Hire car accidents overseas and your UK premiums

Arklight

I travel to the US for work frequently and drive myself when I'm over there in hire cars.

Unlike the UK, there is no nickel and dimeing people with damage excesses, and having to check the paintwork with a magnifying glass before you accept it.

You select a loss damage waiver at booking and can then return the car as a smoking wreck if you want, you'll never hear anything back. If it's undrivable they'll just bring you a new one and tow the old one away.

If i were in an accident over there in a hire car, would I need to declare that to my car insurance company here, or are they only interested in UK accidents? Does the insurance database they use have any way of knowing?

One factor you have to declare to UK insurers is who was decided to be at fault and what the payout was, but renting a car in the US that is in an accident it's possible you would never know either of these things.

I've put 10,000 miles in over there and have driven everywhere from the Nevada desert to Manhattan so I don't think I am going to cause one but you can't account for other people!

foxy-stoat

For me, if I had an accident abroad I would pay for another CUE request a few months after to see if its on there at all, maybe base your answer on the information on this.

Honestly is the best policy for insurance.

Arklight

Didn't know you could do that. I think I've decided I would just tell them anyway. Not worth the worry of not doing so. I doubt it's an unusual question but it means you couldn't answer the self cert questions on the comparison sites for 5 years, which would be a massive pain in the neck.

foxy-stoat

Arklight wrote: »

Didn't know you could do that. I think I've decided I would just tell them anyway. Not worth the worry of not doing so. I doubt it's an unusual question but it means you couldn't answer the self cert questions on the comparison sites for 5 years, which would be a massive pain in the neck.

It was about £10 or £15 I think - I wanted to check previous accidents that I had forgotten the dates and if windscreen claims show up - not that they make a difference, but someone on this site was adamant that you had to put down all windscreen claims and if you didnt you would get taken away into a 4x4 cell, insurance cancelled and you have to declare that it was cancelled due to non-disclosure etc etc.