Car accidents

rowrowrow

Hi, 

I'm renewing my insurance soon and I had an accident in November, where I crashed into a trolley bay in a car park and I didn't tell my insurance. Do you think I need to include this in the comparison to get a new insurance quote? I didn't hit any cars or people and it didn't happen on the road but it does say did you have any accidents even if you didn't claim. Thanks.  

MeteredOut

Right answer: Yes, you should tell them

Real life answer: Would anyone know if you didn't?

Experiment: Try both and see if the quotes are any different

Car_54

MeteredOut said:

Experiment: Try both and see if the quotes are any different

But do it anonymously!

DullGreyGuy

rowrowrow said:

I'm renewing my insurance soon and I had an accident in November, where I crashed into a trolley bay in a car park and I didn't tell my insurance. Do you think I need to include this in the comparison to get a new insurance quote? I didn't hit any cars or people and it didn't happen on the road but it does say did you have any accidents even if you didn't claim. Thanks.  

The question asked is if you have had any accidents irrespective if you claimed for them or not. To not tell them is fraud, however many people do "forget" and most get away with it... unfortunately those that don't sometimes are found out at the worst times. 

Ganga

rowrowrow said:

Hi, 

I'm renewing my insurance soon and I had an accident in November, where I crashed into a trolley bay in a car park and I didn't tell my insurance. Do you think I need to include this in the comparison to get a new insurance quote? I didn't hit any cars or people and it didn't happen on the road but it does say did you have any accidents even if you didn't claim. Thanks.  

Did anybody see you crash into the trolly bay ?did you cause much damage or was it just scrape paint off job ,as others have said if this was just a minor incident reporting it to your insurance company is up to you ,yes legally you should tell them but hay ho the choice is yours.

DullGreyGuy

Ganga said:

rowrowrow said:

Hi, 

I'm renewing my insurance soon and I had an accident in November, where I crashed into a trolley bay in a car park and I didn't tell my insurance. Do you think I need to include this in the comparison to get a new insurance quote? I didn't hit any cars or people and it didn't happen on the road but it does say did you have any accidents even if you didn't claim. Thanks.  

Did anybody see you crash into the trolly bay ?did you cause much damage or was it just scrape paint off job ,as others have said if this was just a minor incident reporting it to your insurance company is up to you ,yes legally you should tell them but hay ho the choice is yours.

If you take @Ganga's recommendation to commit fraud then just make sure you do so with open eyes...

As said, many do similar to the above but some get caught out; as standard when a claim was registered with my previous employer they'd validate certain policy details, like any previous accidents. In one case, which subsequently came to me, the policyholder admitted having had a minor fender bender a couple of months before he bought the policy. He hadn't declared it, he said he hadn't bothered to because he had paid for the third party's damage himself and was living with the damage to his car and "didn't want to pay the increased premiums by telling us". 

Unsurprisingly the policy was voided for intentional non-disclosure. This meant no cover for the damage caused to his vehicle, no idea how much it would have been probably written his car off as was a bit of a banger. We however had to payout on the motorcyclist he'd run over and then pursued him for the circa £50,000 of damages we'd had to pay out ultimately getting an Attachment of Earnings so his employers paid part of his salary directly to use to repay his debt.  

LightFlare

Bit of a catch 22 since the incident was in Nov and wasn’t declared to the ins company then the OP has already got themselves in a tricky position.

How to retrieve the situation with the minimal fallout is anyone’s guess.

Although I think I know what I would do 

prettyandfluffy

I did the same thing, no damage except a scratch on my car which I didn't do anything about because I couldn't find the touch-up paint.  It never even crossed my mind to tell my insurers.

MeteredOut

LightFlare said:

Bit of a catch 22 since the incident was in Nov and wasn’t declared to the ins company then the OP has already got themselves in a tricky position.

How to retrieve the situation with the minimal fallout is anyone’s guess.

Although I think I know what I would do 

The OP is only in a tricky situation if they decide to put themselves there.

Bonniepurple

DullGreyGuy said:

Ganga said:

rowrowrow said:

Hi, 

I'm renewing my insurance soon and I had an accident in November, where I crashed into a trolley bay in a car park and I didn't tell my insurance. Do you think I need to include this in the comparison to get a new insurance quote? I didn't hit any cars or people and it didn't happen on the road but it does say did you have any accidents even if you didn't claim. Thanks.  

Did anybody see you crash into the trolly bay ?did you cause much damage or was it just scrape paint off job ,as others have said if this was just a minor incident reporting it to your insurance company is up to you ,yes legally you should tell them but hay ho the choice is yours.

If you take @Ganga's recommendation to commit fraud then just make sure you do so with open eyes...

As said, many do similar to the above but some get caught out; as standard when a claim was registered with my previous employer they'd validate certain policy details, like any previous accidents. In one case, which subsequently came to me, the policyholder admitted having had a minor fender bender a couple of months before he bought the policy. He hadn't declared it, he said he hadn't bothered to because he had paid for the third party's damage himself and was living with the damage to his car and "didn't want to pay the increased premiums by telling us". 

Unsurprisingly the policy was voided for intentional non-disclosure. This meant no cover for the damage caused to his vehicle, no idea how much it would have been probably written his car off as was a bit of a banger. We however had to payout on the motorcyclist he'd run over and then pursued him for the circa £50,000 of damages we'd had to pay out ultimately getting an Attachment of Earnings so his employers paid part of his salary directly to use to repay his debt.  

That puts a different spin on the “it’s just a scratch” story!  

DullGreyGuy

Bonniepurple said:

DullGreyGuy said:

Ganga said:

rowrowrow said:

Hi, 

I'm renewing my insurance soon and I had an accident in November, where I crashed into a trolley bay in a car park and I didn't tell my insurance. Do you think I need to include this in the comparison to get a new insurance quote? I didn't hit any cars or people and it didn't happen on the road but it does say did you have any accidents even if you didn't claim. Thanks.  

Did anybody see you crash into the trolly bay ?did you cause much damage or was it just scrape paint off job ,as others have said if this was just a minor incident reporting it to your insurance company is up to you ,yes legally you should tell them but hay ho the choice is yours.

If you take @Ganga's recommendation to commit fraud then just make sure you do so with open eyes...

As said, many do similar to the above but some get caught out; as standard when a claim was registered with my previous employer they'd validate certain policy details, like any previous accidents. In one case, which subsequently came to me, the policyholder admitted having had a minor fender bender a couple of months before he bought the policy. He hadn't declared it, he said he hadn't bothered to because he had paid for the third party's damage himself and was living with the damage to his car and "didn't want to pay the increased premiums by telling us". 

Unsurprisingly the policy was voided for intentional non-disclosure. This meant no cover for the damage caused to his vehicle, no idea how much it would have been probably written his car off as was a bit of a banger. We however had to payout on the motorcyclist he'd run over and then pursued him for the circa £50,000 of damages we'd had to pay out ultimately getting an Attachment of Earnings so his employers paid part of his salary directly to use to repay his debt.  

That puts a different spin on the “it’s just a scratch” story!  

Their undeclared accident was... they just were honest later after a more major accident. 

Insurers increasingly use cognitive questioning, voice stress analysis etc to catch those  that aren't being honest. Since CIDRA came into force insurers have more powers to void policies and/or avoid claims than before. Its ultimately the risk of making an intentional decision to to deceive and your ability to answer questions in a natural way (many don't know what a natural way is in differing circumstances)