Minor incident, should I tell my insurance?

MikeR71

I am guessing we have had this kind of query before but I will post mine and would appreciate some advice.

I was backing out of my kids' nursery driveway yesterday and bumped into a parked car. There was no one in it but I guessed the owner was another parent picking up his kids. I pulled up to inspect and found a huge bump on his car but not even a scratch on mine.
Anyway, I called inside and the owner came out, I apologised and he was nice about it. I gave him my own contact details (but not my insurance) and asked him to get a quote and let me know how much it will be. Understandably, as his car is new he wants to go through is official dealer otherwise he will lose his warranty.

Now my question is, shall I inform my insurance of this incident? My excess is £250 which I will pay it anyway. But I really don't want to lose my no-claims as I have 5 years and so receive 75% discount. This could up my premium for years to come.
T&Cs say my insurance will be invalidated if I don't tell them. But why should I tell them if I decide not to claim? I suspect that by telling them my premium will go up even if I don't claim. So what is the point?

Can someone enlighten me please? Thanks

Quentin

Your policy conditions do require you to inform them, and not to do so is a breach which could come back to bite you in future. So it's your call.

If this is dealt with via your insurer you won't have to pay any excess (assuming only the third party claim is dealt with)

If the third party makes a claim against you that results in your insurer paying out you can reimburse the insurer and have your lost ncd reinstated (if that's cost effective)

MikeR71

Quentin wrote: »

Your policy conditions do require you to inform them, and not to do so is a breach which could come back to note you in future. So it's your call.

If this is dealt with via your insurer you won't have to pay any excess (assuming only the third party claim is dealt with)

If cost effective you can reimburse the insurer and have your lost ncd reinstated.

Thanks for this. I know little about insurance as I never had to use them before but was under the impression that I pay the excess anyway and the insurer pays any amount due over and above that amount.

I could suggest to pay the damage costs myself, but what worries me is the fact that they want to know of all incidents. If it doesn't affect my premium then why do they want to know? I am suspicious.

McKneff

It's very likely it will affect your future premiums, the reason for this is that you are now more of a risk.

Its also likely his premiums will go up too, even though he hasnt done a thing wrong. Unfair but it happens.

lisyloo

But why should I tell them if I decide not to claim?

Because it's part of the "material facts" that you provide to an insurer as your part of the contract.
If you don't and you are found out then potentially you could have insurance cancelled which you then have to declare on quotes which can make it very expensive and difficult to get quotes in future (you'll certainly be unable to do so on-line).

Paintwork can cost a suprising amount of money, so personally I would tell them about it straight away.

Quentin

Read your policy and see which sections involve any excess. (There is none to pay for damage to third parties).

They want to know so that they can deal with any claims from third parties and so they can assess how much of a risk you are to them.

lisyloo

but was under the impression that I pay the excess anyway

There is no excess on 3rd party claims.

If it doesn't affect my premium

An accident that's your fault will almost certainly affect your premiums.
Why did you think it wouldn't?

Quentin

Apart from the repair bill you are liable for all costs involved - eg. expect the third party to want a replacement car whilst his in for repair.

JimmyTheWig

I think the logic is, "who is more likely to cost an insurance company money in the future?" Someone who has hit a parked car and caused a few hundred pounds worth of damage or someone who has had no incidents?
I'd guess (and I believe the insurance companies' statistics back this up) that someone who has had an incident, even though they didn't claim, is more likely to have further incidents which could cost the insurance company and so your premium will go up. Your card will be marked as "the sort of person who hits other vehicles".
Equally, the other party will be marked down as "the sort of person who parks in places where they might get hit" and their insurance will go up too.

Obviously neither of your insurances will go up by the same amount as if the incident had resulted in a claim, so that's good news.
And if you don't claim (regardless of whether you tell them about the incident or not) you won't lose your NCD.

MikeR71

Ok thanks everyone.
So I won't lose my no claims, but I will have increased premiums! That kind of defeats the objective.

But I understand the logic that I am more of a risk as I drove into a parked car. This is despite the fact that I have driven for years and something like this never happened. Insurance companies never take this into account. It's amazing how one incident and erase all the years of good driving. It's also unfair that you can lose your no claims for small incident costing few hundred £s, the same as a major incident costing thousands of £s.

Anyway, in the mayhem I forgot to take pictures of the damage. This was very stupid of me. There were no scratched or paint off his car, only a big bump. The lamp wasn't broken either. I wonder if the dealer will suggest a new bumper or can fix it.

Quentin

MikeR71 wrote: »

....It's amazing how one incident and erase all the years of good driving. It's also unfair that you can lose your no claims for small incident costing few hundred £s, the same as a major incident costing thousands of £s.

Anyway, in the mayhem I forgot to take pictures of the damage. This was very stupid of me. There were no scratched or paint off his car, only a big bump. The lamp wasn't broken either. I wonder if the dealer will suggest a new bumper or can fix it.

It doesn't "erase" all your years - one claim only means you will lose 2 years NCD from the max of 5 (So if you have 5 or more years now, a claim would mean you have 3 years NCD at renewal). Consider protecting it in future.

And as posted earlier you can reimburse your insurer if ut is just a small claim and get your NCD reinstated.

Taking pictures of a damaged bumper isn't too conclusive on whether it needs repairing or replacing!

Bumpers absorb the shock of the impact, and at first sight can look unmarked, but internally have damage as a result of the impact.