scratched a car (accidently) never claimed, consequences?

katrina123

hi
i accidently scratched a car, while parking one day a few months ago.
I phoned up my insurer to ask for advice, he gave advice, and then at the end of the convo he said he has to write all this on my file, i objeted, he said it was completely normal and only for admin purposes, nothing to worry about.

I settled the dispute in cash, so no claim was ever made by both parties.
Insurers never got involved.

And now, i have recieved a renewal quote, and in small print it says
" about claims and losses: accident damage June 2009"

So i presume this has INCREASED my insurance.

And im currently checking out comparison websites as i need to get insured soon, and the sites ask about any incidents, whether claimed or not.....so does this class as an accident/incident???? so i have to declare this little scratch when i go to compare websites???? surely this increases my insurance???

when im asked if ive had any accidents or claims, what is my answer?
am i gonna get screwed? ive never made a claim, so am i not clean????

sigh,

thanks for any help.

iamana1ias

katrina123 wrote: »

hi
i accidently scratched a car, while parking one day a few months ago.

how??!

katrina123 wrote: »

I phoned up my insurer to ask for advice, he gave advice, and then at the end of the convo he said he has to write all this on my file, i objeted, he said it was completely normal and only for admin purposes, nothing to worry about.

:doh: 2nd mistake

katrina123 wrote: »

I settled the dispute in cash, so no claim was ever made by both parties.
Insurers never got involved.

Apart from you telling yours. :doh:

katrina123 wrote: »

And now, i have recieved a renewal quote, and in small print it says
" about claims and losses: accident damage June 2009"

So i presume this has INCREASED my insurance.

probably. might be worth checking they don't have it down as a claim rather than an accident with no claim. have you received a year's no claims bonus?

katrina123 wrote: »

And im currently checking out comparison websites as i need to get insured soon, and the sites ask about any incidents, whether claimed or not.....so does this class as an accident/incident???? so i have to declare this little scratch when i go to compare websites???? surely this increases my insurance???

yes. you hit another car whilst performing a basic manouver. the fact that you paid for the damage yourself doesn't make you less of a risk.

katrina123 wrote: »

when im asked if ive had any accidents or claims, what is my answer?
am i gonna get screwed? ive never made a claim, so am i not clean????

You can't be trusted to put your car in a parking space without damaging someone else's property. Of course it was an accident, you notified your insurer so you'll have to declare it!

katrina123

jesus. the help line was for exactly that, for advice. this is why i called them.
this is evil!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
im not declaring an accident. no way.
im not renewing with current company either.

i was parking my car in a car park, i just misjudged it, i guess over confident, just nipped another car at turtle speed, little scratch on other car, my car was fine, they were in their car, so we dealt with it. the insurer actually told me to deal with it in cash himself explicitly.

i protested to the guy writing this on my flle, he led me to believe there would be no adverse affect on me or my record. he said it was purely for if the other party told their insurance company and they got in touch, so they would have my take on the story and incident.

yes the renewal policy says i have 3 years no claims discount.

but say i take out insurance with a new insurer, and i say i have had no motoring accidents or claims ever. this is true.
does a new insurance provider contact the previous insurance provider to ask for details of history?

Quentin

katrina123 wrote: »

i protested to the guy writing this on my flle, he led me to believe there would be no adverse affect on me or my record. he said it was purely for if the other party told their insurance company and they got in touch, so they would have my take on the story and incident.

yes the renewal policy says i have 3 years no claims discount.

but say i take out insurance with a new insurer, and i say i have had no motoring accidents or claims ever. this is true.
does a new insurance provider contact the previous insurance provider to ask for details of history?

The incident is correctly marked on your history. (You were mislead by the guy when he told you it was "purely if the other party reported the incident" as it is a condition of your insurance that all incidents are reported that could lead to a claim)

If you tell other insurers you have "no accidents or claims ever" you will be lying, and they will know!

MrsTinks

and if you DO have to claim they can actually invalidate your insurance if they check and find you HAVE had a claim in the last 3 years and you fibbed to them... it's just not worth lying...

pitkin2020

Speak with your insurers you'll find the claim remains open for 12 months to give the third party time to make a claim. After the 12 months the insurers will close the claim if they hear nothing more from you or the third party regarding the accident. They will also suspend the NCB you earned in the period during the accident.

This is why you should never speak with the inusrers unless a claim is going to be made, even if you prove a claim was settled without their involvement they will still keep it open for 12 months.

peter_the_piper

Are you sure that the other party did not claim on their insurance anyway?

maninthestreet

katrina123 wrote: »

jesus. the help line was for exactly that, for advice. this is why i called them.
this is evil!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
im not declaring an accident. no way.
im not renewing with current company either.

i was parking my car in a car park, i just misjudged it, i guess over confident, just nipped another car at turtle speed, little scratch on other car, my car was fine, they were in their car, so we dealt with it. the insurer actually told me to deal with it in cash himself explicitly.

i protested to the guy writing this on my flle, he led me to believe there would be no adverse affect on me or my record. he said it was purely for if the other party told their insurance company and they got in touch, so they would have my take on the story and incident.

yes the renewal policy says i have 3 years no claims discount.

but say i take out insurance with a new insurer, and i say i have had no motoring accidents or claims ever. this is true.
does a new insurance provider contact the previous insurance provider to ask for details of history?

You seem to be in denial - you had an accident, albeit a very, very minor one, and you reported it to your insurance company. They duly updated their records with this information. No claim was made against your insurance, so you did not lose your NCB, but the accident you reported
to your insurers may have led them to increase your premium as they may now consider you a greater risk. Has your premium actually increased compared to last year? Even if it has, it may well have gone up by the same amount even if you hadn't reported this accident to them.

katrina123

thankyou to all here.

just called up my insurer.
its been marked as a "LOSS, where i made a financial loss". But no claim was made. Its pretty much marked on my record for life. He said they ask people if theyve had accidents in last 5 years, so its a long term thing. It is classed as an accident and i have to tell future insurers about it.

actually i could have said no money was exchanged as damage was minimal.
in which case it would not even be classed as a loss.

but the LOSS they are defining, what does it relate to? either car? because i had no damage whatsoever to my car, the only damage was to other car, which is where the loss happended. i need to ask them this.

LESSON LEARNED.
NEVER CALL INSURANCE TO ASK FOR ADVICE.
SIGH.

HONESTY IS NOT ALWAYS THE BEST POLICY I SEE.....

katrina123

second phone call
blah blah blah "loss has occured, its an incident"

i still dont get it.
loss made by who? whoever?
i said there was no damage to my car.

what if someone hit my car, and paid me cash to fix my car.
is this still classed as a LOSS incident on my file?????????

this guy said it doest NOT affect insurance premium.

Quentin

The loss was sustained by the third party who's car was damaged, and was caused by you. It is immaterial to the incident that your car was undamaged.