Insurance Renewal & Declaring Incidents

tgcntrb2

Hi all,

Want to draw upon your collective wisdom on the following. Apologies if I exhibit any ignorance or stupidity - it is entirely unintentional!

I damaged my car last week. Underground car park, 1 idiot driver (me). I pulled out in haste and scraped the passenger side rear panel against a concrete pillar. No-one else involved. Concrete pillar was unscathed.

I've had three quotes, one from the local Audi authorised repair centre (£3000) and two from independents (£1000 & £2000).

I've not yet told my insurance company about the incident. My primary objective is keeping next year's premium down (renewal due in August) and am willing to consider having the repair done privately if that is what it takes.

My normal practice (like most people here) is to shop around and use comparison sites etc.

But my question is: if I do choose to get the car repaired privately, do I still need to declare the incident when I come to price up a new quote in July/August? Would I be breaking any laws or more probably insurer T&Cs if I didn't mention it?

Thanks in advance.

F1F93

In theory, yes you do. You had an accident and so this technically needs declaring.

However, given that there is no way for you insurance company to find out, you may choose not to. How would they find out unless you tell them? No one else was involved!

Richard53

If the accident involved another vehicle, then I would always advise to inform the insurer (provided that their T&Cs demand it; most do) as the consequences of not doing so and being found out are quite severe.


However, in an accident/incident which no-one else knows about and caused no damage to a third party, I would probably get it fixed and move on. I've had a couple of little knocks and scrapes over the years moving around my garden and driveway, and I hadn't even thought of reporting them. As there was no damage to the pillar, your case isn't so different.

RealGem

Definitely don't tell them. You would pay more in renewal premiums over the next few years, especially if you have got any NCB now.

Sooler

It wasn't an accident. It's just a scuff.

Richard53

Sooler wrote: »

It wasn't an accident. It's just a scuff.

A three grand scuff, though


Insurance companies usually ask about 'incidents whether a claim was made or not' rather than about 'accidents', though. The OP's scuff would be an incident in those terms, I would have thought.

AdrianC

tgcntrb2 wrote: »

But my question is: if I do choose to get the car repaired privately, do I still need to declare the incident when I come to price up a new quote in July/August? Would I be breaking any laws or more probably insurer T&Cs if I didn't mention it?

Go and read the question the comparison site actually asks.

It specifically asks for _ANY_ incidents, even if no claim was made.

Now, do you think that includes several grand of damage when you drove into a stationary object or not...?

facade

I'd do the sums. It might be worth claiming for £3000 and get a guaranteed repair from Audi. If your increase in policy price next year is less than £1000, it will take more than 3 years to pay them back, and you will have claim free years to reduce the price, and give a bigger no-claims discount.

Especially if the car is on pcp, they will sting you on handback if there are signs of a less than manufacturer perfect repair, if Audi do it, you will have an argument.

Ant555

Where does it start and end?

Caught an overgrown hedge pulling onto my drive - went to Halfords to buy products to buff and polish - £20

OK, about £980 cheaper than your cheapest quote but lis it not largely the same thing?

neilmcl

As mentioned, I'd definitely do the sums taking into account your excess, potential loss of NCB if you don't have it protected and the likely increase in premiums. £3000 is a fair chunk of change and it may in fact be cheaper getting it done via your insurance.

Sea_Shell

Ant555 wrote: »

Where does it start and end?

Caught an overgrown hedge pulling onto my drive - went to Halfords to buy products to buff and polish - £20

OK, about £980 cheaper than your cheapest quote but lis it not largely the same thing?

I've wondered this too....you could argue that every chip on your bonnet caused by a flying stone is an 'incident'. There probably isn't a technical cut-off point for what an "incident" means...probably would have to be decided by ombudsman if any "non-disclosure" was argued by a insurer.

I would like to hope that the ombudsman would find in favour of the customer, if their insurers had refused to pay a claim because they hadn't disclosed a "scuff" on their door. On an older car, you'd probably just drive around with scuffs, dents and chips all over the place!!!