Claiming on insurance

talkto2012

Hello,

Apologies if this is a duplicate thread. Hoping for some advice on behalf of my other half...
He drove (at low speed) into the back of someone else's car, very minor damage, no one injured. The other chap seemed pretty friendly and was happy to settle without getting the insurers involved. They swapped details, took photos etc... The guy came back with a quote of £500 for the damages, which is a small enough amount to just pay privately rather than claiming on the insurance.

We have notified our insurers of the incident, but have mentioned that we might not claim on the insurance. What we are now concerned about is if in the future this guy may get a call along the lines of 'have you had an accident in the last 2 years that wasn't your fault?' and we get hit with a whiplash claim.

If we don't claim on the insurance now, and just settle the £500 bill privately, will our insurance cover us for any future claims this person may make? The insurers have not given a very clear answer when asked this, something about it being 'biased towards the insurance company' which I don't really understand.

Thanks for any help!

forgotmyname

You reported it so you will need to declare it for upto 5 years. Any increase in premium will be payable even though you did not claim. You had an incident.

If they decide to claim later then you will have lost £500 and have to declare a full at fault claim not just the incident.

They could spend your £500 down the pub and then claim on your insurance.

Car_54

Why on earth don’t you want to go through your insurer?

debtdebt

You need to protect yourself now and get a signed receipt from the third party for the £500 you’re paying them.

In the future, if they decide to claim for more damages, at least the £500 you paid will be netted off any future claim. Despite what others have said, they can’t make a double recovery.

unholyangel

You could send payment by cheque with an accompanying letter explaining the payment is offered in full & final settlement and that if he does not accept the offer, he should return the cheque uncashed.

Chances are he has no idea he'll still need to declare it/his premiums will still rise. If he is aware, I wouldve expected him to ask for an amount to reflect that loss.

macman

Since you've already reported it, your premium will increase whether you claim through your insurer or not

atrixblue.-MFR-.

macman wrote: »

Since you've already reported it, your premium will increase whether you claim through your insurer or not

In my experience when you report a incident for info only the premium doesn't increase by much. But when you Claim for the repairs that's when the insurers really starts loading your premium to reflect those losses.