NSW Help with Debt Collection and Car Repair Recovery?

[Nigel Addison]

Hello,

I am the at-fault driver when my car put a small hole in another car's bumper bar. Contact details were exchanged. I do not have insurance beyond CTP. After approx 7 months without being contacted by the other driver's insurance company to discuss quotes, I missed 2 unidentified phone calls and an SMS from a Qld number.

When I returned the call and provided the reference number that had been SMS'd to me, I asked what the call was about. The receptionist would not tell me until I gave them my name which I was reluctant to do, fearing a scam and identity theft. The call went no further. On the same day, I received a letter at my home from a debt collection agency referring to the accident by date only, asking me to pay $1350, which seems excessive. The phone number on the letter was the same as the return phone number I received via the above missed phone call and SMS.

I don't know who was the insurer that did not contact me, but I have the other driver's contact details still. Is the insurer obliged to contact me and request payment before selling the "debt" to a collection agency, which presumably increases the amount being pursued?

Is there any point in contacting the other driver and then contacting his insurer to query why I was never contacted?

Thank you.

 

[Scruff]

None of this sounds legit to me, so my instinct would be to ignore it all and not respond to any of it.

But with that said, I have never dealt with any insurance companies in my life - other than to fork out ridiculous amounts for a greenslip every year. (In NSW, it's actually cheaper to get busted for unregistered/uninsured.)

 

[Tim W]

Hello,

I am the at-fault driver when my car put a small hole in another car's bumper bar. Contact details were exchanged. I do not have insurance beyond CTP.

Uninsured? You're then liable personally for the cost of repairing the damage you caused, and any related costs.
Glib as it sounds, what you basically did was gamble the cost of insurance against the risk of having to pay (rather more) for somebody else's repairs.
You lost.

When I returned the call and provided the reference number that had been SMS'd to me, I asked what the call was about. The receptionist would not tell me until I gave them my name which I was reluctant to do, fearing a scam and identity theft. The call went no further. On the same day, I received a letter at my home from a debt collection agency referring to the accident by date only, asking me to pay $1350, which seems excessive. The phone number on the letter was the same as the return phone number I received via the above missed phone call and SMS.

Ignore it while you can, and assemble the money.
Eventually, they will sue you, and you'll be made to pay.

...$1350, which seems excessive

It isn't. In any event, it doesn't matter very much (that is, at all) what you think of the number.

I don't know who was the insurer that did not contact me, but I have the other driver's contact details still.

It doesn't much matter who the insurer was. The debt is now owned by the debt collector.
The other driver, and their insurer, no longer have anything to do with this.

Is the insurer obliged to contact me and request payment before selling the "debt" to a collection agency...

No.

Is there any point in contacting the other driver and then contacting his insurer to query why I was never contacted?

No. This is between you and the debt collector.
The other driver is in no way involved.
In any event, the other driver has no role in the internal workings of his/her insurer.

 

[Ozwarlock67]

Debt collectors are about as low on the food chain as it's possible to get.
Ask them to provide written claim of the amount you owe them, explaining as since you and they have never done business, why do they believe you owe them money?

You'd be surprised how many let it go when you start calling their bluff and demanding Proof Of Claim.