Insurance - Have You Had An Accident In Last 5 Years?

AndyBSG

After some advice on this one,

My car got hit while unoccupied in a car park and the other party accepted complete liability.

Told my insurance but it was a notification only.

I wasn't involved in any way as the wife was using the car at the time.

So, when I renew my insurance and they ask if i've had an accident in the last 5 years how am I supposed to answer?

movilogo

Yes, since you mentioned to your insurer that time, it should be stated as a non-fault accident.

AndyBSG

Cheers.

So guess that even though it was a non fault and no claim was made on my insurance I can still expect a hike in premiums at renewal

Car_54

It depends on the question. If they ask whether YOU have had an accident, the answer is 'No'.

If they ask about any driver named on the policy, then it's 'yes'. Assuming you still wish to insure your accident-prone wife.

AdrianC

Your car was hit while you were the policyholder for it. Your insurer were informed.

Of course you can't deny all knowledge... It happened. There's a record of it happening.

And, yes, you can expect a hike in premium. If the other driver hadn't coughed, your insurer would have been on the hook. You have a track record of parking in areas at risk of your car being hit. This makes you a higher risk to an insurer.

chrisw

The question is usually phrased as a catch-all:-

In the last five years, have you had or caused any accidents, claims or damage involving any motor vehicle (including cars, motorbikes and/or vans), even if no claim was made and regardless of blame?

So your answer must be yes.

barnaclebill

Change to Aviva they only ask for the last 3 years and they are not on price comparison sites and were the cheapest for me.

Ant555

AndyBSG wrote: »

Cheers.

So guess that even though it was a non fault and no claim was made on my insurance I can still expect a hike in premiums at renewal

The premiums may not necessarily go up but yes, your phone call to the insurer will have left a footprint on the insurers central database (is it called the Claims and Underwriting exchange or something like that?)

As far as I know this carries pretty much all details of everything including home and car insurance and although is not necessarily checked when you take out the policy (they rely on your honesty) - it can be checked in the event of a claim. There is anecdotal evidence that our phone calls to insurers enquiring about policy terms, is xyz covered on my policy, current excess etc are logged on there.

Quentin

barnaclebill wrote: »

Change to Aviva they only ask for the last 3 years and they are not on price comparison sites and were the cheapest for me.

If you go directly then expect them to want 4 years history.

Cash-Strapped.T32

Ant555 wrote: »

As far as I know this carries pretty much all details of everything including home and car insurance and although is not necessarily checked when you take out the policy (they rely on your honesty) - it can be checked in the event of a claim.

Exactly, the CUE database, all insurers have access to it.

The other, but related, process you're referring to is called Validation - oftentimes, validation is only done in the event of an incident (not even necessarily a claim), and is the process of validating that all the details provided by the policyholder when they took the policy out are correct, and can include a conference call with the DVLA to check licensing details (I know of at least one insurer where it is routine for every claim to include a DVLA conference call, with the policy holder, an agent of the insurer, and the DVLA all on the phone together).

Some insurers even farm out the process of validation to a 3rd party company, or a subsidiary company, so you as a policy holder will find yourself answering questions to a person who is seemingly from an unconnected company...

However some policies are prevalidated, and in those cases the legwork of validation is, as the name implies, done immediately upon the inception of the policy.
In those cases I would think it's trickier to get the odd fudging of details past the insurer.

deaston

So, assuming the OP was parked in a marked bay etc., shouldn't he be compensated by the third party for his increased premiums?

With the vehicle parked and no-one even in it, it is very clearly the third party's fault, so why should the OP be out of pocket at all?