Cancelling a claim

johkneebouy

Hi, 1st time here and hope i can get a bit of advice.
Last week i was involved in a small collision on a roundabout with a bus, At the time the damage to my car looked pretty bad and i started a claim with my insurers.
Since the incident i have been out with some cutting paste and have found the damage to be relatively minor and will probably just run a can of spray paint over it after filling a small dent.

Obviously now i am thinking of cancelling the claim process so it wont affect my premiums, but i have been looking around various forums and have seen 1 or 2 others where they cancelled a claim and then 6 months later got a bill from the bus company for damage to their vehicle.
Is it a good idea to contact the bus company to get some sort of confirmation that THEY wont claim if i cancel my claim? If so, what sort of thing should i ask for?

I understand that it would still go down as a claim as far as my insurance is concerned but with no money exchanged it shouldn't affect my no claims or future premiums?

Just for clarification, I'm confident i am not at fault. The bus cut me up on the roundabout, moving across 1 and a half lanes.
I have dashcam footage and the driver admitted to not looking in mirrors. (obviously they wont admit that now)
The reason i want to cancel the claim is because of the cost and time involved in this incident, Its simply not worth it, But I'm just a bit scared the bus company will come back to haunt me.

Many thanks.

pgoncalv

I had a recent bout of incidents where my car was hit by someone that just ran away and after a week, the car was hit while parked and an honest chap accepted liability.

My experience is that your insurance company will negotiate closure with the other insurers. I had one closed as notification only, the other one was closed no liability (and the third party insurance arranged the repairs to my car). I was unlucky in the sense that the incidents happened a month and a half before my renewal with a long trip in between! In the end I formally kept my no claims but my premium went up by 60%. I changed insurance company since mine wanted a bit more and I was not happy with the way they seem to try to slow down closure.

One thing to bear in mind is that you cannot have these incidents or claims removed from your record but updating them to close with no liability makes a difference to the insurance risk and premium.

Good luck.

johkneebouy

Yeah, its sods law for me that i was looking at other companies for insurance just a few weeks ago because my renewal is up .. erm.. today! But i never got around to sorting it due to not being hugely cheaper.

I am certain that i will change next time it is up as i have had a few (small) issues with churchill over the years.

But for this case, I want to be as sure as i can be that i wont be pursued by the bus company, Can i trust churchill that they will negotiate it for me? .. The cynic in me thinks not..

McKneff

if the bus driver more or less admitted blame, you should have informed your company of the damage (or information only) but started the claim with the bus companys insurance.

The bus driver may not hav e even informed the bus compnay and is possibly bricking it in case you contact the bus company....

Quentin

You can cancel your claim, but the incident will be on your record (and have to be disclosed to any other insurer you go to for quotes)


A third party has 3 years to claim for damage and 6 to claim for injuries, and it's likely your insurer will keep the claim open a while (maybe 6 months) in case of any claim arising.


This could be a pain at renewal time if they have temporarily reduced your NCD.


Generally its not a good idea to personally contact the third party to ask if they want to make a claim against you!

nimbo

A collegue asked how much a claim would cost her - admittedly for carpet On a home. And even though she decided the excess and premium hike weren't worth it - they hiked her premium anyway. She is still fuming about this years later.

If the insurance people know tha accident happened they will still take this into consideration when renewing - even if they didn't pay out.

Bigphil1474

I have a no fault claim from 2012 and it hasn't affected my premiums - I've price compared with and without putting it on for the last 3 years and no difference. (Don't forget to put it on if you do take out new insurance though).

johkneebouy

So, Today i phoned Churchill and stopped the claim. Bloke said that they will keep it on record for 90 days just in case the bus co decide to claim, But in his experience he says its unlikely as 'unless they have substantial damage where it stops their vehicle operating and making money, they usually don't bother as their excess usually runs into the 10s of thousands'
Plus with my dashcam footage i should be confident i wont be liable.

Now just to break out the filler and sand paper... When its not raining..

And give big vehicles even more space than i already generously give..

londonTiger

pgoncalv wrote: »

One thing to bear in mind is that you cannot have these incidents or claims removed from your record but updating them to close with no liability makes a difference to the insurance risk and premium.

Good luck.

First I heard this.. what does that mean? If you report someone hitting your parked car and legging it and you report it they will still effectively keep the claim open for a set period of time?

It only stops affecting your premiums when the insurance company deems it to be a closed case with no expenctation of a counter claim?

arcon5

The posters on about whether it's closed and settled rather than open... With it open liability and no claims qty is still in the air

bigjl

Why would you stop a claim of you have DashCam footage that you were faultless?

Unless you were about to sell the car and the seller was going to give you the same money then I can't see the point.

I was in that position and cancelled the claim in writing and sold the car for the same money I expected before the collision.

It still goes on your Insurance history and needs to be declared, as to if it makes a difference to a premium I don't know.

I always thought Bus Companies Self Insured? I know they are notoriously difficult to get money out of going by what I have been told and read. Save the DashCam footage to your Laptop/Home PC for future reference in either case.