My insurer is blaming me for accident I didn’t have

ON NOVEMBER 21, I parked in a multi-storey car park in Norwich. Three days later, I received a letter from my insurer, Hastings Direct, claiming I’d been in an accident.

I phoned to say this was not the case. On December 9, I received a further letter saying their review had found I was responsible. They supplied a photo of my car parked next to a Vauxhall and said they would pay the claim in full on December 22.

It seems the other driver had claimed I had hit their car while parking.

There were no witnesses or CCTV. The other driver only supplied a photo of damage on my front right bumper — but that was historical damage to my car.

They have not sent me an engineer’s report or photographs, which I asked for, nor have they sent a copy of the car park report. P. A., Gorleston, Norfolk.

I thought insurance companies were supposed to take their customer’s part in a dispute rather than automatically accept the word of the other driver.

It strikes me that the simplest way to prove your case would be to provide hastings with any photos of your car taken before the incident featuring the damage, but I suspect that, like most people, you wouldn’t bother to take snapshots of your car.

Perhaps, however, there is CCtV of you entering this or another car park before the incident, which may show this historical damage and thus prove your innocence.

there could be any number of reasons for the damage to the other person’s car. they may have scraped it on a bollard while driving in, another car may have caught it or it may be recent damage that they only happened to spot when returning to the car on this occasion.

hastings now admits it may have been a little hasty in settling the blame on you.

Its difficulty is that experience shows that if a case like this goes to court, the person who makes the claim usually wins because it is decided on the balance of probability.

however, hastings has not admitted fault to the third party. And it has decided to defend the case on your behalf.

hastings says it based its original decision on an engineer’s inspection of your car, which indicated the damage was consistent with light to moderate impact at slow speed.

of course, that does not mean it happened on the day or at the place in question.

If court proceedings are issued by the other driver, then hastings would expect you to co-operate fully and this may include you having to attend a civil court to give evidence.

hastings has promised to keep you up to date with developments and a spokesman apologised for the frustration caused.

I AM preparing a manual covering my wife’s and my finances to assist our children when they deal with our estates.

We have two adult children living with us who pay monthly sums from their taxed income as housekeeping. This was paid into a joint account, but is now paid into my wife’s. She uses the money to buy Isas on behalf of the children.

The combined sums are about the amount allowed as tax-free lodging income. My wife is not a taxpayer. We are in our 80s, so inheritance tax considerations loom large. Could a valid claim be made that, as all the money is invested in the names of the children, there is no parental income tax or IHT interest? R. D., Warwick.

You asked a number of complex tax questions in your letter. I am addressing the most straightforward, but for the rest you really need to get professional advice.

Patricia Mock, tax director at Deloitte, has considered the main issue: will housekeeping contributions be treated as income?

If money from your children is simply to defray expenses rather than provide profit, this would be an argument against it being ‘income’. Also, she says, there will be no tax to pay as long as the sums are below the £7,500 lodging limit.

Now, to the Isas. It’s not entirely clear whose name these are in.

however, if they are in your children’s, then they are likely to escape Iht.

Initially, it appears you were making the contributions from a joint account. this would mean you could each claim your £3,000 annual exemption for gifts.

however, as more recently all of the money has been paid from your wife’s account, only her £3,000 exemption would apply.

But there is a further exemption for normal gifts made out of surplus income that do not reduce the donor’s standard of living.

If this money was not required to maintain your standard of living, it should fall under this heading.

In the unlikely event that the Isas are in your names, they would remain in your estates for the purposes of Iht.

WE WERE shocked to get a call from Halifax telling us it had refused a request from Avis (USA) for £150 from our bank account.

We rented a car from Avis in Tampa, Florida, from September 1 to 30. When I contacted Avis I was told I had jumped a red light on

September 15. Of course I will pay, but I can’t understand why it’s taken so long to hear anything and why the fine is so costly.

I am a careful driver and have been renting from Avis for years. B.W., London.

I Asked Avis for more information and I’m afraid you did jump a red light while on holiday, so you do owe the money.

Avis’s uk office has collected the photographic evidence.

It seems that you were sent a letter in october warning you of the fine, but you did not receive it — hence your surprise.

the standard fine for jumping a red light in Florida is $158 (about £125). Avis paid the fine to prevent it escalating and added a $30 administration fee, which does not seem unreasonable. so, the total came to $188 (about £150).

Avis has made contact with you directly to resolve the issue.