Car Accident

Clara1
Community Member

My brother had a car accident three days ago. He may have caused the accident because he was drinking alcohol. Now my family are trying to get me to help my brother make an insurance claim. I am not sure how to help my brother. I did not witness the accident and I have no details about the accident. Not sure where to start really. 

3 Replies 3

Croix
Community Champion
Community Champion

Dear Clara1~

I'm afraid there is very little you can do to help your brother's claim. If it is simply a matter of getting him the right forms and helping him with supporting information like finding out his  drivers license number and registration papers that's fine.

 

However I suspect your family may be pressuring you to do something else so your brother's claim is accepted despite the fact he may have exceeded the terms of his insurance due to alcohol and so any claim would be invalid. It is up to him and any other parties involved to describe what happened.

 

As you know nothing about the accident you can say nothing about it. If you did it would be contributing to a falsie claim or fraud, not somethng any wise person would do.

 Apart from anything else insurance companies (and there is probably another party to the crash) can find out things for themselves if they wish.

 

Additionally any false statement may be uncovered in years to come and if anyone makes an untrue statement it can come back and bit them later on. I remeber you had been worried about an insurance payment wiht a neighbor. If you made a false statement you may well be barred from holding insurance, a big problem.

 

If your family is pressuring you as I describe then they are being dishonest, completely unfair, shortsighted and are not treating you with the respect you deserve. If I have misunderstood my apologies.

 

I realise any refusal will place a strain on your relations with your family, however that is better than the alternatives.

 

I'm sorry you were put in this position and if you would like to talk more you would be welcome.

 

Croix

Hello Croix, Thanks for your reply. I think you have understood the problem quite well. I was also worried about making a false claim. But as you suggested there is no harm in looking at the insurance paperwork so I agreed to do that. There is no mistake with the paperwork as far as I can notice. I think there is no other way I can help my family with this claim. I will try to ignore the issue but if my family pressure me again to get involved I may need to get more help for myself to avoid further issues for myself. 

Dear Clara1~

You have made a good decision and it is a pity that the insurance account is accurate, not so much about the accident but more at putting you in a difficult situation with your family.

 

By pressuring you they are in fact attempting to break the law - something they might not have thought of -and if the insurance company finds out it may lead to charges.

 

Taking the stance that you are protecting them from becoming "accessories before the fact" or some similar charge might help smooth things down.

 

Do you have anyone in mind to support you? Going it alone makes it harder.

 

Croix