Getting new car Insurance with an open claim

benjie92

Hello,

I'm due to get new insurance October 25th. Quote from current provider has went up from 600 to 2,000. Reason being I had an accident last month and reversed into a parked car doing some damage (I know )

Anyway, I went through compare the market looking for alternatives and got quotes as low as 650-700. I outlined when putting in my details I have a claim open so insurance companies 'should' be aware. I was ready to purchase online with Admiral, I couldn't believe the price so I rang them to make sure. They told me they needed to know the cost of the claim before they could go further.

Problem is my current insurance (Liverpool Victoria) still cant give me a cost yet. 

And, nothing was stopping me going ahead and buying the Admiral (and I assume others) insurance online. So I'm wondering would it still be valid if they somehow found out down the line about the cost of the claim? Can I just go ahead and buy new insurance online?!?

Hope this makes sense, any advice would be appreciated. 

Thanks
Ben

Jfk1988

I would just put it as unknown, some claims can take years to settle and it really shouldn't make any difference to the premium, one fault claim is one claim regardless of value. 

Aretnap

They can only void your insurance if they ask you a clear question and you don't give a truthful answer. So if you take out a policy online and the online form doesn't ask for the value of the claim, or if it does ask but includes an option to say "unknown", they have no comeback if some months down the line the claim turns out to be quite expensive.

Insurers who choose to sell through intermediaries (such as comparison sites) are also generally responsible for ensuring that the intermediary asks the questions that they want asking. So if Compare The Market include an option to say "unknown", Admiral can't complain that they didn't know the value of the claim should you buy through the Meerkats. Unless there's another question that pops up asking for an exact value when you click through to the Admiral site.

Most insurers attach little or no weight to the value of a claim when setting premiums anyway. The fact that you reversed into a car is what marks you out as a risk. Reversing into a Ferrari isn't really any more careless than reversing into a 15 year old Ford Focus, but it will result in a much bigger claim.