Need help after accident

DocQuincy

Cash-Strapped.T32 wrote: »

Yeah, I do hear you, that you're interested in the fact he said one thing and they did another - my point is, that what he said simply was not true, it would never have been true, even if he meant it at the time he said it.

Regardless of if a claim goes through, the incident goes on CUE, and therefore every insurance company will see it when either of you apply for insurance - claim or no claim.

To pick up on the point they mentioned when they say "only if a claim gets put in" - for the insurance company, that's too late.

If they don't take action and get the other driver on-board straight away, then the first your insurance co will hear about it is when a claims management company come knocking on thier door for money - so they'll always try and take the initiative , and steer the other driver down a route that will mitigate their own costs - that will cost them the least in the long run.

Even if the other driver is honourable, and doesn't try it on, they have to assume she will. So they throw the first punch, so to speak.


The original guy on the phone should not have said they won't call the other driver unless there is a claim - it will be this specific point that is against policy.

This is it exactly.

The only thing you have here is the person you spoke to at the insurance company making a claim (no pun intended) that was never going to be true. The best you will get is them getting a telling off and you getting an apology The reason you have to report everything to insurance is so that they can proactively go about damage limitation.

And yes, you also have to declare it even if it wasn't your fault (my insurer asks for 3 years not 5 I think). From what I understand people who are involved in crashes, even no-fault minor ones, are statistically more likely to be in future accidents and that's what they use to calculate premiums.

I have driven for 20+ years and never had an accident or even a point on my license. My wife had a ding that we settled privately so I have a £0 fault claim against me which I now have to declare even though it didn't cost the insurance company anything. I haven't had my renewal yet so don't know how much it will go up by. These things must be quite common though since Bell allow two fault claims per 3 years before it affects your no claims discount (Don't confuse no-claims discount with a rise in premiums). Since I paid for this one I still have both “lives” intact.

csgohan4

always report accidents no matter how small or who is to blame. Nothing stopping the 3rd party from coming back for more and more money and by that time you've lost a bit of cash

DocQuincy

csgohan4 wrote: »

always report accidents no matter how small or who is to blame. Nothing stopping the 3rd party from coming back for more and more money and by that time you've lost a bit of cash

But also a big thing is if you are required to report an accident (as you are) and you don't and your insurance finds out (e.g. if the third party end up reporting it) then you could have your insurance voided — and after that you'll be paying significantly higher premiums for good.

keith1950

Even if this claim doesn't go through and your NCD is unaffected your premium will go up because you have reported this "incident" and you are now considered to be a greater risk.
If your NCD was affected it would also go up because of that
(double whammy) ...

DocQuincy

keith1950 wrote: »

Even if this claim doesn't go through and your NCD is unaffected your premium will go up because you have reported this "incident" and you are now considered to be a greater risk.
If your NCD was affected it would also go up because of that
(double whammy) ...

I have yet to see what constitutes an “incident”, seems like a nebulous term to me. I mean, where do you draw the line? I asked my insurance company and they said check the terms but couldn't see anything.

Cash-Strapped.T32

DocQuincy wrote: »

I have yet to see what constitutes an “incident”, seems like a nebulous term to me. I mean, where do you draw the line? I asked my insurance company and they said check the terms but couldn't see anything.

There's nothing special about the word really - The word incident is used for all events that are reportable, be it a theft, crash, damage, vandalism, etc.. it's the catch-all term for "some event that I have to report to my insurance company".

The call handlers are trained out to use the word "incident" instead of the more colloquial "accident" as that word has implications of blame/liability (or more importantly lack of), that it was somehow impossible to avoid - too messy really so they simply try not to use the word in the main.

DocQuincy

Cash-Strapped.T32 wrote: »

There's nothing special about the word really - The word incident is used for all events that are reportable, be it a theft, crash, damage, vandalism, etc.. it's the catch-all term for "some event that I have to report to my insurance company".

The call handlers are trained out to use the word "incident" instead of the more colloquial "accident" as that word has implications of blame/liability (or more importantly lack of), that it was somehow impossible to avoid - too messy really so they simply try not to use the word in the main.

This is the part I don't know where to draw the line at. I get why “incident” is more accurate than “accident” but what objectively is reportable? Are these reportable (assuming you do not wish to claim)?

• Scuffing your bodywork against a fence on your own drive (no other parties involved, no damage to the fence)
• Your child playing outside and putting a small dent in the car
• Football from the park smashes a window
• Denting an alloy mounting a curb
• Chips of paint removed from your bodywork after driving over gravel

Is there objective criteria that can be used to determine which of the above should be reported? I can't find anything so would be very interested to know this. We, the customer, need to be able to strike a balance between not voiding insurance and not having premium hikes due to reporting every little thing.

Cash-Strapped.T32

That sir is a good question - I'm sure there's some over arching guidance somewhere, but I've not seen it - at least that isn't just a per-company policy.

Personally, and this is just me - I try to inform my insurer of as little as possible - dings in or on the car, falls on the bike(s), anything like that; As long as there isn't another party who is going to call their own insurer (and thus put the incident on CUE) then I'm not gonna call mine, unless it's all-out theft or the like.

LABMAN

I wonder if it wasn't the insurance company at all but an ambulance chasing company that the insurance company passed the detail on to for a referral fee? Especially as they asked about injury.