Motor insurance quote; how do I know whether accident was my fault?

VincentVega

Hintza wrote: »

The more I read on here the more I realise the less you say to insurers the better.

Anything you do say is used as evidence against you and they raise your premium.

And when they find out you lied to them and actually have had an accident within the relevant timeframe, they'll invalidate your insurance. Yes, good strategy, that.

forgotmyname

Wonder how long it will be before a new post, Insurance company have cancelled my policy and are taking me to
court for fraud. Failed to declare claims/accident.

harveybobbles

neil9327 wrote: »

Can't say. Walls have ears.

Well without full details how are people supposed to help/advise you...?!

I'm guessing you tvvatted a tree or a fence or a parked car...

mikey72

I remember the good old days.
You crashed your car by sliding sideways off the road, and down a ditch, then rang your dad, he towed you home, you sold all the unbroken bits, got a scrappy to drag the rest onto their van, then bought another one, and rang up and told the insurance you had changed cars, and usually there wan't even an administration charge.
And it was all tp f&t.
Why is there this strange desire to shop yourself now?
Do insurance companies have supernatural powers or something?

Takoda

mikey72 wrote: »

I remember the good old days.
You crashed your car by sliding sideways off the road, and down a ditch, then rang your dad, he towed you home, you sold all the unbroken bits, got a scrappy to drag the rest onto their van, then bought another one, and rang up and told the insurance you had changed cars, and usually there wan't even an administration charge.
And it was all tp f&t.
Why is there this strange desire to shop yourself now?
Do insurance companies have supernatural powers or something?

You're so right! :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

Hintza

VincentVega wrote: »

And when they find out you lied to them and actually have had an accident within the relevant timeframe, they'll invalidate your insurance. Yes, good strategy, that.

You can tell your insuer of every little scrape you have if you wish.

For example a couple of months ago I was hit up the rear end at a roundabout my two bar (which sticks out a foot + due t spare wheel) had gone right through the womans bumper. She apologised and I said no problem and off we went on our seperate ways.

What would you have me do? Stick in a claim for whiplash (she wasn't going that slowly either)? I was not at fault but as sure as eggs are eggs they would ramp my premium and most definitely her premium.

I will stick with my way of dealing with these things and would hop that when the boot is on the other foot the person I it will be of a like mind.

Gavin83

VincentVega wrote: »

And when they find out you lied to them and actually have had an accident within the relevant timeframe, they'll invalidate your insurance. Yes, good strategy, that.

But how would they find out? No one seems to have answered this yet. I really don't believe they'd analyse the car and even if they did it doesn't necessarily mean it was you who was to blame.

Im taking it the OP reported it at the time, in which case he should mention it. I’m not saying I have, but if I’d had a fairly serious accident in the past involving no one else or anyone elses property (which I haven’t) I wouldn’t have reported it, and it wouldn’t have come and bothered me in the future. Don’t report something you don’t need to.


In a way, a crash involving no other is the worst type, as it means you were almost certainly at fault, but they are easier to ignore in terms of insurance.


I am genuinely interested at which point an ‘accident’ becomes something you should report, as I’m sure the majority of people have sit something at some point, be it a bollard or kerb, but should this be reported? I doubt anyone would.

neil9327

I'm the OP (original poster).

Yes sorry just to clarify: yes at the time of the accident I did declare the accident to the insurance company because I understood it was a requirement to do so. Had I not done so and then had a further accident and they had found out that I had failed to declare the first accident then they could have said my insurance policy was invalid as I had not kept to the terms and conditions of it. The worse case scenario is where I am involved in a second accident where somebody is seriously injured and needing 24/7/365 care, costing hundreds of thousands of pounds. In that scenario my car would likely be taken away by the police for forensic analysis, and I'm sure they would discover the first accident and express an opinion to all relevant parties that it was older damage. And being a good moneysavingexpert as I am, I have several hundred thousand pounds in cash savings, and I could see this balance wiped out by a counter claim by my insurance company against me, in a bid by them to recover their money that they have had to pay out to the other party.

I knew at the time of the (first) accident that I could not claim, because I only had third party fire&theft cover, so the only purpose in informing my insurance company was because they had asked me to inform them in such an eventuality. I never attempted to put in a claim.

So the current situation is that I am telling a new insurance company that I had this accident (I am not going to lie and said I never had it), and they are asking me whether it was my fault or not. I think the answer to that question is a matter of opinion rather than a matter of fact, so I don't know how to answer it. All I can say is that no other people or vehicles were involved, and no third party damage occurred (well OK a few scrapes along the road surface as my car rolled over onto its side). The easy way out would be to say that I was 100% at fault. But that would involve a higher premium, and more to the point I can't say with any confidence that that is true - I think there were problems with the maintenance of the road surface, in this case two pot-holes in the road (I avoided the first, hit the second, then hit the verge at the side of the road, veered to the right, plenty tyre squeeling, and over she went).

She was an old car, and I think that if I had had my head screwed on right I should have just scrapped her and then not declared the accident to the insurance company at all. This is a problem with a money Saving mentality: sometimes it is actually better to waste money (in this case by scrapping a damaged but completely driveable car) in order to save money in the longer term (by avoiding increased insurance premiums for the following 3 years).

harveybobbles

A friend of a friend rolled their car a few months ago down a country lane. They said they "hit a pot hole". To which I laughed at. As I found it hard to believe. As the conversation got more and more heated, I drove down the said lane to see where the accident happened and yes, there was a pot hole. But very small. Infact, it was hardly a hole, just a change in surface material with a small gap.

I travelled down this stretch of road several times and I couldnt get my car to twitch or wobble or anything. Months went by and it turned out the daft bint was on her phone and swerved to avoide an oncoming car.


Back to the OP.
I'm not convinced that a car could/would roll over by hitting a pot hole. However large the hole was. So I think that you are 100% to blame to the accident. If the road was in a poor state you should be driving with more care/attention. Even if the roads were perfect and freshly surfaced you should still be looking well ahead...

PS, why do you only have TPF&T ins?

neil9327

harveybobbles wrote: »

Back to the OP.
I'm not convinced that a car could/would roll over by hitting a pot hole. However large the hole was. So I think that you are 100% to blame to the accident.

Fair enough.

harveybobbles wrote: »

PS, why do you only have TPF&T ins?

I prefer to be self-insuring wherever possible.
Higher premiums mean higher averaged-out profits going to the insurance company, leaving less in my pocket.
Also TPF&F does give me a financial incentive to drive carefully and avoid accidents. Doesn't seem to have worked in this case though