Money Moral Dilemma: Should I claim on my friend's car insurance for the accident I was injured in?

MSE_Kelvin

This week's MoneySaver who wants advice asks...

 Recently, I was a passenger in a friend's car. When she stopped to let me out, I accidentally shut my coat in the car door. My friend didn't realise this and, as she drove away, I was dragged to the ground, breaking my shoulder and smashing up my face. I have multiple sclerosis, and these injuries have had (and will have) a further impact on my quality of life. Should I claim on my friend's car insurance, or should I leave it? It was an accident, and if I claim it will put her premium up when she renews her policy.

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Grey_Critic

What is stopping you making a claim?

Nothing to do with freindship I hope as it was an accident and your friends insurance will be paying if your claim is successful.

Insurance does not just cover for scratching the car. Perhaps the friend may see a rise in premiums (unless they have a NCD) but you do need to consider the long term implications to yourself.of such an accident. I doubt your friend will fall out with you should you make a claim but I think they would be upset if in the long term it had a serious financial effect on you and you had not claimed out of friendship\

DullGreyGuy

Grey_Critic said:

What is stopping you making a claim?

This is @Grey_Critic :

MSE_Kelvin said:

it will put her premium up when she renews her policy.

The OP acknowledges that their friend isnt really to blame for the incident and as such feels it may be harsh to have them paying higher premiums for the next 5 years. 

To be honest, given the circumstances, its not clear that there is any actual negligence on behalf of the friend and therefore a claim may well fail anyway meaning time and effort spent attempting to claim ending up with nothing and the friend still having to declare a defended claim for the next 3-5 years.

Aretnap

From the description of the injuries, any increase in your friend's premium is likely to be small compared with the compensation due. So it shouldn't be a major factor in your thinking - if you're really worried about it you could offer your friend a few hundred pounds to make up for them when the claim is settled.

That's assuming you can establish negligence on the party of your friend. A driver certainly has a responsibility to make sure it is safe to drive off before doing so, and even if she couldn't have realised that your coat was caught there's a reasonable argument that driving off while you were still within a coat's width of the car is inherently dangerous. That's before even getting into the question of how far you were dragged, whether she should have realised and stopped sooner etc. So it would certainly be worth at the least having a conversation with a solicitor who deals with road traffic accidents about the likelihood of a claim succeeding.

tacpot12

Aretnap's post confirms the problem here is that you will need to blame your friend in order to claim. This could harm your friendship, but I think an adult conversation with your friend about what different the compensation might make to you could resolve this. 

daivid

It seems far from clear to the driver is responsible, so would the insurance pay out? The anonymous person trapped their own coat causing the injuries, so it would come down to how far the driver’s responsibility for their passengers and awareness of the car and surroundings stretches. The injuries described make me think an ambulance was called which should have triggered police attendance - I wonder what they made of the circumstances?

I also wonder if the driver has told their insurer anything about it - if they keep it a secret (which they shouldn’t) their premiums will be unaffected, once the incident comes to light their premiums will go up. I agree with others there is the risk of putting the friend out of pocket and ending a friendship with no personal gain if the injured party is found to be responsible for their injuries.

born_again

If they are any sort of friend they will be telling you to claim.
Bur worse than increase in ins, could be facing due car & attention for your accident.

Grey_Critic

It is an accident so I see no problem but as I have said before **We can only express our own views/opinions**

Insurance is for accidents and that is what this is.I suggest that they submit a claim but the do need need the services of a reputable solicitor. Does the *Victim* have home insurance with legal cover?

Someone has suggested offering the friend some financial compensation due to increased insurance premiums - That would be ILLEGAL

Car_54

born_again said:

If they are any sort of friend they will be telling you to claim.
Bur worse than increase in ins, could be facing due car & attention for your accident.

If the police attended, the driver will already know whether there is a possible prosecution.
BTW the appropriate charge would be causing serious injury by careless driving - IHMO unlikely.

Aretnap

Grey_Critic said:

Someone has suggested offering the friend some financial compensation due to increased insurance premiums - That would be ILLEGAL

Only if done to encourage the friend to make false statements or similar - which nobody has suggested.

A gift to repair a bruised friendship and make up for any (minor in the grand scheme of things) loss that the friend has suffered would not be remotely illegal.

DullGreyGuy

Grey_Critic said:

Someone has suggested offering the friend some financial compensation due to increased insurance premiums - That would be ILLEGAL

Which law would it be breaking?

There are many cases where spouse is injured in a car accident at the fault of their partner. They are entitled to claim against the insurance as a consequence. The general principle of marriage is that assets are shared hence the 50/50 starting position of a divorce.