Too late to inform insurance company?

worried98

Hi there,

I was looking for advice. My wife, who is a named driver on my policy accidentally backed in to another car at a car park recently. Back bumper to back bumper at low speed, our car had a bit of a dink and a scuff but certainly nothing worth worrying about. The other car had a slightly bigger dent but still barely visible on the photo my wife took of it and the woman driving said that she thought there was probably no need to involve the insurance, although details were exchanged.

She called in the evening to say that she still didn't think there was a problem but that she would get a garage to take a look in the next few days just in case. She then called a few days later to say that the garage had quoted £300 for repairs, at which point I wasn't sure what to do. She is obviously looking for me to pay (my wife is sure it was her fault, and I'm not about to try and wriggle out of my responsibilities - we had someone do that to us a few years back and it left me very angry, so I wouldn't want to do that to someone else) and £300 is still less than the excess on my policy. On the other hand, I've now checked and although the other party said you had two weeks to inform insurance, my insurer actually says 48hrs (and it is now a week since the accident). Yes, stupid - I know I should have checked for myself.

Because it is now past the 48hrs set out in the policy booklet, am I going to be screwed if I now let my insurance company know? Will they refuse to take on the claim, or worse still void my policy for 'non-disclosure'? Also its highly likely the other party are being straight up about sorting it out between ourselves and I would therefore feel bad about reporting the accident to the insurance, who even if they don't insist it goes 50/50 (which makes more money for both insurance comapanies) will still put their premium up when it isn't their fault.

If that is the case, then I'm forced down the road of doing this off my own back whether I want to or not so what can I do to protect myself from things going bad (the other party suddenly saying they have whiplash or something ridiculous like that) or reporting the incident to their insurer anyway.The worry is now really beginning to eat away at me.

Should I tell my insurance and let down the other person or would that just be worse for everyone concerned?

Thanks.

InsideInsurance

Insurers will not go 50/50 out of choice, if it is your wifes fault they will want to admit liability and try and capture the TP claim to avoid credit hire etc being involved (or at least most insurers do).

You will probably get a telling off for not informing them sooner but many people takes weeks or even months to report incidents. Remember your excess is only payable towards your own damages not towards a TP claim

worried98

Thanks very much for taking the time to reply

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Remember your excess is only payable towards your own damages not towards a TP claim

Even if the accident is my fault? If my insurance company has to pay out because of me, surely they would at least take my excess?

From your name, I presume you work in insurance? Is that motor or another branch of the business?

worried98

What about their car? Will they be able to avoid paying their excess if I admit it was my wife's fault? Like I said, they have been fine so far and all this is probably just my usual tendency to look for the worst case scenario, so I would really hate to have them stitched up for it.

shelly

worried98 wrote: »

Even if the accident is my fault? If my insurance company has to pay out because of me, surely they would at least take my excess?

Doesn't matter who is to blame. You only pay your excess if you want your car fixed. If you decide to live with the damage to your car, no excess is payable.

shelly

worried98 wrote: »

What about their car? Will they be able to avoid paying their excess if I admit it was my wife's fault? Like I said, they have been fine so far and all this is probably just my usual tendency to look for the worst case scenario, so I would really hate to have them stitched up for it.

If it goes through insurers the other party will pay their excess to get their car fixed then they can claim it back from your insurers at a later date.
If it goes through insurers it's likely both your and their renewal prices will go up so shop around at renewal.

FlameCloud

shelly wrote: »

Doesn't matter who is to blame. You only pay your excess if you want your car fixed. If you decide to live with the damage to your car, no excess is payable.

There are some insurers who apply the excess to the third party damage section of the policy as well but these are in the minority.

Quentin

worried98 wrote: »

What about their car? Will they be able to avoid paying their excess if I admit it was my wife's fault? Like I said, they have been fine so far and all this is probably just my usual tendency to look for the worst case scenario, so I would really hate to have them stitched up for it.

You break your policy conditions if you admit liability like this.

If your wife is to blame, then the third party won't end up paying a penny over this, as all costs will have to be paid by you/your insurer.

You also break your policy conditions by not informing your insurer of this incident, and this gives them the opportunity to void your policy at any time in the future they discover the truth - maybe when you need them following another accident!

McKneff

It amazes me how many people think about not informing their insurance comanies and pay privately.

Pay privately by all means, but it is in All insurance terms and conditions that yu have to inform them if you have any incidents
regarding the car.

If not, it really can come back and bite you in the bum for years to come.

worried98

McKneff wrote: »

It amazes me how many people think about not informing their insurance comanies and pay privately.

Pay privately by all means, but it is in All insurance terms and conditions that yu have to inform them if you have any incidents
regarding the car.

If not, it really can come back and bite you in the bum for years to come.

That's what I would prefer to do, but there isn't much point if it's already too late anyway - that's what I'm trying to ascertain. I thought I had two weeks to decide what to do but it the policy document I realise now says 48hrs.

It isn't illegal to sort things out by yourself. I was just trying to work out what was the best way of handling it and thought I had more time.

worried98

Quentin wrote: »

You break your policy conditions if you admit liability like this.

If your wife is to blame, then the third party won't end up paying a penny over this, as all costs will have to be paid by you/your insurer.

You also break your policy conditions by not informing your insurer of this incident, and this gives them the opportunity to void your policy at any time in the future they discover the truth - maybe when you need them following another accident!

I've been very careful not to admit liability as I know that you aren't supposed to (yes I did get that bit right) . However I am not prepared to say that it wasn't all my wife's fault when it comes to filling in any forms for the insurance company - all that does is screw the other party in this, which isn't fair.

My question wasn't 'Do I tell them or not?' it was 'It's past the 48hrs set out in the policy document, am I screwed even if I do tell them now?'