Many drivers have custom / personalized license plates. These plates may portray one's personal philosophy of life, political affiliation, or how they see themselves. Mine says: MTN GUY, a gift from my daughter. However, I never expected my personalized license plate to bring me a few days of grief because of some crazy "mistake." Here's what happened.
Two weeks ago, late Friday afternoon, I received a letter in the mail (slomail it's called) advising me that I was seen leaving the scene of an accident in which I allegedly struck a parked car. The car owner's insurer claimed a witness saw me leave the scene. Of course, this was all the information sent: date and the fact a witness had seen me leave the scene. There were no details as to location of the collision, time, or description of my vehicle. My imagination shifted in high gear: handcuffs and jail jump suit came to mind.
The date of this alleged accident was August 29, 2011—no location, vehicle description, or time of day were given. The claimant's insurance company requested my insurers name, address, agent's name and address, and name and phone number of my claims adjuster (they left out my dogs id number) .
The address of the claimant's insurance agent was in Northern California, so naturally I thought the accident took place in the north. It just so happens my wife and I were on vacation in Oregon the date in question, and had passed through Northern California.
Our vehicle is a late model Chevrolet pickup truck, pulling a twenty-five foot travel trailer. There was no mention of a trailer in the complaint. Of course, being late Friday afternoon no one at the claimant's insurance office was in nor was anyone at the insurers headquarters. We were left with this empty claim of hit and run, which was entirely bogus. We were never near parked cars except in campgrounds. Big point, no police report was made. The vision of handcuffs and orange jump suit became more vivid.
Being a volunteer for a local police agency, I knew leaving the scene of an accident was illegal—a felony in some cases. So the week-end turned out to be less than pleasant. I faxed a copy of the letter to my agent. He was in his office on Saturday and called me to say he'd call the other insurance company on Monday. Along with the very vague accusing letter, I faxed to my agent a toxic denial letter I wrote promising to report this fraud to the insurance commissioner and local police. My agent wisely advised me not to send the toxic letter. But wow, I really wanted to let them folks have it.
Monday morning the storm clouds cleared. The accident occurred in Los Angeles on the day mentioned, between the hours of 4-5 p.m. On that date, during that time frame, we were outside of Sacramento, California in a camp ground. The witness reported they saw a late model Ford van back into the claimant's vehicle and leave. The license number was recorded (faux number here), R1379kl. That license number was the original number I had when I purchased my truck in 2001. Three years later I purchase my personalized plate. I turned in my old license plate to the DMV. Evidently, the so-called witness recorded the license number wrong, as the DMV does not reissue old numbers. If the DMV had re-issued returned plates, the number wouldn't have led to me but to the perpetrator.
Since I had receipts from the campground indicating time and date we arrived, the accusation of hit and run was bogus and dropped. I got a taste of how relieved a DNA released person might feel.
We also had receipts from two gas stations indicating we were nowhere near LA on the date in question OR the dates before and after the false sighting. (Further, who in their right mind would go to Los Angeles for a vacation, and pull a travel trailer no less?)
Had the claimant's insurer had the decency to indicate not just the date, but time, AND place of the incident, we could have had a much happier weekend.
Should you ever encounter a fender bender, even in the middle of Death Valley, report it to law enforcement. I learned from talking to many knowledgeable people, auto claims fraud is rampant, especially now during these poor economic times.
In conclusion, keep receipts when traveling.
John and Friend
