Accused of accident in rental car on way home from WDW – never in one.

[TyRy]

We just received a letter in the mail from ACCC Insurance Company of Georgia asking for all our details for the accident we were involved in on the highway. The problem…we were never involved in an accident. We did get two flat tires while driving in the HOV lane on 175, and immediately pulled over onto the shoulder. But there was no accident. DH called this company and they said someone is claiming we sideswiped them. I called Alamo since we were in their car, and they said the only damage the car had (we were in downtown Atlanta) when we returned it was two flat tires. No other damage. We had also called Georgia State Police since we were from out of town and didn’t know who else to call since we were semi-blocking traffic. The trooper did write a report that we had two flat tires by caused by something on the road.

The letter came with the wrong street name (we had two words and they inserted one in between) and our city spelled wrong. The insurance company told DH to return the letter saying we were not involved in any accident, but I really want this taken care of now.

Perhaps it’s also a Georgia law or something, but the insurance company also asked for a copy of our title. I’ve unfortunately been involved in a major accident years ago (I was hit by a drunk driver) and neither company asked for a title.

Something doesn’t seem right here…anyone have any advice?

Thanks!

 

[twinklebug]

Yea, something smells fishy with that one. Improper info, asking for title (no never had that one before). Chances are, that if you say or do anything other than insist you were not involved in any accident, fraud is sure to follow.

My bet is whomever is claiming you were in an accident with them may have sideswiped someone themselves and they picked up on your license # from a parking lot in GA, or even when you were pulled over on the side. What they didn't know was that it was a rental vehicle they saw nor that you had the police involved already and there's documentation stating you were not in an accident from both sources.

This may come back to bite them big time as insurance fraud.

Thinking... what would a scammer do with a vehicle title?

 

[Ctsplaysinrain]

It does sound like some sort of scam.. I would call the State Attorney General and report it..

 

[btcrane]

I'm confused...what title did they ask for? The rental car company would have the title of the car you were driving, and why on earth would they require a title of a car you own? That's assuming you HAVE the title...if you are still paying a loan on your own vehicle, the bank has the title. Very, very fishy. Be careful and good luck!!

 

[ready123go]

I agree with above posters. Whatever you do - DO NOT submit title of your car, as it was not involved. If it's a rental, you don't own it and therefore don't have the title. That sounds like a complete scam. Try checking out the insurance company on line to verify their existence and/or legitimacy. Your insurance company should be able to help you navagate this.
If not, gather all supporting written documentation, keep a journal of your calls and letters, citing contact person, content and day and time.
If and when you write a response letter, send a copy of it to both your state's attorney and Georgia State Attorney each with a short cover letter explaining the situation.
Let the aforementioned Insurance company know that you have done this. If it is legit (which I doubt) - no problem. If it is a scam, I guarantee with both states on the case, the scammer will drop it.
You might even be helping others who would otherwise fall for their scam.

 

[diesel]

I'm confused how did they get your name and address? From the rental car company? I would assume this would be handled by the rental car company not you if this was a real claim. Very strange. Sounds like a scam.

 

[backyardponder]

I would call ACCC insurance and follow up with a certified (return receipt) letter. In the call and letter I would only say that I was not in any accident and give them no additional information.

 

[DC7800]

I'm confused how did they get your name and address? From the rental car company?

That sounds like a pretty good question to me. If the rental company has had previous contact concerning this issue, shouldn't Alamo have contacted you - it's their car? If Alamo has no record of this reported accident, its probably even more suspicious, since that would mean they didn't get your address through the rental car license plate.

 

[TyRy]

Thank you all for the replies. Our rental car actually had Washington plates on it, and I don't recall an Alamo sticker. We are sending back the paperwork from the insurance company, with only, we were not involved in any accident on it.

The company does exist (I did check online.) I just thought it was weird that they had the line about including a copy of your title on the paperwork. Since I'm in Illinois I thought maybe Georgia worked a different way, but I'm guessing a lot of people don't even have their title since they may still be paying on a car.

Still not sure how they got our name/address (even thought address was wrong). My father thought two things, someone was driving on the highway and saw us pulled over and is trying a scam, or someone within Alamo is working with this person to pull a scam. Either way not good!

Didn't know if I should start calling Attorney General's right away or not. Trust me, I will not be quiet about this once we get everything straight. I just don't want this company coming after us over and over.

 

[seashoreCM]

I would write directly back to the person who wrote you. Say you were not in any accident. Do not give out any other information, do not send them copies of any of your papers, and do not fill out the form they provided.

I woujld not telephone them either.

Let them send you another letter with more of their information that they volunteer, before you do anything more.

Also do not add details. Do not describe to them the route you took.

Actually they should send you a narrative describing what they think happened. Including time, location, damage pattern, etc. You do not send them a narrative.

If they call, tell them to put it in writing but do not give your address (they supposedly already know it or can get it; either that or they are scamming you).

 

[pog926]

I had a similar thing happen to me in Virginia. My wifes Jeep was reported to be in a hit and run in another part of the state and the insurance investigator was chasing us down. The thing is when someone reported it as a hit and run they're claiming we knew about the accident. Anyway doing research someone at the DMV had transposed a license plate number it the tag came back to us. This was made more confusing because the license pate was correct but the registration was where the transposed number was and I didn't really find that out until all this occurred. I had to bring my tag in to verify and explain to the investigator. DMV actually gave me the real (hit and run) vehicle info to give to the investigator. He called me back to let me know that was in fact the vehicle that hit his client. So check to make sure someone didn't transpose a number. Vehicle description, time of day and such. Other than that I wouldn't give out any other info. Good luck.

 

[Lizziejane]

sounds to me like it has to be a scam from someone within the car rental company. How on earth could any passer-by link someone who has rented a car, with their name and address? This person knew who you are, where you were, when you were there, and your home address. All from a plate number of a car that doesn't belong to you. Hmmmm

 

[seashoreCM]

... I just don't want this company coming after us over and over ...

Sometimes it is better for the company or other party to come after you with a little information (not for a little information) over and over. Instead of loading them up with your own information to second guess with and prevent more calls to you.

After their second or third letter you can even ask them to send you their accident report as typically filed with the city. Then you can rebut it piece by piece. I guess here you would have to give them corrected information for each incorrect piece of their information such as "we were in Alexandria, not Roanoke that day" in the Virginia case above.

I would even do such things as have the investigator come over to see me instead of my bringing stuff in to him. As inspired by a Bruce Williams, talk show host currently residing in Florida and a Disney fan.

Now there is such a thing as and a term for it: "Non contact hit and run". Someone swerves to avoid you and he gets into an accident. This is where
being able to match up information (that they volunteer first as I suggested) can be useful.

 

[MaryKatesMom]

Keep us posted.

seashoreCM may have the answer. Someone swerved to avoid you in the HOV lane, got your license plate, gave it to the Insurance company which got your info from the Rental company.

Give them as little information as possible.

 

[Disneyhappy]

As a precaution, report it to your insurance company as well if they pursue it beyond your response back to them. They should fight it for you as well which is partially why you pay premiums. The conditions of your insurance policy require that you report notice of an potential claim and failing to report claims can place your coverage in jeopardy. They will have access to records/data bases in their investigation of this matter. Most likely it is a transposed license number.

 

[bumbershoot]

Now there is such a thing as and a term for it: "Non contact hit and run". Someone swerves to avoid you and he gets into an accident. This is where
being able to match up information (that they volunteer first as I suggested) can be useful.

Good point. I was actually the one run off the road once, but someone in the woman's van saw what happened and she stopped. And her insurance company paid to fix my car. And I learned a valuable lesson from her actions....NEVER drive yourself and extended family to your own father's funeral...



OP, since you got 2 flat tires while driving, it's entirely possible that there was a moment during your driving correction and moving to the side where you might have unknowingly and accidentally caused another driver to have a problem. I can't even imagine how scary that must have been for you!!!!

 

[seashoreCM]

Regarding reporting it to your own insurance company, I think this is a good idea. Submit copies of just the materials sent to you with "Information Only" written at the top and bottom.

If my insurance company needs a document such as a police report that I don't have I would expect it to do the legwork to go get a blank one and send it to me to fill out.

Actually a police report would be quite useless since you should not fill in or parrot details about an accident you claim never to have beein in. Even a question like "Date" cannot have a month and day and year filled in as that could be taken as admitting to being in an accident on such and such a date. But do not use words that could be taken as telling lies.

 

[yrdlyprincess]

I would find out how they got your info- and I would not give them any info about you...ask them what kind of car THEY say was in the accident, were the police notified--if not I would stop right there--they have NO CASE. Hope you get relief from this soon.

 

[KINGBOBOFTHENORTH]

I am an insurance claims manager. I have never heard of that insurance company but as someone has confirmed, it does exist. They may be the insurance company for the rental car company since sometimes they have some obscure companies handling their claims. Or it could be the insurance company for the person making a claim. But I have never heard of asking someone for a copy of their car title; you most certainly don't have to give them anything.

In most states the liability insurance company for the car's owner is primary and the driver's insurance is excess. Florida is different in that you sign something on the rental form shifting primary liability insurance from the owner (the rental company) to your insurance. But it looks like you rented the car in Georgia which (to my knowledge) does not have liability shifting. Thus, you should find out WHO that insurance company insures (your rental car or someone else). The paperwork you received should have identified that. And assuming it's NOT your rental car company, a claim should be reported to them for them to investigate and defend you. Put your request in writing.

BobK/Orlando

 

[TyRy]

I just wanted to thank everyone for their great suggestions. We have returned the paperwork to the company with only " I was not involved in any accident" and that's it.

seashoreCM - when we called the insurance co, they said we sideswiped someone, that we hit them. I would think if we had hit someone there would have been at least a scratch on our car and there was nothing.

bumbershoot - I thought about what you said as well, but we were going slow enough that we felt the car tip (two flats on one side) and immeadiately pulled onto the shoulder since we were already in the left lane. There wasn't any swerving since we were driving straight and felt the bump and then deflation.

KINGBOBOFTHENORTH - we actually rented the car in Illinois. We were on our way home from Florida when we got the flat tires. And the paperwork had nothing on it except that they wanted all our information. DH had to call them to find out what it was all about. We also checked with Alamo and they did not think we were going to be charged for anything (we declined their insurance) since all we had were two flat tires with no damage to anything. The person we spoke with confirmed there was nothing else wrong on the car when it was returned (towed in actually!)