What are my rights, mystery car accident, no insurance claim but demanding money?

[Guest]

May 2020, I received a letter from the police explaining that I had been in an accident and hadn’t left my details. (The accident having taken place in March 2020..)I was very confused as I had no recollection of any accident occurring and given the address they had given for the location of it to of taken place ( a tiny alley mainly used for turning around in my small high street, so max speed 3mph) I wasn’t particularly worried and presumed to be a mistake. Long story short the police concluded after there “investigation” that no further action would be taken. Although Confused still I thought nothing more about it. Until I received a letter from the gentleman whose car i had apparently had an accident with claiming he wants £350 pounds for the damage. The police gave each of us the address and details of each other so out of curiosity I went to see his car which doesn’t have a mark. Furthermore I’ve received another letter saying he’ll be taking me to small claims court if no reply by September. My questions are why hasn’t the man gone through the car insurance in the first place isn’t that the whole point of car insurance? Is this just a scam or a man trying his luck and should be ignored or should I seek real legal advice? Thanks in advance.

[ostell]

So has he given you details of the alleged damage?

[des8]

It is up to the claimant to decide whether or not he wishes to make a claim through his insurers.
There is nothing to stop him claiming directly from you.

What you should now do is report the claim against yourself to your insurers.
Even if you intend to dispute the claim yourself your policy will require you disclose the incident to them

[Guest]

Personally I would take a decent camera and take pictures of his car, although he may state that repairs have been carried out, you then request to see the repair quote, and the invoice, if this goes to court, if there is one, one last thing is a Dash Camera, purchase one essential in a case like this, my brother was hit by a driver who claimed her car was damaged by him, it was her fault, Dash Cam proved otherwise, lucky for him he kept a record of the accident on the computer as the lady tried to claim six months later, result from the insurance co. Claim dismissed.