Is reporting an accident categorised as a claim?

salvador2

There is something that is bothering me regarding a car insurance claim.

I have been driving for 30 years and I have never made a claim but back in August of this year I was in a car park sitting in the passenger seat reading when a lady trying to park next to me hit me. She gave me all her insurance details and that was it.

The following morning, I first reported the incident to my own insurance company esure and the lady asked me "are you making a claim?" and I said actually I'm just reporting the incident as it was not my fault and the other driver's insurance company will take care of the damage.... but she repeated "are you making a claim?" and I reply and "I just want to report an incident" and that point she said... "this is important, are you making a claim?" and that point a found myself that I didn't know what to say.... the thought of the other driver not been insured came to my mind etc.... so I said ok, it's a claim. From that moment forward I managed to report the incident and they said don't worry mr so and so, we will take care of your car. I insisted that it was not my fault and the other driver should pay and they just said "we will handle it and recover your losses". So I left it like that but at the back of my mind I had a feeling that my company insurance was not been honest with me.

A couple of hours later the other driver's insurance company called me and said mrs so and so had made a claim and they wanted to arrange a garage to fix my car and offer me a coutesy car. I accepted and then I called esure, my insurance company, to cancel the courtesy car and their arrangements. A few days later I got a call from esure asking me questions about if I had suffer any physical damages ( I felt it was odd and again very suspicious) but then I figured that esure just wanted to cover their backs that I wasn't going to make any claims at a later date.

My insurance renewal came up and under claims I have one claim where they recovered from the other party. This is what has me in doubts because my policy, because of this claim has gone up and I have to report it for 3 years. Anyway, I needed to renew my policy last Monday so I did but I still think esure is trying to force me to accept this claim.

Am I wrong and this is how insurance claims work? Or is esure wrong and what can I do about it?

Thanks in advance

Dangermac

salvador2 wrote: »

There is something that is bothering me regarding a car insurance claim.

I have been driving for 30 years and I have never made a claim but back in August of this year I was in a car park sitting in the passenger seat reading when a lady trying to park next to me hit me. She gave me all her insurance details and that was it.

The following morning, I first reported the incident to my own insurance company esure and the lady asked me "are you making a claim?" and I said actually I'm just reporting the incident as it was not my fault and the other driver's insurance company will take care of the damage.... but she repeated "are you making a claim?" and I reply and "I just want to report an incident" and that point she said... "this is important, are you making a claim?" and that point a found myself that I didn't know what to say.... the thought of the other driver not been insured came to my mind etc.... so I said ok, it's a claim. From that moment forward I managed to report the incident and they said don't worry mr so and so, we will take care of your car. I insisted that it was not my fault and the other driver should pay and they just said "we will handle it and recover your losses". So I left it like that but at the back of my mind I had a feeling that my company insurance was not been honest with me.

A couple of hours later the other driver's insurance company called me and said mrs so and so had made a claim and they wanted to arrange a garage to fix my car and offer me a coutesy car. I accepted and then I called esure, my insurance company, to cancel the courtesy car and their arrangements. A few days later I got a call from esure asking me questions about if I had suffer any physical damages ( I felt it was odd and again very suspicious) but then I figured that esure just wanted to cover their backs that I wasn't going to make any claims at a later date.

My insurance renewal came up and under claims I have one claim where they recovered from the other party. This is what has me in doubts because my policy, because of this claim has gone up and I have to report it for 3 years. Anyway, I needed to renew my policy last Monday so I did but I still think esure is trying to force me to accept this claim.

Am I wrong and this is how insurance claims work? Or is esure wrong and what can I do about it?

Thanks in advance

Very simply:

Having an accident is a 'material fact' that you must declare to your insurer.

If the 3rd party insurer are paying for your damage, then the best thing to do, is simply to notify the incident to your insurer 'for informational purposes only'.

In summary:

1. You need to report this as an incident to your insurers, even if your are not claiming for your own damage. They will need to set this up on their system, even although you are not claiming, as such. This shouldnt affect your No Claims Discount in any way, as the 3rd party have admitted liability.

2. If you remain with your current insurer, they will already know about the 'claim' (as you will have reported it).

if you move insurers, you will need to declare that you have had a non-fault accident.

Hope this helps.

DM

salvador2

Dangermac wrote: »

Very simply:

Having an accident is a 'material fact' that you must declare to your insurer.

If the 3rd party insurer are paying for your damage, then the best thing to do, is simply to notify the incident to your insurer 'for informational purposes only'.

In summary:

1. You need to report this as an incident to your insurers, even if your are not claiming for your own damage. They will need to set this up on their system, even although you are not claiming, as such. This shouldnt affect your No Claims Discount in any way, as the 3rd party have admitted liability.

2. If you remain with your current insurer, they will already know about the 'claim' (as you will have reported it).

if you move insurers, you will need to declare that you have had a non-fault accident.

Hope this helps.

DM

Thanks for the reply and it does help to clarify things, however, I feel that having this "claim" has affected my insurance premium although my no claims discount remains the same. I did a little test the other day, since there are so many online insurance quotes sites these days, I started with esure and there is a difference in cost of having a claim in my records although it's not my fault and having a clean record as I did before this incident. So, it seems to me that insurance companies can enjoy higher profits from my premium for 3 years when the incident was somebody else fault.

Dangermac

salvador2 wrote: »

Thanks for the reply and it does help to clarify things, however, I feel that having this "claim" has affected my insurance premium although my no claims discount remains the same. I did a little test the other day, since there are so many online insurance quotes sites these days, I started with esure and there is a difference in cost of having a claim in my records although it's not my fault and having a clean record as I did before this incident. So, it seems to me that insurance companies can enjoy higher profits from my premium for 3 years when the incident was somebody else fault.

It does seem to be becoming more common that some/many insurers will apply an increased premium in respect of even a non-fault accident.

In theory, having a non fault accident makes some drivers a higher risk (i.e someone who repeatedly brakes suddenly etc).

Obviously in your case, this isnt the case. There is nothing that you could have done.

Just one of those things. You will need to declare the incident, even though not your fault.

salvador2

I think you are right.

Thanks for your help Dangermac

salvador2

Dan_Smith wrote: »

Some insurers punish you for having a non-fault accident (hastings direct, hastings essentials, admiral/elephant/bell/diamond, esure, etc).

Admiral's claim that "citing evidence showing victims of no-claim incidents are more likely to go on to have an accident that is their fault."

Lv, aviva, axa, direct line, churchill on the other hand allow at least one non-fault before bumping up your premiums.

Co-op and ageas (tesco policies are now underwritten by them) allow unlimited non-fault accidents without bumping up your premiums.

So not all insurers will bump up your premiums because of a non-fault accident.....

Have you tried getting a car insurance quote with tesco, as I've found them quite competitive since they've changed to ageas?

I wish I asked the question before I renewed my policy.... there is always next year I guess