Car accident

Iruhaku101

Back in November i was involved in a minor RTA. There was no damage to my car but a small dent to the other car. I reported it to my car insurance co (it’s his fault, low speed rear end collision) ). I don’t know if he’s trying to claim or not as it’s now been over 2 months (4th nov original date) and my insurance co has heard nothing. They’ve said they’ll be able to close the claim after 6 months (may) but my insurance is due for renewal at the end of March. Will i have to pay higher premiums until the incident is closed? Or could I just not insure my car and not use it for the month (29th March-4th may) and they’d then reinstate my NCD? I assume that’s how it would work? ’ At which point I could then buy new car insurance with my full NCD? I use my car for work but there’s no way I can afford these new premiums (£32 a month up to £94, based on quotes, currently 7 years NCD). Feel like I’ve done nothing wrong, reported it like I should and now I’m being penalised for someone else’s fault. Any help or advice appreciated.

MorningcoffeeIV

Not insuring your car for a month won't change your NCD.  

And the incident needs to be declared either way. That's what will be impacting the price. There's no way around it unless you lie. Don't lie.

DullGreyGuy

6 months is unusually cautious for what on paper is a clear non-fault incident but they are ultimately almost free to set their own rules. 

Presumably you havent received your renewal quote yet? The key will be to look at that when it arrives and see how they have classified it and what impact, if any, its had on your NCD.

Given the current continuous insurance requirements you cannot simply not insure it, you'd need to also do a SORN declaration and ensure the vehicle is off the road. 

If the renewal quote comes in with it showing as a fault/open claim and NCD dropped to 3 years then you could speak to them about early closure of the claim and regenerating the renewal quote... we'd have only left the claim open for 3 months unless there were circumstances that would make us suspect a likely dispute. 

Iruhaku101

MorningcoffeeIV said:

Not insuring your car for a month won't change your NCD.  

And the incident needs to be declared either way. That's what will be impacting the price. There's no way around it unless you lie. Don't lie.

How so? My insurance ends on the 29th of March and the 6 month mark is may so by then they’d have closed the claim and reinstated my NCD surely? 

Iruhaku101

DullGreyGuy said:

6 months is unusually cautious for what on paper is a clear non-fault incident but they are ultimately almost free to set their own rules. 

Presumably you havent received your renewal quote yet? The key will be to look at that when it arrives and see how they have classified it and what impact, if any, its had on your NCD.

Given the current continuous insurance requirements you cannot simply not insure it, you'd need to also do a SORN declaration and ensure the vehicle is off the road. 

If the renewal quote comes in with it showing as a fault/open claim and NCD dropped to 3 years then you could speak to them about early closure of the claim and regenerating the renewal quote... we'd have only left the claim open for 3 months unless there were circumstances that would make us suspect a likely dispute. 

Thanks for your reply, no I haven’t received my renewal yet. I would sorn the vehicle and it would be in my drive way for the month until it was resolved. My road tax is next to nothing so no problems there either.  Yes when I phoned originally I was told it would be 2 months then they’d close it but when I phone up yesterday they said 6 months. No clue why. 

Iruhaku101

Also I wasn’t in the car at the time, the engine was off and I was legally parked. 

DullGreyGuy

Iruhaku101 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

6 months is unusually cautious for what on paper is a clear non-fault incident but they are ultimately almost free to set their own rules. 

Presumably you havent received your renewal quote yet? The key will be to look at that when it arrives and see how they have classified it and what impact, if any, its had on your NCD.

Given the current continuous insurance requirements you cannot simply not insure it, you'd need to also do a SORN declaration and ensure the vehicle is off the road. 

If the renewal quote comes in with it showing as a fault/open claim and NCD dropped to 3 years then you could speak to them about early closure of the claim and regenerating the renewal quote... we'd have only left the claim open for 3 months unless there were circumstances that would make us suspect a likely dispute. 

Thanks for your reply, no I haven’t received my renewal yet. I would sorn the vehicle and it would be in my drive way for the month until it was resolved. My road tax is next to nothing so no problems there either.  Yes when I phoned originally I was told it would be 2 months then they’d close it but when I phone up yesterday they said 6 months. No clue why. 

Claims, like Law in general, is an art not a science (though mass market insurers do try and make it a science as that lends itself to deskilling, automation etc). 

The law requires insurers to hold prudent reserves against their liabilities which is predominately done by Claims holding a reserve that represents a realistic/pessimistic view of what the claim will cost them. This is then augmented by Actuarial for IBNR (the policyholder thats had an accident but not phones in yet) and IBNER (the policyholder thats phoned in and said they hit a car but failed to mention the third party were airlifted to hospital). 

Claims handlers are measured on the accuracy of their case reserves as well as their closure rate and so some will close files early being optimistic that no claim will be received whereas others are more cautious and leave them open longer so their reserve is still there if a claim is received. 

Really something to address as soon as you get the renewal quote and see how they are treating it. 

daveyjp

If there was no damage to your car there is no claim against you. The other driver may have decided it was so minor it wasn't worth bothering about.

For renewal just state the date of the accident, the amount of the claim was zero.

DullGreyGuy

daveyjp said:

If there was no damage to your car there is no claim against you. The other driver may have decided it was so minor it wasn't worth bothering about.

For renewal just state the date of the accident, the amount of the claim was zero.

There is no legal requirement for the defendant's vehicle to have sustained damage.

The main issue for the renewal will be the NCD, depending on how the OPs current insurer has coded the claim it could reduce their NCD to 3 years whilst the claim is still open meaning a notable impact to premiums -v- being able to claim their full 7-8 years. 

If the renewal notice comes though saying 3 years and the OP buys elsewhere stating 8 years then thats just asking for the policy to be void for false declaration. 

[Deleted User]

You can claim your costs back from the other party. TBH I'd want my car properly checked out, there may be damage you can't see.

In any case, the cost of increased premiums can be claimed, but it's a hassle. You need to get quotes with and without the incident in writing. Don't use comparison sites, they might flag up getting quotes without the incident as fraud.

DullGreyGuy

[Deleted User] said:

In any case, the cost of increased premiums can be claimed, but it's a hassle. You need to get quotes with and without the incident in writing. Don't use comparison sites, they might flag up getting quotes without the incident as fraud.

Difficult to get quotes for 2028 already... always paid out of the FO budget rather than a genuine head of claim