Advice needed: Car "incident"

davetrousers

Go with another insurer. When they ask if you've had any claims or convictions in the last 5 years, say No.

IF they ask any 'incidents', then you can say!

Go through Quidco/Topcashback for cashback with your new insurer.

Astaroth

mystara wrote: »

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


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!

CUE is the Claims and Underwriting Exchange - it is an independant db but not all insurers subscribe to it!

No, if everyone reported things like that the cost would go down. In very basic terms, if you double the number of reported incidents but all the new reports are nil claims then the average cost per incident halves and so the increase in premium reduces.

The more accurately an insurer knows its customer the more accurately they can price the policy from an underwriting perspective. The flip side of cause is the more questions you ask your prospective new customer on a website the more likely they will abandon the process.

Quentin

mystara wrote: »

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?

There is a literal distinction. If you are asked if you made any claims, then as far as this incident is concerned the answer is "no".

But usually they ask a question related to "claims or incidents whether or not a claim was made", or similar wording. In that case you need to report this non fault incident.

mystara

Is there an accepted distinction between "accident" and "incident"?

i.e. what about a request for "accidents in which no claim was made"?

Astaroth

An accident means there was no intent, an incident is independant on intent. So someone keying your car is not an accident because they intended to cause damage but it is an incident.

mystara

Ah, so it's an accident in which nothing happened, rather than an incident?

Astaroth

It is both an accident and an incident as indicident is irrespective of it being intentional or unintentional where as an accident is only unintentional. Malicious incident would be an intentional one for example

woodvale_2

All you can do is readvise your insurers that the event was reported for information purposes only and that you are fully prepared to accept and deal with any potential head of claim that might arise from the event personally.

The issue here is that your insurers have a legal obligation to deal with any potential claim that might arise from this incident but If your insurers accept your guarantee based on the circumstances then the increased premium could be reversed.

Firstly could the potential third party give you a written note agreeing that no actual incident took place and that they have no claim to make?

Secondly have you genuinely received confirmation from your insurers that this and only this minor matter has increased your premium by £40?

Quentin

It is the incident happening that has caused the premium increase (as the insurer now sees a change in the risk).

Guaranteeing to pay any claim that arises from the incident won't affect the history, which is what has caused the premium increase.

woodvale_2

My understanding is that no incident took place ?

If no incident actual took place and the matter was reported purely for caution then ergo there was no history and no change in risk.

I cannot see why the insurers would not be prepared to delete the premium loading on this basis. In fact as an ex broker myself I can say that I have been witness to this very thing.