Where do we stand..?

coatezy

Hi, While driving my partners car (don't laugh) An escaped cow ran directly in to the side of the car. The claim was made directly against the farmer and his insurance company paid the claim and fixed the car. Now I guess I or we need to declare that accident at renewal time.. (which I think is crazy all because an escaped cow decided to run in to the side of my partners car) But where do we stand? Does my g/f need to declare the incident during renewal even though she wasn't driving but is her car/policy. And Do I have to declare the incident when renewing my cars policy because I was the driver during the incident .. Do insurance companies take different circumstances in to account? We did not make a claim against my partners insurer, they were simply notified of the incident just in case we had problems with the farmers insurer.

Airwolf1

Unsure of some of the answers of you need, but you ought to stipulate that it was a not at fault incident.

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What's so funny about driving your partner's car?

mattymoo

It was a pink Fiat Punto and the cow took exception to it ?

shelly

coatezy wrote: »

Hi, While driving my partners car (don't laugh) An escaped cow ran directly in to the side of the car. The claim was made directly against the farmer and his insurance company paid the claim and fixed the car. Now I guess I or we need to declare that accident at renewal time.. (which I think is crazy all because an escaped cow decided to run in to the side of my partners car) But where do we stand? Does my g/f need to declare the incident during renewal even though she wasn't driving but is her car/policy. And Do I have to declare the incident when renewing my cars policy because I was the driver during the incident .. Do insurance companies take different circumstances in to account? We did not make a claim against my partners insurer, they were simply notified of the incident just in case we had problems with the farmers insurer.

At renewal you are asked something along the lines of "Have you had any accidents, claims or losses in the last X yrs" so.....

When your gf renews her policy she will need to declare that you as named driver have had an accident whilst on her policy.
When you renew your own policy you will need to declare that you have had an accident as a named driver on a policy.

Keep a note of the date the incident happened and if you know it how much the repairs cost. You will need these when renewing your policies.

HTH

coatezy

shelly wrote: »

At renewal you are asked something along the lines of "Have you had any accidents, claims or losses in the last X yrs" so.....

When your gf renews her policy she will need to declare that you as named driver have had an accident whilst on her policy.
When you renew your own policy you will need to declare that you have had an accident as a named driver on a policy.

Keep a note of the date the incident happened and if you know it how much the repairs cost. You will need these when renewing your policies.

HTH

Thank you for your sensible answer.

That's a lovely £150 increase on my insurance for something that wasn't my fault. Is it possible for me to make a claim due to the financial losses that I will incur when my premium rises at renewal to due the result of the incident .

Thanks

shelly

coatezy wrote: »

Thank you for your sensible answer.

That's a lovely £150 increase on my insurance for something that wasn't my fault. Is it possible for me to make a claim due to the financial losses that I will incur when my premium rises at renewal to due the result of the incident .

Thanks

I haven't heard of such a thing but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist

My only advice now would be to shop around at renewal. Use screenscrapers but also get on the phone if you can.

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coatezy wrote: »

That's a lovely £150 increase on my insurance for something that wasn't my fault.

Lots of claims can occur without "fault", but they are claims nevertheless.

I'm surprised that a non-fault claim is having this much of a direct impact on your insurance premium. Are you certain the increase is solely due to the claim?

coatezy wrote: »

Is it possible for me to make a claim due to the financial losses that I will incur when my premium rises at renewal to due the result of the incident .

I'm no claims expert but I'm certain that consequential loss like this is excluded.

lisyloo

Is it possible for me to make a claim due to the financial losses that I will incur when my premium rises at renewal to due the result of the incident .

I believe you can but it's called an "uninsured loss" because you aren't insured for it.

You will need to use the legal cover that you (hopefully) purchased as an optional extra as part of your insurance.
If you didn't purchase this then you will need to negotiate with the farmer/his insurance directly.
You should expect to show proof of the extra e.g. quote with 0 claims, quote with 1 claim.

Howevere if you have already accepted an offer from the insurers for "full & final settlement" then you cannot go back for extra money. So it would be too late in that case.
So have you already settled the matter or not?

FSexpert

Unless I am missing something then you do not have to disclose it as a previous claim as you didn't claim against your own insurers. If you had claimed against your insurers you would have to disclose it (even if non fault).

As for as I see all you have to do if they ask about accidents is say yes but you did not claim or if they just ask about claims then say no.

Oscar_The_Grouch

FSexpert wrote: »

Unless I am missing something then you do not have to disclose it as a previous claim as you didn't claim against your own insurers. If you had claimed against your insurers you would have to disclose it (even if non fault).

As for as I see all you have to do if they ask about accidents is say yes but you did not claim or if they just ask about claims then say no.

2nd time in one night that I'm quoting you FS!! Last time I said thanks so I hope you don't mind that this time I am going to say that you are wrong.

The actual question at renewal time is "have you (or any one else insured on this policy) had any incidents, WHETHER INSURED OR NOT that could give rise to a claim?"

The whole point of this is that you could be insured third party only and reverse into your own garden wall; the claim goes against your home insurance, but that doesn't stop the fact that you had an incident that could have been worse - reversed out of your drive and knocked Granny and her 5 year old grandson over.

OP: you have to declare the accident on your insurance and will have to note it for the next 5 years. You can get your additional costs back, but this will take a bit of effort on your part. Here's what you do:

1. Go in to a price comparison site and put in all your details as if the accident had never occurred. Get the quotes then print a copy of the screen (Press Alt and PrtScrn at the same time, open "paint" and hit Ctrl V at the same time. Save the picture as "QuoteNoClaim" with the file type of Jpeg).

2. Go back in to the same site and get a quote with the same details, but with the actual accident date. Save the screen print as "QuoteWithClaim".

3. Go back again and put in the same details, but as if the accident had happened exactly 12 months earlier. Save the screen print as "QuoteWithClaim1YrAgo".

3. Keep doing the same thing until you get back to the same price as in "QuoteNoClaim".

The difference in premium until you get back to where you were is your "future loss" and should be recoverable.