Bumped into someone's car, £110 damage to their car

Legacy_user

I stupidly bumped into the back of someone today damaged their wheel holder thing (was a jeep) :(

The person was nice about it, and I have quoted me £110 damage. I have transferred the money to their bank to get their car fixed.

Do I have to tell my insurance company about the incident? It is the law?

Because my excess is £200 and as a young driver, it will put my premiums up next year, so there's absolutely no benefit to me in telling them!

whitewing

According to the government website you do

https://www.gov.uk/vehicle-insurance/if-youre-in-an-accident

rs65

Was anyone in the jeep at the time?

System

rs65 wrote: »

Was anyone in the jeep at the time?

yes, but they weren't injured

rs65

I would tell my insurers.

I get frequent calls encouraging me to claim for injuries following the accident I was in (I haven't been in an accident). All it takes is an occupant of the jeep to entertain one of these calls ....

Quentin

berbastrike wrote: »

I stupidly bumped into the back of someone today damaged their wheel holder thing (was a jeep) :(

The person was nice about it, and I have quoted me £110 damage. I have transferred the money to their bank to get their car fixed.

Do I have to tell my insurance company about the incident? It is the law?

Because my excess is £200 and as a young driver, it will put my premiums up next year, so there's absolutely no benefit to me in telling them!

You breach the terms of your (agreed) policy conditions by not reporting this.

That will give them (and any future insurer you go to without telling them) grounds to void your policy due to your non disclosure.

So its your call.

(You mention your excess, and although its irrelevant to your current issue, you only pay the excess after a claim for damage to your own car. And read up on how much excess you really have. The £200 you mention sounds a voluntary excess, and if you are under 25 you almost certainly will have other compulsory excess to pay on top, and will be far higher)

vaio

it's classic game theory stuff.......

If you both report it you both get to pay the subsequent premium loading.
If you report it and he doesn't then he could be in trouble.
If he reports and you don't then you could be in trouble.
If neither reports it then you both escape the premium loading.

Comes down to do you feel lucky/trust the other driver?

InsideInsurance

vaio wrote: »

If neither reports it then you both escape the premium loading.

Comes down to do you feel lucky/trust the other driver?

And of cause this extends beyond just "today" but for the next 5 years. I've known a few who were caught out for not declaring an accident but not when buying insurance but when going through interviews about other unrelated claims.

BillJones

berbastrike wrote: »

I stupidly bumped into the back of someone today damaged their wheel holder thing (was a jeep) :(

The person was nice about it, and I have quoted me £110 damage. I have transferred the money to their bank to get their car fixed.

Do I have to tell my insurance company about the incident? It is the law?

Because my excess is £200 and as a young driver, it will put my premiums up next year, so there's absolutely no benefit to me in telling them!

Yes, absolutely you do. It will invalidate your insurance if you do not, and you will be committing fraud if you fail to disclose it when you renew.

Aretnap

InsideInsurance wrote: »

And of cause this extends beyond just "today" but for the next 5 years. I've known a few who were caught out for not declaring an accident but not when buying insurance but when going through interviews about other unrelated claims.

See also the number of people who have their cars insured for social, domestic and pleasure use only but yell down the phone at their insurers "You have to fix my car faster than that! I need it for work!"

The lies we tell are easily forgotten. It takes no special effort to remember the truth.

Smi1er

According to the wording of your policy then yes you must report it to your insurers.


In the real world you have already settled the costs so 99.999% of people would simply leave it at that.