Old claim comes back to haunt...

moneysavingmaniac

Hi All,

A friend of mine has an issue and I wondered if anyone could help with advice.

Basically about 22 Months ago she bumped a car damaging the bumper and bodywork. She went to see the owner who said it was a company car and she (the owner) would pass the details onto the company.

She(friend) then contacted her insurance company to inform them of what had happened and then forgot about it.
She had by this point accepted that she would lose her no claims and would have a claim against her as it was her fault.

Then about 3 months later her insurance company called and said the other company had not contacted them so she should forget about it.

Until today.... she got a call from her now old insurance company informing her the other company has now put a claim in...

So what should she do? As she is now with a new insurance company?

1. Are they allowed to claim 22 months after the incident?
2. If so, does she now have to declare this to her new company?
3. If so, willl she lose her no claims bonus? As it is not her current company who has had to pay out?

She knows she was in the wrong in the first place, and he accepts that but she wants to know what to do for the best?

Cheers
M

Quentin

1) Yes (They have 6 years to start a claim)

2) Yes (Worse - she should have done so when she first applied for a policy, so she needs to be prepared to explain herself as well as expect a higher premium at the very least)

3) Yes the NCD level will be affected by all this.

moneysavingmaniac

Really six years!!! Thats crazy...

About question 2. Why should she have made her new company aware of this at that point? Because as far as she knew, at that time she took out the policy the company had not and possibly were not going to claim.

If she loses her NCD will she now, nearly have 2 years no claims? As its nearly been 2 years since the claim.

Quentin

1: Not crazy, but the law!

2: You are asked to declare incidents/losses you have been involved with (not just "claims")

3: Her NCD should end up reflecting now what it would have been had it been adjusted correctly for the claim.