Should I report an incident (no damage) to my insurer?

a1260532

Hello MoneySavers,

Yesterday while driving to work at a busy junction I had a brain fart and did not break hard enough. Result was I bumped the car in front. Car was very slow (in 1st or 2nd gear) and I was squeezing the brake but did not stop completely in time. I was very scared never been in this situation before and panicked. Lady driver in front seemed annoyed at first. We inspected the cars couple of times and it seemed no harm was done. I was still panicky and took pictures. Said sorry. We exchanged contact details. She seemed to be okay and assured me it was ok. She said she might get her car checked but it seemed okay. She seemed like a reasonable person. We were just a bit rattled by the experience. We shook hands got into our respective cars and drove away.

Later on my mates advised me I should not have said "sorry". Also they said I should just ignore it as no damage was done to either car and not involve the insurance company. My car policy says I should report accidents within 48 hours. Should I report this? I have pictures clearly showing no damage to both vehicles.

I am concerned that the other driver might go home and change their mind on advice from friends/family.

Will I need to report such an incident at time of my insurance renewal? Advice appreciated.

macman

Th reason for not saying 'sorry' is because it implies that you are accepting liability, which you should never do.
If there is no visible damage then there's unlikely to be an issue-however should she decide later that she wants to put in a whiplash injury claim, and you haven't reported it...
So I would report it to your insurer 'for info only'. The time to report it is not at renewal but after the incident.
Taking pictures was a good move in case of a later false personal injury claim.

Quentin

You are bound by your policy conditions to report incidents.

So its your call.

No visible damage at the scene doesn't mean no damage!

You will need to disclose this at renewal as well (for the next 3/5 years) if you approach any new insurers for quotes.
Also the innocent party may have developed injury symptoms after getting advice from her mates down the pub

Car_54

Quentin wrote: »

You are bound by your policy conditions to report incidents.

So its your call.

No visible damage at the scene doesn't mean no damage!

You will need to disclose this at renewal as well (for the next 3/5 years) if you approach any new insurers for quotes.
Also the innocent party may have developed injury symptoms after getting advice from her mates down the pub

And so might her four passengers (whom you didn't see at the time!), so I'd advise reporting it to your insurer.

Don't worry about saying sorry, there's no disputing that you were to blame.

a1260532

okay, Exploring some options.

If I do report it for info only, how badly is it going to affect my renewal even if there is no claim. My policy is already quite expensive as this is my 1st year driving and I have 0 yrs no claims.

If I choose to keep quite and later find she has made a injury claim will it invalidate my insurance since I did not report?

I have her contact, would be wise to call and ask politely if all is well and if she intends to claim?

Thanks

Quentin

You aren't in the clear if she doesn't intend claiming (she is bound by her policy conditions to report the incident ASAP too whether or not a claim ensues) (And of course may have already reported to her insurer for info only)
The third party has 6 years to claim for any damage and 3 years to claim for any injury.


You can see what difference this may make to your future premiums by doing dummy quotes online, with and without this in your history.


Not informing insurers about incidents is a breach of the policy conditions and should it come to light can have repercussions - if it is considered a deliberate omission (which it is) then it could give grounds for voiding your policy in the future should an insurer discover your claim to have an incident free history is a lie.


Your call

a1260532

Okay reported it. Insurance are treating it as an accident claim. They said they will contact the third-party to check if a claim will be raised. I don't know if I have added wood to the fire.

If this is resolved without a claim, simply adding it to my record has bumped premiums by £200.

I had a smashed side window few months back which was replaced by Autoglass under my cover. A phone was stolen. I had just popped into Halfords for 10 mins and forgot the phone. No claim was raised and the glass replacement does not void NCB as per my policy. Will this also need to be reported during renewal? I tried adding this as "theft from vehicle" and generated quotes and it adds £400 to the premiums.

So far £600 extra in premiums for no claims. Maybe I should stop driving now. Feeling gutted .

arcon5

I hope she's reported it to her insurers, otherwise your insurers contacting hers could be a PITA for her.
Glass claims usually have to be declared yes. It's notusually even worth making glass claims in many cases.

As for saying sorry, I don't care what your policy says, your clearly at fault. If you bumped me and didn't even say sorry I'd be well !!!!ed off to the point I'd consider making a claim just to spite you

gilbert_and_sullivan

arcon5 wrote: »

As for saying sorry, I don't care what your policy says, your clearly at fault. If you bumped me and didn't even say sorry I'd be well !!!!ed off to the point I'd consider making a claim just to spite you

At last.

There are still some decent people out there who, if there is no damage from a minor touch, will happily call it one of those things and move on with their lives.

An apology goes a long way with people steeped in common courtesy and basic good manners.

Quentin

If you reported the stolen phone to your insurer when making the glass claim then the theft will be on your record. If so you will need to disclose it.

If you didn't mention the phone then only the glass claim will need disclosing. Although it didn't affect your ncd it is still a claim

Hoof_Hearted

Personally, if I judged the other person to be a reasonable person, I wouldn't report it. There could be consequences, but I would take a chance. There is no reason not to say sorry because it is clearly your fault.