Help with CHP Mandatory Reporting System

[OldMadBrit]

I just found out that my insurance has been increased for the last 2 years because I had an "accident" in 2013.

The problem is that I didn't have an accident in 2013 :wow

So I pulled my driving record from DMV and sure enough there it is - an accident involving me on the Bay Bridge Toll Plaza.

But I didn't have an accident on the Bay Bridge Toll Plaza and my insurance company has no record of a claim involving my supposed accident.

So I contacted the CHP's Mandatory Reporting System - by letter of course because no phones are answered. I received a form letter instructing me to send in a copy of the Incident Report.

Can anybody advise how I'm supposed to get a copy of a non-existent report for an accident that didn't happen?

Oh and its cost me ~$1000 in extra insurance so far :wtf

 

[Maddevill]

Just make up an incident report for the made up accident. Should suffice I think....

 

[OldMadBrit]

Just make up an incident report for the made up accident. Should suffice I think....

LOL if it was only that simple.

 

[danate]

Unfortunately I think they only people who would have more information would be the DMV.

Check out this form:
https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/wcm/connect/87ca996b-03ef-4868-9b28-843d6c5afd25/dl208.pdf?MOD=AJPERES

It says you can submit a signed letter of explanation and that if you are unsure who reported it to call their Financial Responsibility Unit at: (916) 657-6677.

I would call that number first, then submit that form with a letter explaining that you were never involved in any accident or notified that anything was reported.

 

[OldMadBrit]

Unfortunately I think they only people who would have more information would be the DMV.

Check out this form:
https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/wcm/connect/87ca996b-03ef-4868-9b28-843d6c5afd25/dl208.pdf?MOD=AJPERES

It says you can submit a signed letter of explanation and that if you are unsure who reported it to call their Financial Responsibility Unit at: (916) 657-6677.

I would call that number first, then submit that form with a letter explaining that you were never involved in any accident or notified that anything was reported.

Done all of that :thumbup

Had a long talk with a guy at the Financial responsibility unit who basically said I was SOL without an Incident Report - he fully understood the irony in his suggestion and "felt my pain".

Apparently it happens a lot and we have the Insurance Lobby to thank for it :mad

 

[DataDan]

That sucks.

We learned from another thread recently that a drivers license number typo can cause serious trouble. It has no check digit, so something as simple as a single-digit error or a transposition can misidentify a person.

My thought was to search CHP's SWITRS (statewide integraged traffic records system) 2013 database for a crash on the date and location shown on the DMV report. But the 2013 data it isn't yet available.

If you can find that other thread, maybe you use the advice there to obtain info to identify the crash, so you can at least get a copy of the incident report with the misidentification.

 

[bojangle]

The error came from the CHP Office with jurisdiction over the Bay Bridge Toll Plaza. That's where I'd start. Maybe Rel can add further, but they should maintain the collision report that generated this error in the first place.

It could be a case of identity theft. It could be a misidentification by the CHP based on a verbal identification by the driver that caused the officer to locate the wrong "OldMadBrit". Or, like Data Dan suggested, maybe it was a typo of the CDL number into the reporting system and the actual driver had a very similar number to yours. (I'm not really sure how that reporting system works.)

 

[bigpoppa]

Have you reached out to ABC's 7 on Your Side? They seem to be able to cut through the red tape sometimes. Seems like you've done all you can do at your end and are stuck in Catch 22 Form Hell.

 

[Sidesaddle]

On your DMV print out it will give you all the information on what office took the report and even the officer's I.D. number. It will be either the San Francisco office or the Oakland office. Then call that office, ask to speak with the Accident Investigator Review officer (A.I. officer) and explained the situation. If the wrong driver's license number is on the report then they can sent a corrected driver's license number to s.w.i.t.e.r.s and D.M.V. If it's D.M.V.'s fault then you will have to deal with D.M.V. Also. just because a claim with your insurance company was not made, does not mean you were not involved in a collision. Just that it was not reported to them. I would start at the C.H.P. office.

On a happier note (maybe not) it will come off your record after three years. Good luck. State agencies are hard to deal with.

 

[berth]

On a happier note (maybe not) it will come off your record after three years. Good luck.

So, consider this a race! See who wins, you or the statute of limitations reporting thing!

 

[OldMadBrit]

On your DMV print out it will give you all the information on what office took the report and even the officer's I.D. number. It will be either the San Francisco office or the Oakland office. Then call that office, ask to speak with the Accident Investigator Review officer (A.I. officer) and explained the situation. If the wrong driver's license number is on the report then they can sent a corrected driver's license number to s.w.i.t.e.r.s and D.M.V. If it's D.M.V.'s fault then you will have to deal with D.M.V. Also. just because a claim with your insurance company was not made, does not mean you were not involved in a collision. Just that it was not reported to them. I would start at the C.H.P. office.

On a happier note (maybe not) it will come off your record after three years. Good luck. State agencies are hard to deal with.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll give it a try. :thumbup

 

[budman]

If you still have no luck I will contact my DMV pal for you Steve.

She helped one other, but I hesitate to use the contact until all else fails.

 

[Papi]

It could be a case of identity theft.

That was the first thing I thought of when I read his post. :thumbdown

Good luck getting this filtered out. At the very least, if it was an error that caused you financial harm, and that is proven, you may be entitled to recover said damages from the State of California.

 

[tgrrdr]

you may be entitled to recover said damages from the State of California.

If the state doesn't have some type of sovereign immunity for stuff like this I would assume they'd argue he had a duty to mitigate damages. I am not blaming the OP for what happened but, let's assume the state (CHP, DMV, whoever) screwed up. If he had checked his bill he could have taken care of this in 2013 and his damages should have been close to zero.

 

[mbsv]

Ah, bureaucracy...

“But the plans were on display…”
“On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.”
“That’s the display department.”
“With a flashlight.”
“Ah, well, the lights had probably gone.”
“So had the stairs.”
“But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.”