Too late to inform insurance company?

Quentin

worried98 wrote: »

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.

You can still sort this out yourself. All you are obliged to do is inform your insurer of the incident.

But it is a breach of your policy if you don't inform your insurer. They won't penalise you for being over their 48 hours (which won't be hard and fast - it would be seen as unreasonable if they refused a claim that was notified to them more than 48 hours after the incident, whatever it says in the policy).

But you can expect trouble if you deliberately don't disclose the incident!

worried98

FlameCloud wrote: »

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.

I've just checked and my insurer isn't one of those, so as long as I don't have my car repaired I won't have to pay any excess, just bear the extra premium of having a fault accident on my records.

I'm almost decided to let them know then - it looks like the best policy and from what people are saying (thanks) it is unlikely to count too much against me - while I won't admit that it didn't cross my mind not to tell them at all (surely it must occur fleetingly to everyone?), I genuinely would have told them within the 48hrs if I had known. If only I could be more sure that they won't care that it is a few days later than it should have been.

Quentin

You are worrying unnecessarily!

worried98

OK, so I informed the insurance company which they were fine with - the fact that it was more than 48hrs after the incident was not a problem. I also informed the third party that I was going through the insurance company, which they were understandably not terribly happy about but were still understanding of my desire to do things properly (more possibly than I might have been had the positions been reversed).

Thing is, I feel very guilty - they say they aren't going to claim because the amount is under their excess and they can't take the risk that it will go down as a 50/50 and they then get a fault against them and a premium hike. It also must appear to them as if I have gone down the insurance route to somehow try and wriggle out of things, which was not my intention at all. It isn't right that they should be left out of pocket because of an accident that was not their fault.

Am I allowed to give them some no-strings cash towards the repairs or will that somehow get me in trouble should either insurance company find out about it, especially as I believe they probably don't want to inform their insurance.

rs65

I think giving them cash would be deemed an admission of liability and put you in breach of your policy conditions.

They don't need to claim on their own policy (and pay an excess) - they can claim directly from yours.

luci

As has been said, you are worrying too much.

If you put it through your insurance they won't have to pay anything. They have a hike in premiums next year as the result of having a non-fault accident, but that will depend on their insurer as not all companies do this.

It is up to them whether they advise their insurer, but they are obliged to under the T&C's of their insurance.

I had someone tell me last week that they didn't have an accident and didn't need to put down when they were getting insurance quotes because the accident they were involved in wasn't their fault. All accidents have to be reported regardless of fault.

miniemma

I had a very similar thing happen to me. I reversed into a parked car outside my house, barely a scratch on my car but I caved the wing in on the other.

The other party suggested that we sort it out privately but after much deliberation I decided to go through my insurance. Much to my delight I discovered that I didn't have to pay my excess as my car was not being repaired.

But there was a feeling the whole time that something wasn't right, why did they want to go privately when it was me who would maybe be out of pocket? Thinking on it further, it was a different car to the one this lady normal drove (she regularly visits our neighbour). I ended up wondering if she was actually insured to drive it.

Either way, all sorted now

Quentin

worried98 wrote: »

Thing is, I feel very guilty - they say they aren't going to claim because the amount is under their excess and they can't take the risk that it will go down as a 50/50 and they then get a fault against them and a premium hike. It also must appear to them as if I have gone down the insurance route to somehow try and wriggle out of things, which was not my intention at all. It isn't right that they should be left out of pocket because of an accident that was not their fault.

Am I allowed to give them some no-strings cash towards the repairs or will that somehow get me in trouble should either insurance company find out about it, especially as I believe they probably don't want to inform their insurance.

You are still worrying needlessly!

Are you absolutely certain about liability here - clearly the third party has some concern over whether or not he is 100% blameless (otherwise he wouldn't now be voicing concern over this being a 50/50 liability)

As advised, don't make any cash payment, or make any more contact. Leave it up to the third party to progress his claim if he wants to.

worried98

I guess so. My wife is fairly certain, and she is the one who was driving so I can only go by what she says.

Thanks for all the advice. I will do as suggested and leave it the TP and insurers hands. I have given the insurers the number plate of the TP's car and so they say they will approach them and ask if they intend to make a claim.

It's then up to the TP to decide if they want to make a claim, not make a claim, or, I suppose, potentially say that my wife must have taken the number down wrong because they haven't been involved in an accident at all.

Whatever, that's now up to them.

worried98

Quick semi-related question while I'm here. A few years ago I had a no-fault claim where a guy went into the back of me on the motorway (in traffic, not massive damage).

His company sorted it all out but I fell foul of the usual 'non-fault claim makes it more likely for me to have an accident' (which I haven't, personally, in the 6 or 7 years since) and so my premium went up (on my personal car - the accident was actually in a company car, which makes it kind of worse).

Too late afterwards it occurred to me, could I not have used the Motor Legal protection or something similar to try and recoup the cost of the increased premium, or gone to his insurance company direct? After all, aren't you supposed to be able to recoup ALL costs when you are involved in an accident that isn't your fault? Or will the insurance industry not let you fiddle with their nice little earner in that way?