Car insurance

Ritmas

Around 8 months ago I was involved in a very minor collision where basically someone drove into the back of me at traffic lights (their fault). As it was an awkward junction we couldn't really stop so I drove on to a safer place and stopped but the other party didnt stop. I took their reg number. Unsure what to do I read forums and it seemed the best option was to contact my insurance provider who would then get in touch with their provider and sort it out through their insurance as they were at fault.

The other party denied involvement and as the damage was so minor I decided it wasn't worth the hassle of a fight and asked my insurer to cancel the case. They did so and told me my no claims wouldn't be affected.

Now is insurance renewal time and I was surprised to see my insurance go up despite a clear year (so I thought!) for me and my wife. After contacting the insurance company they claimed that they had to factor in my "claim" despite the fact it was cancelled and wasn't my fault. I've worked out this has affected my premium by around £100 and fear it will also similarly affect my wife's car as I am a named driver on that.

Although I may have been naive in contacting my insurer in the first place, it seems disgusting that I have to suffer financially for this as I wasn't at fault and no claim was even completed.

So my question is, if I cancel with current provider and go with someone else, am I obliged to tell them about this incident and can they find out about it anyway even if I don't?

Any help would be appreciated.

PS I need to renew by 21st may!

Thanks

Sgt_Pepper_2

Yes you need to tell any insurance company.

Premier_2

Ritmas wrote: »

Around 8 months ago I was involved in a very minor collision where basically someone drove into the back of me at traffic lights (their fault). As it was an awkward junction we couldn't really stop so I drove on to a safer place and stopped but the other party didnt stop. I took their reg number. Unsure what to do I read forums and it seemed the best option was to contact my insurance provider who would then get in touch with their provider and sort it out through their insurance as they were at fault.

The other party denied involvement and as the damage was so minor I decided it wasn't worth the hassle of a fight and asked my insurer to cancel the case. They did so and told me my no claims wouldn't be affected.

Now is insurance renewal time and I was surprised to see my insurance go up despite a clear year (so I thought!) for me and my wife. After contacting the insurance company they claimed that they had to factor in my "claim" despite the fact it was cancelled and wasn't my fault. I've worked out this has affected my premium by around £100 and fear it will also similarly affect my wife's car as I am a named driver on that.

Although I may have been naive in contacting my insurer in the first place, it seems disgusting that I have to suffer financially for this as I wasn't at fault and no claim was even completed.

So my question is, if I cancel with current provider and go with someone else, am I obliged to tell them about this incident and can they find out about it anyway even if I don't?

Any help would be appreciated.

PS I need to renew by 21st may!

Thanks

You you don't need to answer in the affirmative when asked have you had any accidents within the last 5 (or sometimes 3) years.

I mean as you say, you've had a clear year this year haven't you?

Oh hang on, didn't you have an accident 8 months ago?

D'oh! :cool:

My other suggestion is that you need to brush up on the contents of the Highway Code, particularly but not limited to rule 260!

thenudeone

Yes - you've had an accident and must declare it if asked.

If you didn't report the accident to police then you committed the offence of failing to report an accident. The other driver could have gone to the police and said "someone reversed in to me at some traffic lights then drove off without stopping" and given your reg. number. Since you didn't report it YOU would have then been prosecuted.
So - you're quite lucky that it didn't come to that.

Why didn't you go to https://www.askmid.com, pay the £4.00 fee to obtain the other car's insurers' details, and contact them directly asking for your damage to be repaired at their expense? If you had reported the accident to police but their policyholder hadn't, that would have strengthened your case considerably.

fivetide

thenudeone wrote: »

Why didn't you go to www.askmid.com, pay the £4.00 fee to obtain the other car's insurers' details, and contact them directly asking for your damage to be repaired at their expense? If you had reported the accident to police but their policyholder hadn't, that would have strengthened your case considerably.

Perhaps the OP didn't know they could do that?

5t.

movilogo

You can ask to see what accident information is held against you in the database which insurers share among them. You need to pay £10 as subject access fee.

I have forgotten where to get that from but web search should reveal that info.

If there is no note for that accident in that database, you do not need to tell to any insurer.

In future, do not bother to inform insurers if you don't want to claim.

PS: found the link
http://www.insurancedatabases.co.uk/default.aspx

anniecave

I always look around for quotes at renewal time. And yes declaring you've had an accident does affect your premium. Even if all costs are recovered from another party, it still affects your premium. That's unfortunately the way the system works.

Crabman

anniecave wrote: »

I always look around for quotes at renewal time. And yes declaring you've had an accident does affect your premium. Even if all costs are recovered from another party, it still affects your premium. That's unfortunately the way the system works.

Unless you seek a payment/agreement for future payments to compensate for the increased premium resulting from the non-fault incident