Report Car Incident or Not?

strawberries1

Hello everyone,

On Friday a HGV lorry scratched my slightly on the left. His lorry was left hand drive and he needed to merge into the lane I was on. Unfortunately he estimated the distance between my car and his wrong and came too close.

I came down asked for his insurance etc. he refused to provide me any information whatsoever and insisted the damage was there already. I rang the police, got a ref and was asked to report it online or at a station with the ref. The police woman spoke to him and when he handed the phone back to me she said he'd agreed to provide his details but still he didn't.

I took pictures of him, the lorry's reg and the company name and address. The lorry is Lithuanian and I got the company name too. I also recorded that he refused to give me any details.

I'm confused as to whether or not to report it to my insurer as my excess will probably cover the repairs and then my policy might go up if they're unable to trace the company or reg for some reason.

Legally am I required to report it even if I don't claim? Should I claim and get the minor scratches fixed and hopefully they'll recover it from the HGV's foreign insurer?

Thanks.

Nasqueron

Your policy will say you need to report it (it's a policy requirement, not a legal one). You will pay the excess regardless, you would have to claim that back off the lorry driver and it might be more trouble than it's worth to try and prove he did the damage and claim off his insurance

tyllwyd

I had a situation a couple of years ago where a (non-emergency) ambulance slightly scratched my car. They reported it to their insurers and I reported it to my insurer but I told them that I didn't want to make a claim (I didn't bother to get it fixed on what was a fairly old car). There was a little bit of paperwork but it didn't affect my insurance premium.


I don't know what it would mean if the driver hadn't agreed to give insurance details though. I imagine that if the insurance company contacts the company he works for they would probably give the details anyway?

strawberries1

Update. I procastinated and ended up not reporting the incident to my insurer.

They've now contacted me that a claim has been made against me. He claims I damaged his truck.

I still have photos and a video recording but I guess they won't be happy I didn't report it.

What do I do now??

[Deleted User]

Probably now is the time to admit you had the accident, rather than continuing to cover it up.

Quentin

Your need to sort this asap - as you were originally advised it's a condition of your policy that you agreed when taking out the policy to report all incidents like this.

You face the real possibility that your insurer could take action over this breach

The possible action they could take will be set out in your policy and will almost certainly include them being entitled to cancel the policy which would be bad news for you!

If you have renewed since January, then you also face them considering that you did this deliberately in order to get a cheaper premium!

iammumtoone

Quentin wrote: »

Your need to sort this asap - as you were originally advised it's a condition of your policy that you agreed when taking out the policy to report all incidents like this.

You face the real possibility that your insurer could take action over this breach

The possible action they could take will be set out in your policy and will almost certainly include them being entitled to cancel the policy which would be bad news for you!

If you have renewed since January, then you also face them considering that you did this deliberately in order to get a cheaper premium!

That is slightly harsh we all know you should report all instances. That advise is correctly given out on here as that is what should happen.

In reality, small scrape cheap to repair/old car driver is not worried about it, not that many people do (including I bet some of those who give out the advise to do so on here).

The OP has been unlucky and needs help how to proceed not "We told you so"

Quentin

I haven't said "we told you so"!


My advice was to get it sorted with the insurer ASAP. The aspect of the post you say is "harsh" is to explain the possible consequences of further procrastination which the OP may not be aware of!

strawberries1

Thank you for your responses.
I was suffering severe lethargy (was seeing the GP and being treated with medication and therapy) at the time. Everything felt like a lot of work and I felt reporting it was not worth the trouble as the scratch was minimal. The driver refused to give any details, had a foreign plate and driver's side was on the other side. I did ring the police and told them the driver was refusing to give me his details and pretending not to understand English. The person on the phone (999) spoke to him and then said he'd agreed to give me the info but he didn't. She gave me a ref but I have no idea where it is. I'll see how I can get the ref from the police. I'm surprised he claimed cos he was the one in the wrong and that's why he didn't want to give any info. Foolishly out of the goodness of my heart I didn't pursue the matter further with the police as him leaving without giving any info was a crime especially as the police woman/emergency handler explained that he had to give his contact info and he'd told her he will but didn't.
I think i should now follow this up.
Shall I now claim for the scratch? I already denied any fault.

This is such a big shame. I should've claimed but colleagues said it wasn't worth it for what the scratch was. Foolish I know.

strawberries1

I got an email a few days ago from my insurer saying they needed me to call back regarding a matter I reported on their after hours line, that they need to run through some Underwriting questions with me to ensure my notification is logged correctly on my policy. Could it be that I notified them and forgot? I know for certain I didn't send the photos or video but I don't remember if I did call and inform my insurer.

Two days after their initial email they then emailed to say a claim had been made against me. Could it be that I did notify them?

If I didn't will they void my contract? I'm due for renewal in October. This happened in Jan.

Quentin

You really need to tell all this to your insurer ASAP for the reasons already advised.