To Claim Or Not To Claim, That Is The Question....

Midas_Inreverse

My son's car was rammed deliberately, causing it to spin and crash into a bollard. It is worth no more than £1000 and may be a write off. His insurance is 3rd party, F&T. There were no witnesses.
He wrote off my car in 2007, when he was a named driver on my fully comp policy, so he is already expensive to insure (he's 19).
The driver of the other car was a thug who laughed at the damage and drove off. My son found the front number plate of the other driver's car at the secen and it's with the police. If we were to pursue an uninsured losses claim against him, I'd need to insist on anonymity as I would fear reprisals whether we got any costs back or not. I'm waiting to hear if our name, address and numberplate can be kept secret.
If my son's insurance policy is cancelled now, we'll get a refund of about £580 and no claim on his record, plus no write off money. If we pursue a claim and the car is written off, there will be 2 write offs on my son's insurance record and his premium in future will be sky high. What should we do?

advantix

What ever you do you are legally obliged to inform the current and any future insuarnce company for the next 3 or 5 years that he has had an accident whether you claim or not if the question on the quote is something along the lines of "Have you or any other driver to be insured had an accident and/or claim in the last 5 years".

JonBoy_SCFC

if i read it correctly you can't claim off his policy anyway as it's only fire and theft? or do i misunderstand the rules in this situation?

either way as original reply says, yoyu are meant to mention this as part of any new insurance contract you enter into anyway

sarahg1969

OP, if I were you I'd ask the police officer who's dealing with the case for a little advice.

I can't honestly see how the other guy's insurers will manage to keep your details private.

However...

I did once deal with a claim for a very well-known person. I still to this day do not know who she was. She used an alias, and a drop address. The insurers obviously knew who she was, and confirmed she was someone famous (she was a minor royal, I think), but didn't tell me who.

But I'm not sure it's the norm for them to be so secretive, and I don't know if they'd want to play ball. All you can do is ask, though. But even if they agreed, you couldn't rely on them not to slip up.

geri1965_2

The other driver does not have to know your address - presumably you will be instructing someone else to act on your behalf, so they will write to him and ask him to pass the claim to his insurers.

geri1965_2

sarahg1969 wrote: »

I can't honestly see how the other guy's insurers will manage to keep your details private.

Er, data protection?

Oscar_The_Grouch

geri1965 wrote: »

Er, data protection?

No good if the case ever goes to court.

Midas_Inreverse

Thanks to all of you who have replied so far. I too had heard that DP will be impossible if the police take it up, but without an independent witness, they may consider this to "iffy".
The best outcome might be if they were willing to tell the other driver's insurers that their policyholders were liable from the evidence they already have. Then maybe the other driver's insurers would be more likely to pay us out.
Still thinking of cancelling the policy to be sure of getting some money back, together with the tax disc refund of about £90.
As registered keeper, do you think I could change the address on the logbook to a "drop address", or even if I could, is it too late?

Oscar_The_Grouch

I don't recommend you cancel the policy - get your son to phone the insurers and:

1. tell them about the incident, but make it clear you are not claiming
2. ask them to reduce the cover to Third Party Only and see what the refund in premium is for that.

Of the car can be driven, take it to a Salvage Agent and see if they will give you anything for it.

Get the tax money back as you suggest.

Buy the cheapest car you can and transfer the existing policy on to that car.

At the end of the insurance year, your son will have got 1 years NCD which is worth up to 30% of a years premium - over time, this will be worth more than the refund you would get for cancelling the policy.

sarahg1969

geri1965 wrote: »

Er, data protection?

No. I'm afraid not.

Midas_Inreverse

Dear Oscar the Grouch

Thanks for your suggestions. The insurance company have been told it's an incident. Unfortunately the car cannot be driven anywhere. I will think about transferring the insurance to another car. The refund due from cancellation now works out as higher than 30% of the current annual premium, but I appreciate what you're saying about working out the saving over time.

Does anyone have any ideas about changing the name and using a drop address for changing the address on the V5C. sarahg1969 - if minor royals can remain anonymous, why can't I? Why should the solicitors not simply obey my instructions to provide all the details bar my name, address and car number to the other party's insurer? The other driver's insurers surely do not need this information in order to question their policy holder and provide basic details about the incident?

Finally, what is the definition of "accident" and what is the definition of "incident" according to insurers? And does action pursued for uninsured losses amount to a claim if my insurers have nothing to pay out?