Company car accident.

gunboat4

Hi. My 19yr old was in his company’s work van and unfortunately ran into the back of somebody. The other car was stationary and my lad was literally doing about 3 mph but that’s besides the point. Lucky nobody was hurt. I guess there is a chance further down the line the lady in the other car may suffer a bit of the old whiplash.........but this only happened yesterday evening. Her car had a slight dent in the back bumper. No damage at all to lads work van. My questions are, and I Thankyou now for your advise are. If it’s a case of a couple of hundred pounds paid to fix her car up and no claim is made does he have to let his personal car insurance provider know? If she goes through his work insurance does he have to let his personal car insurance provider know and would it increase his own personal insurance when policy is up even though he may have protected no claims on his private insurance. Thankyou.

BOWFER

He does not have to tell his personal insurance, as he wasn't in the vehicle insured on his personal policy.
However, when it comes to renewal time and shopping around for cover the question will come up "have you been involved in an accident that has resulted in a claim in the past 5 years"
He'd have to answer yes at that time, then give details of it being a works van on works insurance.

Aretnap

When he renews his personal insurance he'll be asked "have you had any accidents in the last x years" and obviously the truthful answer to that question is now "yes"

It won't affect the NCD on his personal policy as NCD is specific to the policy, not the driver. However it might well still affect his premium anyway. 

If course some people would choose to answer "no" and hope to get away with it, but be aware that the consequences of getting caught can be quite severe - cancelled policy, denied claim, big bill, difficulty getting insurance for many years to come.

Obviously the chances of his personal insurer finding out would be lower if he didn't tell his work insurers and settled the claim with a handful of banknotes instead, but that relies on the other driver not telling her insurer, and also nobody deciding to make a personal injury claim somewhere down the line. 

Navigator123

Unfortunately your lad DOES have to tell his insurer NOW!

If you read the terms and conditions of his policy you will find out that he is legally obliged to inform his insure of anything that changes during the term of his policy.

The alternative if he fails to inform them is he may well find his own policy cancelled and rendered null and void for failure to disclose.

If he is involved in an accident on his own policy that could be very expensive for him.

Remember that ALL insurance companies share data and information through a central insurance database so as soon as the lady he hit informs her insurance company the details will be on the central database for everyone to see.

comeandgo

Aretnap said:

When he renews his personal insurance he'll be asked "have you had any accidents in the last x years" and obviously the truthful answer to that question is now "yes"

It won't affect the NCD on his personal policy as NCD is specific to the policy, not the driver. However it might well still affect his premium anyway. 

If course some people would choose to answer "no" and hope to get away with it, but be aware that the consequences of getting caught can be quite severe - cancelled policy, denied claim, big bill, difficulty getting insurance for many years to come.

Obviously the chances of his personal insurer finding out would be lower if he didn't tell his work insurers and settled the claim with a handful of banknotes instead, but that relies on the other driver not telling her insurer, and also nobody deciding to make a personal injury claim somewhere down the line. 

If one of our employees had had an accident in a work’s vehicle and tried to cover it up they would be sacked.

TooManyPoints

Unfortunately your lad DOES have to tell his insurer NOW!
If you read the terms and conditions of his policy you will find out that he is legally obliged to inform his insure of anything that changes during the term of his policy.

If you read them you may find he does not. Conditions vary between insurers. I don't have to tell my insurers of material changes between renewals, only at renewal time. Other insurers insist on being informed as soon as they occur. There is no blanket correct answer to this question other than "it depends...."

elsien

When I was the person being crashed into in similar circumstances, I preferred to go through the insurance.
in part because I needed a replacement car for work purposes while mine was being fixed, but also because although I didn’t want or need to make a personal injury claim I wanted to leave that door open should I develop a real problem a little later on. 

Aside from all the other comments, your son may not have the option of not going through the insurance. 

BOWFER

TooManyPoints said:

Unfortunately your lad DOES have to tell his insurer NOW!
If you read the terms and conditions of his policy you will find out that he is legally obliged to inform his insure of anything that changes during the term of his policy.

If you read them you may find he does not. Conditions vary between insurers. I don't have to tell my insurers of material changes between renewals, only at renewal time. Other insurers insist on being informed as soon as they occur. There is no blanket correct answer to this question other than "it depends...."

Genuine question, can you find any examples of any insurance companies that would need informed 'now'?
I can't find any reference to any, the only articles I can find refer to the accident having to be declared at renewal time.

gunboat4

Thanks for all reply’s .