False whiplash claims

Xpro · 29-06-2023 7:49am #1

Hi,

Just wondering has anyone ever experience a quote crash where a guy ahead deliberately jammed on his brakes to cause a crash?

So happened the other day in slow moving traffic while pulling away at the one way traffic system junction where you only look to the right for oncoming traffic.

While traffic cleared this guy pulled away and then jammed on his brakes to the point inertia of breaking rocked his car and even start rolling back as I was moving forward ( at the speed of 2kmh Dashcam) we touched via reg plates. I just couldnt react as quickly (i must point out ZERO damage on both cars)

I went out and start giving out the the guy for breaking deliberately while nobody was ahead while he was holding his neck and saying he has just suffered a whiplash trauma?? I was like man wtf your are some cowboy!

Anyway we left it at that while he took photos of everything and so did I and then he left.

Just wondering what experience people had? I clearly wont let this go and will fight my corner but obviously I thinking of insurance complications. I know they clamped down on fraudulent cases like that especially where there is no speed and damage yet people claim for bodily injuries.

Regards, xp

Purple Mountain · 29-06-2023 7:52am

I can't add any experience but I assume you exchanged insurance details?

Also, the dash cam must show exactly how things unfolded?

Xpro · 29-06-2023 7:54am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120780792#Comment_120780792

yes it does show quite evidently.

magicbastarder · 29-06-2023 7:54am

i'd say ring your insurance company and tell them it happened, tell them you've dashcam footage. if he makes a claim against you, it's going to happen anyway, but AFAIK if you notify them and he doesn't claim within three months, the notification' is removed from your policy.

Patrick2010 · 29-06-2023 8:00am

thought people had up to 2 years to claim?

magicbastarder · 29-06-2023 8:44am

not 100% sure what the process is, i think you've up to two years in order for medical issues/bills to accumulate. possibly you have to notify that the process has started prior to this date?

Whatwicklow · 29-06-2023 9:04am

Q'ing to exit a shopping centre some years back a lady decided she had pulled out too far on to the road so reversed back into the entrance hitting me.

No damage, laughed it off and left.

12 months later my insurance contacted me to get a statement about me running into the back of her....

It took 3 more years to sort out, I managed to get cctv from the shop that covered it but she persisted.

Advise is to report it to your insurance. Had I done so the claim would have not got so far (so I was advised)

Patrick2010 · 29-06-2023 9:10am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120781052#Comment_120781052

you did well to get cctv 12 months after the event

bazz26 · 29-06-2023 9:21am

I'd imagine you should notify your insurance company straight away and give them your account of the incident along with a copy of the dashcam footage to back it up. That would be used as part of any investigation by your insurer as a subsequence of an injury claim lodged against you.

Peregrinus · 29-06-2023 9:41am

Whiplash generally doesn't manifest earlier than 24 hours after the impact, so if he was claiming whiplash in the immediate aftermath of the incident, that looks like a try-on. Make sure your report to your insurer includes the detail that he claimed whiplash.

That's not to say that a collision couldn't result in other injuries that would manifest immediately, and the patient might mistakenly describe that as whiplash. But if he makes a claim and his medical reports don't disclose any other injuries, only symptoms suggestive of whiplash, that would be telling.

There is of course the possibility that someone would pretend to have whiplash immediately after the collision and then actually have it the following day. The fact that he had pretended to have an injury wouldn't, in itself, mean that he wasn't entitled to compensation for a genuine injury. But it would call into doubt his honesty, and therefore the credibility of his later reports to his doctor of whiplash-type symptoms.

But it will be up to your insurers whether they want to fight this. If he does make a claim that is relatively modest, and if he doesn't have a history of suspicious claims, the insurer will be brutally calculating in deciding how much effort to put into challenging the claim.

ba_barabus · 29-06-2023 10:47am

Does he know you have dashcam footage?

FWIW I previously had a very very light bump in the back and the following day it hurt like fook, absolutely no idea why or how it was so bad but it was. Gave me a new perspective on things. I did also rear end a car before at about 15mph and they got out holding their necks but again I can still picture their heads snapping back when I hit them. They didn't pursue a claim either.

As above, contact your insurance company and pass everything to them. Fingers crossed if he is messing about he submits a claim and it goes to court...

blackbox · 29-06-2023 10:53am

He may genuinely already have a neck injury from a previous incident that was not covered by insurance.

ba_barabus · 29-06-2023 11:11am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120781515#Comment_120781515

That's his problem, not the OPs

Hooked · 29-06-2023 11:36am

This exact thing happened to my father in law - and the scrote in the car in front got a settlement of 80 THOUSAND euro!!!

If it were me, and no cops were called and no "impact" is obvious on the dash cam - I'd simply argue that there was no actual contact and you stopped in time.

Chancers like this need to be met with the VERY same attitude as theirs!!!

blackbox · 29-06-2023 12:52pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120781594#Comment_120781594

It's the op's problem if he claims against the op.

ba_barabus · 29-06-2023 1:48pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120782100#Comment_120782100

Not if he has evidence of a previous claim for the same injury that wasn't covered by insurance, which is what I take from what you wrote.

dodzy · 29-06-2023 2:11pm

Claim culture in Ireland is rife and has been for many years.

HazeDoll · 29-06-2023 2:11pm

Did you point out that you have a dashcam at the time, OP?

I bought a dashcam a few years ago because of a similar experience when a car suddenly reversed up a motorway on-ramp towards me, obviously hoping it would look like I had run into them. It happened in the very early hours at a very quiet junction. I was too quick for the feckers and reversed away from them. They lost their nerve and sped off and I went straight home and bought a dashcam online. I would bloody love it if somebody tried something similar now. I would get a real kick out of seeing the look on their face when I point to the dashcam.

...Ghost... · 29-06-2023 2:16pm

Would be interesting to see the dashcam footage to get a better idea of what happened.

Sadly OP, these scrotes know very well that a whiplash claim is more expensive to fight than to pay out. This will be at your expense no matter how willing you are to face the man in court. The poster above who said a claimant allegedly got 80 grand for a minor whiplash injury must have been sleeping with the Judge. WL claims average around 10k and are mostly settled via the PIAB these days.

FWIW, an WL injury can be instant pain. I've been unlucky enough to be hit from behind a couple of times. The first time it happened, my car was hit by another at about 30+km/h. The driver was on his phone. I was hunched a little forward when hit and within seconds I felt a sharp pain in the back of my neck. My car was written off. Small tips can injure people, but men are much less likely to be injured in low speed collisions.

Eggs For Dinner · 01-07-2023 7:33am

If your dashcam evidence is sufficient to allow your insurers defend any injury claim, they will do so. The 'rewards' for whiplash claims are not what they should be, so a spurious claimant (and their legal representative) may give up in the long run

Eggs For Dinner · 01-07-2023 7:35am

Edit: *Not what they used to be. Shouldn't type while hungover

alias no.9 · 02-07-2023 6:50pm

Consider bringing the footage to your local garda station, would do no harm at all for this guy to get called in for questioning.

AnRothar · 02-07-2023 8:36pm

Make sure you keep the dash cam recording. As mine will loop and overwrite overwrite previous records.

Henry Ford III · 03-07-2023 11:00am

Move to insurance forum?

Housefree · 03-07-2023 1:28pm

You need to leave enough space that you can react, the fault lies with you

pat_sconce · 03-07-2023 3:28pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120799544#Comment_120799544

Incorrect and far too many people repeat this mis-information.

You need to leave enough space for normal driving in relation to the driving conditions. If someone slams their brakes for no apparent reason you cannot be expected to react in time. They however run the real risk of being charged with dangerous driving and there was a case last year in Clonmel district court where the motorist was fined €300 and had 6 points applied to his license. Dashcam footage was available, but motorist pleaded guilty.

I believe there are plans that will allow motorists here to send dashcam footage to gardai and gardai will then decide on whether to prosecute without need for the person sending the dashcam to appear in court.

magicbastarder · 03-07-2023 3:43pm

If someone slams their brakes for no apparent reason you cannot be expected to react in time.

it's fundamental to safe driving that you should be able to brake in time. precisely because someone may slam on their brakes, for legitimate or illegitimate reasons.

a rear-ending is not a zero sum game. just because someone may do it maliciously does not automatically vindicate the other party.