Car Insurance After Accident

SeagullFTB

Hi,

My wife recently had a minor car accident, where she caused some cosmetic damage to a parked car and her own. She has since reported it to the police and her insurance company (Admiral).

We don't intend to claim for the damage to our car. We haven't heard anything from the other person, although it's only been a few days.

She has been driving for just under a year, and the insurance renews in a matter of days. It's around £1200 per year, which is on par with comparison sites.

I have a couple of questions:

1. If the other driver doesn't claim and we fix our car privately, would she lose her first year no claims? As an accident occurred but no claim was made.

2. Realisticly, how much should we prepare for her car insurance to increase?

First time dealing with this, so I appreciate the help.

DullGreyGuy

1. In typical setups Admiral will have registered a claim and left it open to see if the third party approaches. If they dont after 3-6 months they'll close their file as a non-fault claim however the third party has 6 years to make a claim (5 in Scotland) so may reopen again in the future. 

Whilst the claim is open it will count against the policy and cause the NCD not to be accrued. Were the claim to be closed non-fault before the renewal date then most insurers would allow the NCD to be accrued. 


2) Highly variable, depends on the what other risk factors are like... you've said they are an inexperienced driver but you dont mention how old they are, what the car is etc. Some insures dont load too heavily for a single fault claim on an otherwise good risk but you aren't going to be the otherwise perfect risk with such a short time of having a licence. 

SeagullFTB

@DullGreyGuy thank you.

I was given a renewal price with Admiral, which I intend to proceed with. Will this open claim cause that renewal price to change? It literally renews in 4 days time! 

DullGreyGuy

SeagullFTB said:

@DullGreyGuy thank you.

I was given a renewal price with Admiral, which I intend to proceed with. Will this open claim cause that renewal price to change? It literally renews in 4 days time! 

Yes, they'll advise what its gone to if you contact them.

SeagullFTB

DullGreyGuy said:

SeagullFTB said:

@DullGreyGuy thank you.

I was given a renewal price with Admiral, which I intend to proceed with. Will this open claim cause that renewal price to change? It literally renews in 4 days time! 

Yes, they'll advise what its gone to if you contact them.

Thank you for your help. I spoke to Admiral and they said that my renewal in 4 days times will remain unchanged, as the incident has only been reported for information purposes.

The claim will remain open for six months. If the third party makes a claim, it may affect future premiums at renewal.

DullGreyGuy

So they do things a bit different to how the companies I did claims for which proves why you have to check with your own insurers, there are common practices but there are variations too. 

cw8825

DullGreyGuy said:

So they do things a bit different to how the companies I did claims for which proves why you have to check with your own insurers, there are common practices but there are variations too. 

SeagullFTB said:

DullGreyGuy said:

SeagullFTB said:

@DullGreyGuy thank you.

I was given a renewal price with Admiral, which I intend to proceed with. Will this open claim cause that renewal price to change? It literally renews in 4 days time! 

Yes, they'll advise what its gone to if you contact them.

Thank you for your help. I spoke to Admiral and they said that my renewal in 4 days times will remain unchanged, as the incident has only been reported for information purposes.

The claim will remain open for six months. If the third party makes a claim, it may affect future premiums at renewal.

Out of interest.

Does this not leave the OP liable for a potential increase midterm?

SeagullFTB

cw8825 said:

Out of interest.

Does this not leave the OP liable for a potential increase midterm?

I would obviously be interested in this too.

Admiral said that it could affect my future premiums, but they didn't specify whether this could be mid-term. I presumed it would only impact at renewal.

DullGreyGuy

cw8825 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

So they do things a bit different to how the companies I did claims for which proves why you have to check with your own insurers, there are common practices but there are variations too. 

SeagullFTB said:

DullGreyGuy said:

SeagullFTB said:

@DullGreyGuy thank you.

I was given a renewal price with Admiral, which I intend to proceed with. Will this open claim cause that renewal price to change? It literally renews in 4 days time! 

Yes, they'll advise what its gone to if you contact them.

Thank you for your help. I spoke to Admiral and they said that my renewal in 4 days times will remain unchanged, as the incident has only been reported for information purposes.

The claim will remain open for six months. If the third party makes a claim, it may affect future premiums at renewal.

Out of interest.

Does this not leave the OP liable for a potential increase midterm?

We wouldn't have but then it would have been a claim handlers error for the OP to be this situation with any of the companies I worked for which would add to the reasoning as to why we wouldn't. 

As Admiral are not acting in the way that any of my former claims departments did I'd be purely guessing as to what they'd do mid term should the third party approach and make a claim. In principle they could rewrite the policy based on the changed claim status and NCD in the same way insurers do when you say you've had a car for 2 years, they ask for the V5c and spot you only been the keeper for 14 months. 

cw8825

DullGreyGuy said:

cw8825 said:

DullGreyGuy said:

So they do things a bit different to how the companies I did claims for which proves why you have to check with your own insurers, there are common practices but there are variations too. 

SeagullFTB said:

DullGreyGuy said:

SeagullFTB said:

@DullGreyGuy thank you.

I was given a renewal price with Admiral, which I intend to proceed with. Will this open claim cause that renewal price to change? It literally renews in 4 days time! 

Yes, they'll advise what its gone to if you contact them.

Thank you for your help. I spoke to Admiral and they said that my renewal in 4 days times will remain unchanged, as the incident has only been reported for information purposes.

The claim will remain open for six months. If the third party makes a claim, it may affect future premiums at renewal.

Out of interest.

Does this not leave the OP liable for a potential increase midterm?

We wouldn't have but then it would have been a claim handlers error for the OP to be this situation with any of the companies I worked for which would add to the reasoning as to why we wouldn't. 

As Admiral are not acting in the way that any of my former claims departments did I'd be purely guessing as to what they'd do mid term should the third party approach and make a claim. In principle they could rewrite the policy based on the changed claim status and NCD in the same way insurers do when you say you've had a car for 2 years, they ask for the V5c and spot you only been the keeper for 14 months. 

i did think it was strange.
Past experience has always been charge the extra then refund. This approach is baffling and leaves potential issues open 

SeagullFTB

DullGreyGuy said:

We wouldn't have but then it would have been a claim handlers error for the OP to be this situation with any of the companies I worked for which would add to the reasoning as to why we wouldn't. 

As Admiral are not acting in the way that any of my former claims departments did I'd be purely guessing as to what they'd do mid term should the third party approach and make a claim. In principle they could rewrite the policy based on the changed claim status and NCD in the same way insurers do when you say you've had a car for 2 years, they ask for the V5c and spot you only been the keeper for 14 months. 

Could it be that as my wife is a relatively new driver (just under a year), the 1 year NCB wouldn't actually equate to any discount on the 2nd year of premiums? They mentioned that the NCB had been revised pending the outcome of the claim, which I would presume means it now shows as 0 NCB, but hasn't impacted the premium. 

Just hoping that next year the extra year of experience counter acts the claim, and doesn't result in the premium going up too much. £1200 seems high for a 2017 Kia Sportage, but as she has only driven for a year, it's understandable.