me 10yrs ago when there is high chance that isnt a shred of evidence left today…

    • ItsMeAgro on 17/08/2019 - 21:04

      my real estate agent told me i could only claim water consumption usage from tenant within 9mths or something.

      You can ask them, and they'll usually pay.

      But they can legally refuse to pay.

      The reason kinda makes sense, though: if you're a tenant and your landlord/agent forgets to forward you the usage, and your first usage bill is way higher than you expected, you've lost the chance to curb your usage or find a leak.

      And it's no fun getting a years worth of water bills you didn't realise you had to pay 9 months later. If it's your first rental, you might not even realise tenant pays for water usage. You'd just assume not, if you never get a bill.

      • bohn on 17/08/2019 - 21:43
        +1

        you might not even realise tenant pays for water usage

        only if the property is separately metered ;)

  • AdosHouse on 17/08/2019 - 21:53
    +1

    Ask them for their proof, also ask them for the details of the driver. Assuming they only have your rego plate.

  • dasher86 on 17/08/2019 - 22:58
    +1

    Always get a signed settlement if accepting any cash.

  • garetz on 17/08/2019 - 23:23

    You were foolish not to keep the evidence, any accident always keep all the evidence for like 5 years to even 10 years if you want to be pedantic.

  • Simoneee on 17/08/2019 - 23:32
    +2

    Just pretend that you still have the dashcam footage and report them to the police

  • dins on 18/08/2019 - 01:43
    +1

    Sorry to hear that hopefully those lowlives don't get away with it. Lesson for us all I would have probably deleted the stuff after a few months as well. Some people are just pathetic.

    • try2bhelpful on 20/08/2019 - 17:03

      I wouldn’t hold my breath. A person ran into my other half’s car and fled the scene. He managed to get the number plate but, guess what, it was reported stolen after the crash occurred. A couple of days later the car “turns up” near where the owners are living. Who’d of thought it? There was nothing we could do.

  • Abang Tukang Bakso on 18/08/2019 - 21:49

    So wheres their proof?

    • Lostbutfunded on 31/08/2019 - 23:32

      I am still yet to hear a reply from them. I left them my email for them to send over any evidence. Radio silence ….

  • ozchenga on 01/09/2019 - 13:22

    Dodgy old couple, terrible.

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