Harassed By Random Person's Insurance

Off Topic
1

Hey.

A little while ago I was contacted by a car insurance agent claiming that back in January my car was involved with a hit and run in a parking lot and did $4k worth of damage to her client’s car.

She wants my insurance information. I don’t feel obligated to give it to her. She’s make a non-specific “you have x-number of days to get me your insurance information.”

She claims a witness got my license plate, and has provided me with a date, and says it was in a grocery store parking lot. No specifics.

How should I proceed? Our only contact is through email. She contacted the vehicle’s previous owner (that’s who came up when they ran the plate), they contacted me, I contacted them to get her to stop harassing them.

Now that the liability is off of them, and I’ve told her I was not involved in her incident, I feel like I’ve done all I’m obligated to do… if I respond to her ‘threat’ I was going to ask for specifics: time, place, witness information, pictures if there are any, exe… on the other hand… or I could just ignore her 'till she goes away.

Opinions appreciated.

2

Did you hit and run or not

3

[quote]TommyGunz32 wrote:
Did you hit and run or not[/quote]

No, I thought that was clear from the initial post.

4

Apply your avatar. You be the black guy, she is the lady.

5

[quote]Spartiates wrote:
Hey.

A little while ago I was contacted by a car insurance agent claiming that back in January my car was involved with a hit and run in a parking lot and did $4k worth of damage to her client’s car.

She wants my insurance information. I don’t feel obligated to give it to her. She’s make a non-specific “you have x-number of days to get me your insurance information.”

She claims a witness got my license plate, and has provided me with a date, and says it was in a grocery store parking lot. No specifics.

How should I proceed? Our only contact is through email. She contacted the vehicle’s previous owner (that’s who came up when they ran the plate), they contacted me, I contacted them to get her to stop harassing them.

Now that the liability is off of them, and I’ve told her I was not involved in her incident, I feel like I’ve done all I’m obligated to do… if I respond to her ‘threat’ I was going to ask for specifics: time, place, witness information, pictures if there are any, exe… on the other hand… or I could just ignore her 'till she goes away.

Opinions appreciated.[/quote]

Tell her to fuck off, in no uncertain terms. DO NOT give her any information.

If motivated, demand all her information (her agent license no, etc), as you desire to report her to the insurance board for your state.

6

[quote]Jewbacca wrote:

Tell her to fuck off, in no uncertain terms. DO NOT give her any information.

If motivated, demand all her information (her agent license no, etc), as you desire to report her to the insurance board for your state.[/quote]

This is what my gut tells me to do.

However, I worry that this will become an even greater time-suck if they decide to file charges of some sort…

7

[quote]Spartiates wrote:

[quote]Jewbacca wrote:

Tell her to fuck off, in no uncertain terms. DO NOT give her any information.

If motivated, demand all her information (her agent license no, etc), as you desire to report her to the insurance board for your state.[/quote]

This is what my gut tells me to do.

However, I worry that this will become an even greater time-suck if they decide to file charges of some sort…[/quote]

Contact YOUR Insurance agent or broker.
They will probably help you with this.

8

[quote]Hallowed wrote:

[quote]Spartiates wrote:

[quote]Jewbacca wrote:

Tell her to fuck off, in no uncertain terms. DO NOT give her any information.

If motivated, demand all her information (her agent license no, etc), as you desire to report her to the insurance board for your state.[/quote]

This is what my gut tells me to do.

However, I worry that this will become an even greater time-suck if they decide to file charges of some sort…[/quote]

Contact YOUR Insurance agent or broker.
They will probably help you with this.
[/quote]

Yeah exactly. It’s kinda their job. They will know how to procede with this situation, what steps to take and what to exactly do and say. Don’t fall to panic because of that harassment. If you are sure you are innocent, everything will go fine.

I had a similar situation in the past, when I was young and a beginner. I was sure I was innocent of what a woman was accusing me because I had not used my car the day this incident happened (certainly not 4000 dollars worth, more like, 40). My insurance company got in contact with this woman and she never bothered me again.

9

Call a good lawyer and your insurance company.

Direct them to the opposing insurance company.

Sit back and watch the lulz fly.

10

a person writing down your your liscense plate # is called heresay. its bullshit. its not proof of any sort. police, insurance comp. need proof. whats stopping anyone from doing that. a persons friend calls and uses any # they can find in the parking lot at the time and says that person hit someones car. any moron can do that. thats why its not used as proof. id contact my insurance company and thats it. don’t bother.

11

[quote]Spartiates wrote:
Hey.

A little while ago I was contacted by a car insurance agent claiming that back in January my car was involved with a hit and run in a parking lot and did $4k worth of damage to her client’s car.

She wants my insurance information. I don’t feel obligated to give it to her. She’s make a non-specific “you have x-number of days to get me your insurance information.”

She claims a witness got my license plate, and has provided me with a date, and says it was in a grocery store parking lot. No specifics.

How should I proceed? Our only contact is through email. She contacted the vehicle’s previous owner (that’s who came up when they ran the plate), they contacted me, I contacted them to get her to stop harassing them.

Now that the liability is off of them, and I’ve told her I was not involved in her incident, I feel like I’ve done all I’m obligated to do… if I respond to her ‘threat’ I was going to ask for specifics: time, place, witness information, pictures if there are any, exe… on the other hand… or I could just ignore her 'till she goes away.

Opinions appreciated.[/quote]

I’m assuming two things here:

First, that you did not cause this accident and was not there. Second, that you have insurance.

Assuming the above two things are correct, you should take whatever notice you received and forward it to YOUR insurance company. They will deal with this, and will deny the claim assuming my first assumption was correct.

Here’s “why” you do as I instruct:

If they decide to sue you, and you DO have insurance, your policy contains a clause (condition precedent to coverage) that you TIMELY report any accident, loss, etc. This will likely include the notice you have received. If you do not report it timely, your insurance carrier can DENY coverage when and if you do ask to be defended.

If you do NOT have coverage, you can ignore the notice and take your chances. The letter is most likely from the subrogation department and they play a numbers game. They are also much more interested in people with an insurance policy than someone with no insurance. As to the latter, you could, if you don’t have insurance, simply reply that you do not, and tell them to fuck off. They can sue you, but they will need to retain counsel, and that itself will cost money and for a person without insurance, it’s the law of diminishing returns there.

Fill in the blanks, and I can instruct you more specifically.

12

[quote]Jewbacca wrote:

[quote]Spartiates wrote:
Hey.

A little while ago I was contacted by a car insurance agent claiming that back in January my car was involved with a hit and run in a parking lot and did $4k worth of damage to her client’s car.

She wants my insurance information. I don’t feel obligated to give it to her. She’s make a non-specific “you have x-number of days to get me your insurance information.”

She claims a witness got my license plate, and has provided me with a date, and says it was in a grocery store parking lot. No specifics.

How should I proceed? Our only contact is through email. She contacted the vehicle’s previous owner (that’s who came up when they ran the plate), they contacted me, I contacted them to get her to stop harassing them.

Now that the liability is off of them, and I’ve told her I was not involved in her incident, I feel like I’ve done all I’m obligated to do… if I respond to her ‘threat’ I was going to ask for specifics: time, place, witness information, pictures if there are any, exe… on the other hand… or I could just ignore her 'till she goes away.

Opinions appreciated.[/quote]

Tell her to fuck off, in no uncertain terms. DO NOT give her any information.

If motivated, demand all her information (her agent license no, etc), as you desire to report her to the insurance board for your state.[/quote]

Aren’t you a lawyer? This is terrible advice. If he’s insured, he has an obligation to report this to his insurance carrier, or risk a coverage denial for failure to report this timely. He can ignore her, tell her to fuck off, shit on her front law, but he absolutely should report this to HIS carrier.

13

[quote]roguevampire wrote:
a person writing down your your liscense plate # is called heresay. its bullshit. its not proof of any sort. police, insurance comp. need proof. whats stopping anyone from doing that. a persons friend calls and uses any # they can find in the parking lot at the time and says that person hit someones car. any moron can do that. thats why its not used as proof. id contact my insurance company and thats it. don’t bother. [/quote]

LOL at the first part of your post. Your advice to contact an insurance agent was however correct.

Let me tell you how they get their proof, FYI. A police officer interviews someone, and they charge you. An insurance adjuster INTERVIEWS someone, even over the phone, and this constitutes enough “proof” for inter-company arbitration. With his license information, the other insurance company can track his insurance information, and forward it directly to his carrier…who, again, can deny the claim b/c he didn’t report it.

“Fuck off” is not an acceptable reply here unless he’s uninsured. Even if he’s uninsured, and we wasn’t involved in the accident, he may want to start thinking about where he was that day, at that time, and how to prove it - shopping receipt, ATM receipt, toll receipt, witness, work/attendance record. If he doesn’t have damage to his vehicle, photograph it now.

Absent all the above, at the end of the day she (I’m assuming at this point private person?) can file suit, testify with her witness, and win.

14

I am insured.

My insurance company uses any excuse to jackup my rates.

That is my hesitation in contacting them.

There was no police report, I’m quit sure of it. If there had been, and the ‘witness’ had reported my license plate number to them, I’m sure I’d have heard something less than 4 months after the alleged date.

If I were to speculate, my guess would be that the client filled the claim some time after the ‘incident’. Was told if they didn’t have someone to blame, their rates would get jacked up, and returned to where it happened (if that even) and picked out a license plate from the a car that looked like a total beater (mine), and that’s that…

Pure speculation, but my motorcycle got hit in a parking lot once, and since I didn’t know who did it, if I wanted to file a claim (and I did, it was like 2k+ worth of damage), it would have to go an an uninsured claim, and they jacked my rates up after that

The fact that this woman has not made a specific threat… like that she’ be filing charges, exe… makes her sound more full of shit.

Actually here is her email with the names removed for your reading pleasure:

Some amazing logic at work here…

15

[quote]Spartiates wrote:
I am insured.

My insurance company uses any excuse to jackup my rates.

That is my hesitation in contacting them.

There was no police report, I’m quit sure of it. If there had been, and the ‘witness’ had reported my license plate number to them, I’m sure I’d have heard something less than 4 months after the alleged date.

If I were to speculate, my guess would be that the client filled the claim some time after the ‘incident’. Was told if they didn’t have someone to blame, their rates would get jacked up, and returned to where it happened (if that even) and picked out a license plate from the a car that looked like a total beater (mine), and that’s that…

Pure speculation, but my motorcycle got hit in a parking lot once, and since I didn’t know who did it, if I wanted to file a claim (and I did, it was like 2k+ worth of damage), it would have to go an an uninsured claim, and they jacked my rates up after that

The fact that this woman has not made a specific threat… like that she’ be filing charges, exe… makes her sound more full of shit.

Actually here is her email with the names removed for your reading pleasure:

Some amazing logic at work here…[/quote]

It will NOT raise your rates. Report the notice to your carrier. They will handle it.

16

[quote]Hallowed wrote:

[quote]Spartiates wrote:

[quote]Jewbacca wrote:

Tell her to fuck off, in no uncertain terms. DO NOT give her any information.

If motivated, demand all her information (her agent license no, etc), as you desire to report her to the insurance board for your state.[/quote]

This is what my gut tells me to do.

However, I worry that this will become an even greater time-suck if they decide to file charges of some sort…[/quote]

Contact YOUR Insurance agent or broker.
They will probably help you with this.
[/quote]

As a lawyer, I respectfully disagree.

  1. Insurance companies frequently have agreements among themselves to “no fault” settle. So, even though you have NOTHING to do with this, your carrier very well may pay. The result is a loss against you and higher rates. It is in the carrier’s discretion to settle, even if B.S.

  2. In some states, merely the claim (even if ultimately dismissed) will result in higher rates.

  3. If they were going to press charges or whatever, they would have already.

17

[quote]Jewbacca wrote:

[quote]Hallowed wrote:

[quote]Spartiates wrote:

[quote]Jewbacca wrote:

Tell her to fuck off, in no uncertain terms. DO NOT give her any information.

If motivated, demand all her information (her agent license no, etc), as you desire to report her to the insurance board for your state.[/quote]

This is what my gut tells me to do.

However, I worry that this will become an even greater time-suck if they decide to file charges of some sort…[/quote]

Contact YOUR Insurance agent or broker.
They will probably help you with this.
[/quote]

As a lawyer, I respectfully disagree.

  1. Insurance companies frequently have agreements among themselves to “no fault” settle. So, even though you have NOTHING to do with this, your carrier very well may pay. The result is a loss against you and higher rates. It is in the carrier’s discretion to settle, even if B.S.

  2. In some states, merely the claim (even if ultimately dismissed) will result in higher rates.

  3. If they were going to press charges or whatever, they would have already.[/quote]

This is EXACTLY what I’m worried about and pretty much what I’m thinking.

18

[quote]roguevampire wrote:
a person writing down your your liscense plate # is called heresay. [/quote]

Actually, no. It’s called a witness.

Now, someone SAYING someone wrote down your plate, and the same being offered as proof that it’s your car is hearsay.

(Also, the contemporaneous writing of the plate (the sheet of paper with the number), would, itself probably be admissible for a number of reasons. But I digress.)

Evidence was my favorite class in law school, after business organizations and tax.

19

Wouldn’t they need to show damage to your vehicle. If your vehicle is undamaged and un-repaired, that should be proof enough you didn’t do it.

20

[quote]TheBodyGuard wrote:
Aren’t you a lawyer? This is terrible advice. If he’s insured, he has an obligation to report this to his insurance carrier, or risk a coverage denial for failure to report this timely. He can ignore her, tell her to fuck off, shit on her front law, but he absolutely should report this to HIS carrier. [/quote]

No, almost always you have an obligation to report an actual suit or (often) an accident, not some crank calling you on the phone about a non-event.