Impact of accident (non-liable) on insurance

seans_elysees

My other half had a council vehicle hit her in her private vehicle and  the other driver admitted liability - there is no dispute. She is also a council employee so the transport manager is aware and fine if she wants to claim. 

She has talked herself out of them paying for the repair as she has been led to believe that the mere recording of the incident (despite not claiming her insurance) will have a negative impact on her premiums at renewal. The fear being that this could outweigh the cost of paying for the repair herself. 

Is this the case? 

It doesn’t sit well morally with me to let literally everyone else off the hook in this way.

LightFlare

It will (probably) need declaring anyway

Usually the question asked is along the lines of:

Have you had any incidents in the last x years

The small print of the policy may also obligate her to declare it.

Mildly_Miffed

Is she prepared to lie consistently for the next five years when asked if she's ever had a collision or damage, no matter if a claim was made?

400ixl

She has to declare it anyway as the question is incident or claims. 

May as well claim and get the car repaired at someone else's cost as the impact will be the same on her policy price anyway.

Car_54

As above, she's obliged to tell her insurer in any case.

I have had several non-fault claims over the years, and the impact on premiums has been negligible

Aretnap

The impact will vary. Some insurers apply a small loading for a single non-fault accident, some don't. Can be more of an issue if you have further claims - if you have three recent accidents already and a couple of speeding conviction then any accident of any sort of going to add a lot to your insurance costs, as the impacts tend to be more exponential than additive.

If it's significant damage which she's going to have to pay to get fixed then she's likely to be better off making the claim. If its a minor scratch which she wouldn't bother to repair had she done it herself then maybe the best thing to do is "not notice it". Yes you should strictly speaking tell you insurer about every accident however minor whether you claim it not, but I certainly haven't told mine about every scratch and stone chip over the years.

I wouldn't get hung up on the morality of "letting people off the hook". You make insurance claims to avoid losing out yourself after an accident, not to punish other people for wrongdoing. If it's just a minor scratch that she can live with then you could just as easily argue that the morally correct thing to do is shrug, rather than burden the public purse with the cost of an unnecessary repair.

Nebulous2

With a bureaucratic system within a council, no-one is really going to be 'on the hook' anyway. It may well be fixed from the council budget, as they generally self-insure for smaller claims. It sounds like they have done the decent thing by explaining the process and leaving it up to her how to proceed. 

At one time there may not have been the possibility of claiming from public bodies. A relative who worked at a hospital had his parked car hit by a hospital van, causing a moderate amount of damage, including needing a new wing. The NHS cited crown immunity and he had to claim from his own insurer. Crown immunity was finally removed around the late 80s. 

uknick

Nebulous2 said:

With a bureaucratic system within a council, no-one is really going to be 'on the hook' anyway. It may well be fixed from the council budget, as they generally self-insure for smaller claims. It sounds like they have done the decent thing by explaining the process and leaving it up to her how to proceed. 

At one time there may not have been the possibility of claiming from public bodies. A relative who worked at a hospital had his parked car hit by a hospital van, causing a moderate amount of damage, including needing a new wing. The NHS cited crown immunity and he had to claim from his own insurer. Crown immunity was finally removed around the late 80s. 

Not sure about that.  I worked for the Met Police finance back in the early 90s and we used to self insure as it was cheaper than paying insurance premiums.This practice had been going on for many years prior to me working there.

If a police vehicle had an at fault accident with a 3rd party we paid out, no doubt after a lengthy process.  I can't think the NHS was any different.

Nebulous2

uknick said:

Nebulous2 said:

With a bureaucratic system within a council, no-one is really going to be 'on the hook' anyway. It may well be fixed from the council budget, as they generally self-insure for smaller claims. It sounds like they have done the decent thing by explaining the process and leaving it up to her how to proceed. 

At one time there may not have been the possibility of claiming from public bodies. A relative who worked at a hospital had his parked car hit by a hospital van, causing a moderate amount of damage, including needing a new wing. The NHS cited crown immunity and he had to claim from his own insurer. Crown immunity was finally removed around the late 80s. 

Not sure about that.  I worked for the Met Police finance back in the early 90s and we used to self insure as it was cheaper than paying insurance premiums.This practice had been going on for many years prior to me working there.

That's what I said about the council - they are probably self-insuring. 

If a police vehicle had an at fault accident with a 3rd party we paid out, no doubt after a lengthy process.  I can't think the NHS was any different.

Crown immunity was different.  The crown or crown agencies could not be held responsible for their actions, which included medical negligence. 

Sovereign immunity - Wikipedia 

My relative was told the NHS would not be taking responsibility for his vehicle under crown immunity. I don't know if it applied to the police force as well, but it was removed in the late 1980s - possibly before you were working there. 

chrisw

Nebulous2 said:

With a bureaucratic system within a council, no-one is really going to be 'on the hook' anyway. It may well be fixed from the council budget, as they generally self-insure for smaller claims. It sounds like they have done the decent thing by explaining the process and leaving it up to her how to proceed. 

At one time there may not have been the possibility of claiming from public bodies. A relative who worked at a hospital had his parked car hit by a hospital van, causing a moderate amount of damage, including needing a new wing. The NHS cited crown immunity and he had to claim from his own insurer. Crown immunity was finally removed around the late 80s. 

That isn't right. An ambulance on blue lights hit my first car, a mustard yellow Hillman Avenger, back in 1981. Dealing with the Crown was the same as another insurance company, they wrote the car off and paid me out £300 which I was made up with.

Nebulous2

chrisw said:

Nebulous2 said:

With a bureaucratic system within a council, no-one is really going to be 'on the hook' anyway. It may well be fixed from the council budget, as they generally self-insure for smaller claims. It sounds like they have done the decent thing by explaining the process and leaving it up to her how to proceed. 

At one time there may not have been the possibility of claiming from public bodies. A relative who worked at a hospital had his parked car hit by a hospital van, causing a moderate amount of damage, including needing a new wing. The NHS cited crown immunity and he had to claim from his own insurer. Crown immunity was finally removed around the late 80s. 

That isn't right. An ambulance on blue lights hit my first car, a mustard yellow Hillman Avenger, back in 1981. Dealing with the Crown was the same as another insurance company, they wrote the car off and paid me out £300 which I was made up with.

I'm struggling to find information as regards traffic accidents - but it might have been something to do with the fact it was on the hospital site. 

Following an outbreak of food-poisoning and public pressure, crown immunity was lifted in relation to hospitals for health and safety. 

LIFTING OF ALL CROWN IMMUNITY (Hansard, 9 June 1986) (parliament.uk)