Third party accepted liability, third party insurance said I don't have to tell my insurance

gaiusross

Hello, sorry for the long title and first time posting here.

So what happened, was I was at the traffic lights waiting for them to go green and the driver behind me looked at the wrong lights and saw a green light and went. The light was still red and I was at the front of the queue. The driver accepted full liability that she drove into the back of me. Although I didn't want to go through the insurance because I was sure they would write my car off (I really like my car, it's 2003, and it was only minor damage), the driver contacted her insurance. Her insurance phoned me and explained I didn't have to tell my insurance and only deal with them. I explained that I didn't want to go through the insurance as I didn't want my renewals to go up. From what I remember, they said I didn't have to because I was only going through them and my insurance hasn't been contacted (they couldn't contact my insurance anyway as I didn't tell them who I was with). Long story short, the only option they gave was writing off the car. I spoke to my local named dealer garage and they gave me a quote which they also sent to the third party insurance. It was about £440, so was a lot cheaper to fix than the insurance was told. The insurance was happy to give me the cash to get it fixed my self. So I paid the dealer and the car is fine now.

The issue I have is, what do I do when I come to renew my policy? Do I say I had an accident? I haven't made a claim on my insurance, so do I say no?

Any advice would be most welcome. 

Thank you

BOWFER

When it comes to renewal, you would declare that you have had an accident but all costs were recovered from the 'guilty' party.
This shouldn't increase your premium.
If it does then switch companies.
Insurance comparison sites have the drop-down option 'no fault all costs recovered' for this very reason.

gaiusross

BOWFER said:

When it comes to renewal, you would declare that you have had an accident but all costs were recovered from the 'guilty' party.
This shouldn't increase your premium.
If it does then switch companies.
Insurance comparison sites have the drop-down option 'no fault all costs recovered' for this very reason.

Thank you so much, this has put my mind at ease.

Jumblebumble

gaiusross said:

Hello, sorry for the long title and first time posting here.

So what happened, was I was at the traffic lights waiting for them to go green and the driver behind me looked at the wrong lights and saw a green light and went. The light was still red and I was at the front of the queue. The driver accepted full liability that she drove into the back of me. Although I didn't want to go through the insurance because I was sure they would write my car off (I really like my car, it's 2003, and it was only minor damage), the driver contacted her insurance. Her insurance phoned me and explained I didn't have to tell my insurance and only deal with them. I explained that I didn't want to go through the insurance as I didn't want my renewals to go up. From what I remember, they said I didn't have to because I was only going through them and my insurance hasn't been contacted (they couldn't contact my insurance anyway as I didn't tell them who I was with). Long story short, the only option they gave was writing off the car. I spoke to my local named dealer garage and they gave me a quote which they also sent to the third party insurance. It was about £440, so was a lot cheaper to fix than the insurance was told. The insurance was happy to give me the cash to get it fixed my self. So I paid the dealer and the car is fine now.

The issue I have is, what do I do when I come to renew my policy? Do I say I had an accident? I haven't made a claim on my insurance, so do I say no?

Any advice would be most welcome. 

Thank you

I don't suppose your insurers are much interested in what other people's advice is when it comes to you meeting your obligations to them.
You must tell your insurers if they ask.
Your insurers are also likely to increase your premium as they will argue that you are statistically more likely to be hit again
Anyone who tells you otherwise may well be misinforming you.

OnanTheBarbarian

You should tell your insurers, but report the incident "for information purposes only" - so you comply with requirements to tell them about any "accidents" or "claims" you have been involved with, but without telling them to incur any outlay etc. It should be registered as a non-fault claim by your insurers.

You will also have to declare this incident for the next 5 years when getting any quotes.

premiums may rise for reasons pointed out in the post above.

BOWFER

Jumblebumble said:

your insurers are also likely to increase your premium as they will argue that you are statistically more likely to be hit again

They 'may' try and increase your premium.
If they do, leave them.
As I said, insurance comparison websites have a drop down choice for "no fault - all costs recovered"
My wife and my mother were both run into, the guilty parties paid all costs.
Neither suffered any increase in premiums.

garth549

You usually do need to tell your insurance of any claims (fault or non-fault).   Although some don't require you to declare claims where a full recovery was made form the third party.  Definitely check to avoid big potential problems in future.

Unfortunately even a non-fault claim can and does increase you premiums.with many insurers.