Insurance question for a lunatic

maddogb

sparkychris wrote: »

That's part of the thing though. Would declaring the accident increase premiums? If not- why declare it, and if so- this means there would be no incentive to pay the 3000!

apart from they appear to use a points system and therefore seem to allow so many minor accidents which this really is.
Had it been a smart car he reversed into it may have pushed out of the way causing little damage cost.
The big question is how do the insurers assess the risk and factor it into the premium, ie is it the accident or the cost, only then you can decide.
maybe someone who has worked in the industry can answer that better.


ps
You also must factor in the excess charge, with his track record he may have opted for a high one.

facade

maddogb wrote: »

M

lol as I was typing the OP added that^


There is a third option, pay the money and still declare the accident, can't see it affecting the premiums if there was no claim.

It will not affect the no claims bonus if there is no claim.

And in the circumstances is the correct thing to do. However, this will drop the "innocent" third party in it, unless they report as well, "for information only"

It might (will ) affect the premiums of both parties depending upon how exactly the insurers assess the risk.

The insurers have many years of experience & claims histories, bookfuls of statistical analyses, predictive algorithms etc.


Common sense does not apply*, they play the odds, they have to be good at it, and to be good at it, they need to know every little detail that could affect them.

* you might think that after having a ding, you would be so extra careful that you would be much less likely to have another, but years of statistics have shown otherwise. You also might think that it shouldn't affect the third party at all, but they seem to be in the habit of parking in places where people back into them, and may yet do so again, but next time claim £3000.

arcon5

agrinnall wrote: »

I would certainly hope so, although even more I'd hope that he realises that he's not fit to be on the road and finds some other way of getting around (which clearly he managed to do during his 2 driving bans).

How'd you figure that one?

bigjl

sparkychris wrote: »

That's part of the thing though. Would declaring the accident increase premiums? If not- why declare it, and if so- this means there would be no incentive to pay the 3000!

Wether you claim or not you have to declare accidents. Fault and non fault. As the risk and premium are calculated using all the data.

If you don't declare an accident and it is discovered at a later date in some way then your policy would be cancelled.

rs65

sparkychris wrote: »

Which works out cheaper?

Depends how much the premium increase is which will be different for everyone.

What if he pays the £3k and has another accident the following week? What if he pays the £3k and gets banned again for DD?

agrinnall

arcon5 wrote: »

How'd you figure that one?

Not sure what's confusing you. A driver with 2 bans who then causes another collision isn't somebody I would want to come across on the highway. The law is far too lax on serial motoring offenders of this type.

facade

Bit harsh, reads to me like he's been fine for 5 years since his last ban ended, and has backed into a Mercedes whilst parking.
He's only done £3000 of damage, that is probably a tiny scratch and a cracked HID headlamp with todays prices.

sparkychris

facade wrote: »

Bit harsh, reads to me like he's been fine for 5 years since his last ban ended, and has backed into a Mercedes whilst parking.
He's only done £3000 of damage, that is probably a tiny scratch and a cracked HID headlamp with todays prices.

This

He drives a huge amount of miles, has kept his nose clean for almost half of his driving life and reversed into a merc.

Broke the headlight and dented the bumper. Bumper pushed back ever so slightly into the wing.

Three grand! My whole car only cost two!

I think agrinnall is just understandably angry at the world because he lives in Birmingham!

AdrianC

sparkychris wrote: »

...has kept his nose clean for almost half of his driving life...

He's got 6yrs NCB.

He's been banned for at least 4yrs.

sparkychris

AdrianC wrote: »

He's got 6yrs NCB.

He's been banned for at least 4yrs.

I don't get your point but to clarify, I don't know how many years exactly NCD he has, and he's had a one year ban and a three year ban which was decreased by doing one of those courses so technically he's been banned for fewer than four years.

Also, I don't care if he never drives again or takes a job as a racing driver, I was just pondering his situation and wondered what other people's thoughts were.