Advice needed: Car "incident"

mystara

Hello,

A few months ago, I was reversing my car (to park) and felt the back tyre brush against something. Concerned that I might have hit the car behind me, I parked and looked for any damage.

After a minute or so, the third party showed up. They had a quick look and said that they didn't see any damage. The conclusion was that I had brushed up against the curb. However, the third party took my details, just in case.

Wanting to be cautious, I called my insurance company (Admiral) and told them what had happened. I made it clear that I wasn't making a claim and just wanted to notify them in case the third party later tried to make a claim.

So, today I tried to renew my policy. The cheapest company was Elephant (owned by Admiral).
It turns out that despite my request, Admiral have marked this event as an "incident" on my record. Elephant won't accept my new policy unless I mention this "incident", which in turn increases my policy cost by £40.

Admiral refuse to remove the "incident" from my record, because I called up to make a report. Apparently, even if I hit the kerb, it's still counted as a collision (albeit one which didn't involve a third party and cost £0 to settle). Thus, something DID happen, and they're obliged to put it on my record.

In short, I'm being charged £40 for being cautious. I wasn't obliged to call my insurance company. Had I simply kept quiet, I'd be better off.

Is there anything I can do? It seems completely ridiculous that I'm essentially being penalised for such an everyday occurrence as rubbing against a curb. The incident didn't cost anyone anything. Yet the presence of a zero cost, single vehicle "collision" is somehow counting against me!

Quentin

mystara wrote: »

I wasn't obliged to call my insurance company. Had I simply kept quiet, I'd be better off.

Is there anything I can do?

Apart from putting all this in writing to them, appealing for them to ignore your report of an incident there isn't much.

You contacted them to report the incident, and they have noted it on your record. What did you expect they would do when you notified them of the possible claim against you?

mystara

I expected that they would note it and erase it when no subsequent claim was made. Especially given that they said the claim would be closed "after a couple of months if no claim was made"

I have no problem with them storing the details of it. I have a problem with them classing it as an "incident" which is allegedly noteworthy, must be declared to any other insurers and raises my premium by a significant amount. All as a result of nothing having actually taken place.

McKneff

Its pretty normal, I'm afraid, its the same with household contents insurance.

I enquired about a loss but as the excess was about the same as the loss i decided not to go ahead, it wasnt till renewal time when i queried the premium they informed me that i had a 'claim' in that year.
So like i say, its pretty normal across the board of insurance companies.

mystara

So if I apply for a policy from another company, I need to register it as an accident in which no claim was made and was settled for £0?

The strange thing is that this "claim" isn't listed on my renewal notice from Admiral.

McKneff

Crazy, isnt it.

If i applied for a policy from another company and it was a nil claim, i probably wouldnt mention it anyway. With most people unaware of this pactice then they wouldnt mention it either as they wouldnt know if you see what i mean.

Astaroth

mystara wrote: »

In short, I'm being charged £40 for being cautious. I wasn't obliged to call my insurance company.

The fact is that you did actually have an obligation to inform your insurers and as such there was an incident, they are correct to record it and it is potentially now on CUE as well so many other insurers will also know about it too if you decide to hide the fact in the future.

The reality is that the majority of people dont mention it to their insurers each time they clip a curb or drop a glass of wine on the carpet but the obligation is to inform them of any incident irrespective of if there is an intention to claim or not

Quentin

mystara wrote: »

So if I apply for a policy from another company, I need to register it as an accident in which no claim was made and was settled for £0?

The strange thing is that this "claim" isn't listed on my renewal notice from Admiral.

Your OP said no claim resulted from the incident, so it would be incorrect to say a claim was "settled for £0".

It isn't the norm to have incidents (or claims) listed on renewal notices.

mystara

McKneff wrote: »

Crazy, isnt it.

If i applied for a policy from another company and it was a nil claim, i probably wouldnt mention it anyway. With most people unaware of this pactice then they wouldnt mention it either as they wouldnt know if you see what i mean.

The question is whether I'm obliged to mention it or not. Looking at online forms for insurers, they tend to differ. Some ask for "claims", some say "claims or accidents". Some even say "claims or accidents where no claim was filed".

Obviously it's not a claim, since no claim was made. I'd argue that it wasn't an accident, since nothing actually happened. An "accident where no claim was filed"....uhhhh, yes?

I have no idea.

mystara

Astaroth wrote: »

The fact is that you did actually have an obligation to inform your insurers

I'll have to admit that I didn't believe you when you said this, and I rechecked my policy document. It DOES say:

"Please tell us immediately...If you or any driver named on your policy, are involved in an accident or loss, no matter how trivial and even if you do not wish to make a claim"

I think I'd probably argue over the definition of "accident", since brushing up against a kerb is presumably such an everyday occurrence, it can hardly be classed as an accident.

and as such there was an incident, they are correct to record it and it is potentially now on CUE as well so many other insurers will also know about it too if you decide to hide the fact in the future.

They mentioned that it was on some insurer-wide database. Which I would guess is CUE?

The reality is that the majority of people dont mention it to their insurers each time they clip a curb or drop a glass of wine on the carpet but the obligation is to inform them of any incident irrespective of if there is an intention to claim or not

No wonder people don't report it if the action of an insurer is to increase the premium by £50. Imagine the number of kerb clippings people make in a year!

mystara

Quentin wrote: »

Your OP said no claim resulted from the incident, so it would be incorrect to say a claim was "settled for £0".

I'm struggling to understand how best to report this "event" when applying for car insurance online.
Obviously, if I disregard it, I risk being accused of fraud. But I agree that it isn't a claim that was 'settled for £0' since it wasn't a claim.

So are such incidents generally disregarded in forms? Is there a distinction between an incident and a claim? What is the correct way to make such a notification in an online form?

It isn't the norm to have incidents (or claims) listed on renewal notices.

My renewal notice lists the fact that another vehicle hit me last year. It states the total costs, the fact that I was not at fault, and that my NCB was not lost.