Reporting a minor bump

monaymadlol

Sandtree said:

monaymadlol said:
 Bit of a gamble but small price to pay rather than paying an excess and it affecting premium, we'll see.

Excess is only payable if you claim for own damages, no excess is payable if its a third party only claim.

Yea, but I don't want ANY of that for a 10cm scratch Which the workshop said looked like had been repaired previously

Korkyb

I slid (very, very slowly on ice) into a school minibus (which was parked & empty) causing a tiny dent in the minibus wheel arch (no damage to my car).

The bus company that owned the minibus said that declaring the incident to their insurers would probably increase their premiums and they would prefer to avoid going down that route so we agreed that I would pay for the repair which they arranged (I think it was £150ish which I paid to the garage once work was done).

This was about 10 years ago - everyone happy - no issues since.

I think the garage only charged "mates rates" for the repair as the bus company was a regular customer.

If similar happened again I would do the same again.



I understand the "tell your insurance company or its fraud" point of view but life isn't black & white ...... cue the "but the T&C's of your insurance are in black & white" comment    .

For example:

If YOUR wheelybin blew into YOUR car causing a tiny scratch would you tell your insurance company about it?

If you accept in that scenario is reasonable not to tell the insurance company then where would you draw the line about when to tell them?

Answers on a postcard  

ontheroad1970

Korkyb said:

I slid (very, very slowly on ice) into a school minibus (which was parked & empty) causing a tiny dent in the minibus wheel arch (no damage to my car).

The bus company that owned the minibus said that declaring the incident to their insurers would probably increase their premiums and they would prefer to avoid going down that route so we agreed that I would pay for the repair which they arranged (I think it was £150ish which I paid to the garage once work was done).

This was about 10 years ago - everyone happy - no issues since.

I think the garage only charged "mates rates" for the repair as the bus company was a regular customer.

If similar happened again I would do the same again.



I understand the "tell your insurance company or its fraud" point of view but life isn't black & white ...... cue the "but the T&C's of your insurance are in black & white" comment    .

For example:

If YOUR wheelybin blew into YOUR car causing a tiny scratch would you tell your insurance company about it?

If you accept in that scenario is reasonable not to tell the insurance company then where would you draw the line about when to tell them?

Answers on a postcard  

Which one do you think is likely come to bite you on the ar5e later on?  When you hit someone else, tear is a good to very good chance that somehow your insurance company will find out that you have been in an incident and not reported it.  Unless you turn to your insurer and claim that the bin gave you whiplash they are never going to know.  

If, however you nudge someone else, then there is a good chance that they will get a cold call from a claims handler, who is holding a financial carrot in front go them.  It's called pragmatism.  

Sandtree

Korkyb said:

I slid (very, very slowly on ice) into a school minibus (which was parked & empty) causing a tiny dent in the minibus wheel arch (no damage to my car).

The bus company that owned the minibus said that declaring the incident to their insurers would probably increase their premiums and they would prefer to avoid going down that route so we agreed that I would pay for the repair which they arranged (I think it was £150ish which I paid to the garage once work was done).

This was about 10 years ago - everyone happy - no issues since.

I think the garage only charged "mates rates" for the repair as the bus company was a regular customer.

If similar happened again I would do the same again.



I understand the "tell your insurance company or its fraud" point of view but life isn't black & white ...... cue the "but the T&C's of your insurance are in black & white" comment    .

For example:

If YOUR wheelybin blew into YOUR car causing a tiny scratch would you tell your insurance company about it?

If you accept in that scenario is reasonable not to tell the insurance company then where would you draw the line about when to tell them?

Answers on a postcard  

For Motor its fairly black and white... you are asked a straight forward question about any incident that could result in a claim. You can choose not to inform them as long as you are comfortable with the consequences... your policy is voided for non-disclosure/ fraud, you will pay about 5 times as much for all your insurance for the rest of your life and in many cases these problems come to light at claims stage in which case you may be picking up the repair bill, credit hire bill and injury claim from the third party if its a fault accident. Bankruptcy isnt even an escape as compensation you owe someone for an injury cannot be included.

Yes, 99% of people get away with it but have seen plenty of people be caught in my career and lost £40k+ as a consequence

When it comes to Home insurance there are many more shades of grey involved because your home is full of many more fragile items that routinely do suffer minor damage... drop of coffee on the carpet, chip off the edge of a plate etc etc.