Help - Accident not my fault. Do I tell my insurance company?

isayoldchap

humfer wrote: »

Thanks guys for all your replys. Anyway to update you all. Met up with the bloke today at the paint shop to get a rough idea of how much its going to cost. Full quote tomorrow but they said it was going to be around £400 (£205 for the lamp from Audi and the rest on paint and labour for the bumper). Seemed a fair price to me. Anyhow the other chap has checked his insurance and found it only has a £200 excess, so is now starting to say he wants to put it though the insurance. He is going to do a few quotes tonight to get an idea of what this would do to his insurance next year and then sort it all out tomorrow

My biggest problem is that I had a renewal quote for 1st August which was £440. Adding a yes in the 'have you had any accidents, regardless of fault or claim in the last 3 years' now takes this up to £520!!! Thats even with no claim and no claim cost stated. Playing around with the quote system also shows an extra £80 for year 2 but back to normal year 3. The insurance companies simply cannot loose can they:mad: Anyway going to try a few more insurance companies to hopefully find one that doesn't penalise me for something clearly not my fault

EDIT - Well just done a quote with Privilege and I reckon I will be ok. All they ask is "have you made a claim in the last 3 years?" Well the answer to that is no as I am not making the claim.

Humfer
You should always get insurance details.At least you want to see evidence who the driver is via d/l or documents on them.I take pictures with my phone of the accident damage/scene.Were there any witnesses?This doesn't just seem a case of £10 or £20.Let's hope that the spray /repair doesn't come back to haunt you.What guarantee is the garage offering.I would have at least taken it to the main dealer.Expense is not important here.
Are you getting a courtesy car?
I would not want the other driver to dictate proceedings.
I also would not want them to reverse the scenario and say I did it to them.

Watch out a bodge repair might loose your vehicle value.


As for those insurance quotes.Simple really.Never renew with the same company and use a cashback website like www.Quidco.com who may give you some nice cashback if you use one of the companies they list.

Of course follow Martin's quick check from his thread.Then try a direct quote from the cheapest ones listed.The top of the list may have trimmed all the extras though just to be there.Adding all the extras will unfortunately increase the previous cheaper premium shown.Also these companies are only there because they have paid to be.

I do remember one year that the Post Office would not protect my no claims bonus because I had two claims (regardless of fault)in three years.

Try this one http://www.quidco.com/finance/most-popular/3/
On page 3 it shows www.ecarinsurance.co.uk
You will pay more for a certain type of occupation,but these did come up very cheap for me.Also £40 is offered for cashback.
What ever you decide,if you go for cashback clear your cookies first
www.ccleaner.com download this easy to use programme

nanana_2

I'm amazed at how many times this basic question pops up on the forum. i.e. "Do I have to tell my insurance company?"

I have never seen an insurer's TandCs that do not include a clause to the effect of "you must tell us of any incident regardless of whether you made a claim or were at fault". Believe me I'm no fan of insurers, but they can't make it any clearer than that - can they?.

As I've said in various other threads, I was "hit whilst parked" - wasn't even in the car - didn't make a claim. But it's down on my record as a claim and yes my premium went up. Was I a muppet for telling them? well I don't think so. If I have to pay them a premium (which of course I do) then I don't want them wriggling out of it one day when I really need to make a claim or worse still hurt someone. Also, again as I've said ad-nauseum on other threads, if you don't tell them all the material facts you risk prosecution for fraudulently acquiring insurance and that's a criminal offence.

My usual semi jokey comment is along the lines of: you play with the truth and you end up being sued by the TP for a gazillion quid, you go to jail for fraud, the other half leaves you, the kids turn to suspicious substances and the dog leaves home because it's sick of being kicked too much. All because you tried to save yourself £50.
:beer:

humfer

Thanks again to all those who have replied. Well the other guy has now applied on his insurance and admitted blame, and has given me the claim details. I have just called his insurance company and they are reviewing the case and 'if they accept liability' (love that!!) they will call me to tell me where I can get it fixed.

I will phone my insurance company in the morning to fill them in with the details

Have also redone the quote with Privilege and put down 'third party hit me, recovery made' and thankfully it makes no difference to the premium.

Therefore although plenty of hassle, overall it looks like it will end up ok:T