Car insurance

Fudgethespaniel

Hi there, this is my first thread, and I'm hoping that someone can advise me. I am an older driver (76), and foolishly set out on a long car journey at about 4am in January. Just a few miles from my destination, I briefly fell asleep at the wheel, and hit something (presumed to be an oncoming car) and lost my wing mirror. I was in shock at what had happened, but as there was a lot of traffic and the damage appeared to be minor I took the decision to drive on. When I got to my destination I found that there was also damage to the bodywork. I then reported the incident to both my insurer and the police, but have heard nothing since. I chose to repair the bodywork myself without claiming. Although I understand that unless a claim is made this incident will be deleted by my insurer after 6 months, nevertheless what happened will remain on record as any 3rd party has up to a year to lodge a claim. I have no doubt that my insurer will significantly want to raise my insurance premium as a result, especially given that I am an older driver. Otherwise I have clean driving record over the last 5 years. My premium comes up for renewal at end October. The other issue is that at the time I reported what happened to my insurer, they reduced my no claims bonus to 3 years - even though I hadn't yet decided whether or not to make a claim! My questions are 1) Is there an optimum time to get my no claims bonus reinstated, and if so when should I make the call? 2) In looking for another insurer, should I say upfront what happened with the car incident or not? and 3) Is any insurer recommended? Thanks. I look forward to your comments and advice. 

DullGreyGuy

Fudgethespaniel said:

Hi there, this is my first thread, and I'm hoping that someone can advise me.

I am an older driver (76), and foolishly set out on a long car journey at about 4am in January. Just a few miles from my destination, I briefly fell asleep at the wheel, and hit something (presumed to be an oncoming car) and lost my wing mirror. I was in shock at what had happened, but as there was a lot of traffic and the damage appeared to be minor I took the decision to drive on.

When I got to my destination I found that there was also damage to the bodywork. I then reported the incident to both my insurer and the police, but have heard nothing since. I chose to repair the bodywork myself without claiming. Although I understand that unless a claim is made this incident will be deleted by my insurer after 6 months, nevertheless what happened will remain on record as any 3rd party has up to a year to lodge a claim.

I have no doubt that my insurer will significantly want to raise my insurance premium as a result, especially given that I am an older driver. Otherwise I have clean driving record over the last 5 years. My premium comes up for renewal at end October. The other issue is that at the time I reported what happened to my insurer, they reduced my no claims bonus to 3 years - even though I hadn't yet decided whether or not to make a claim! My questions are

1) Is there an optimum time to get my no claims bonus reinstated, and if so when should I make the call?
2) In looking for another insurer, should I say upfront what happened with the car incident or not? and
3) Is any insurer recommended?

Thanks. I look forward to your comments and advice. 

Seems you lost your return key in the accident too...

1) Its a little bit of semantics but arguably your NCD has not been reduced yet, if the claim remains open/at fault then the NCD will reduce at renewal. If its closed with no claim having been made the NCD will show as unreduced at renewal 

2) You are asked to declare all incidents irrespective of fault and irrespective if you claimed, so this question is really "should I commit fraud?" - very few are going to recommend you commit fraud on a public forum 

3) Depends on what your priorities are? Like most I would just use confused.com etc and decide which company I want to go with based on a blend of pricing and who the seller is. 

Note that the preamble is incorrect, they won't delete the claim, they'll just close the file and the third party has 6 years to claim not 1, assuming there is no injuries, if there are injuries it reduces to 3 years. 

Mildly_Miffed

Your age is not the issue here, and it is neither excuse nor justification.

You simply drove whilst too tired after a very early start, and fell asleep at the wheel. You don't even know what you hit, and didn't bother to stop to find out. It could have been FAR, FAR worse, very easily...

The driver of the vehicle you hit has simply not managed to trace you yet, hence no claim from them. They've probably paid themselves for the damage you caused.

In the unlikely event they do, they have six years to claim for the damage. Your insurer will pay, as you were unambiguously at fault.

And, yes, you have to tell the truth while getting quotes for future insurance.

Bigphil1474

I think the opening line above is pointing out that you need to format your posts in a more reader friendly way, and you will likely get more responses.

Your premium will likely go up from all sources when you come to renew, but then you've had an at fault incident, so that would be normal.

As above, just use the comparison sites. When looking at the comparison sites make sure you answer their questions honestly - I would point out that you only have to answer the question you are asked (honestly) e.g. if they ask have you made any claims, your answer would be No. If they ask if you have had any accidents , the answer would be Yes. 

[76 is nothing of an age these days, but do make sure you are still competent to drive. My dad was 77 before we convinced him to hand his licence in and he should have done it a few years before due to various ailments. Obviously, you could be good for another 10 or 20 years yet.]

Garry4114

Hi, this is a thread that I would like some advice on. I was going on holiday on the 18th February this year, and we had organised a driver to pick us up at 4 am we had left the gates open to our drive so the drive wouldent have any problems driving in as the drive is almost 200 feet long, unfortunately for us somebody decided to steal my works pickup, We phoned the police after i reached the airport and reported the incident and I asked my son to list the theft on facebook, the pickup was consequently recovered after 672 shares ( on facebook ) Damage was light and there were no other people involved so i repaired the vehicle myself and told the insurance company there would be no claim and they sent me a letter saying the case was closed, The insurance was due to be renewed on the 25th April this year and because there was an incident? My quotes have doubled, even though the insurance company closed the case, the original quotes were £734 they are now more than £1600. The reasons the company gave are that I am statistically more likely to claim in the future because my van was stolen this time. This seems so unfair.         Can anybody give me any advice?

Mildly_Miffed

Was the pickup stolen from your drive? Yes.

Does this mean another theft in the future is statistically more likely? Also, yes.

Do insurers think this means they're more likely to face a future claim? Again, yes.

Does that mean they premium will be higher, in order to mitigate that increased risk? You know the answer by this point, don't you?

DullGreyGuy

Garry4114 said:

Hi, this is a thread that I would like some advice on. I was going on holiday on the 18th February this year, and we had organised a driver to pick us up at 4 am we had left the gates open to our drive so the drive wouldent have any problems driving in as the drive is almost 200 feet long, unfortunately for us somebody decided to steal my works pickup, We phoned the police after i reached the airport and reported the incident and I asked my son to list the theft on facebook, the pickup was consequently recovered after 672 shares ( on facebook ) Damage was light and there were no other people involved so i repaired the vehicle myself and told the insurance company there would be no claim and they sent me a letter saying the case was closed, The insurance was due to be renewed on the 25th April this year and because there was an incident? My quotes have doubled, even though the insurance company closed the case, the original quotes were £734 they are now more than £1600. The reasons the company gave are that I am statistically more likely to claim in the future because my van was stolen this time. This seems so unfair.         Can anybody give me any advice?

It's always better opening your own thread rather than mixing your questions in with the OPs as it then becomes difficult for others to know if responses are to you or the original poster. 

Have you checked with your insurers that they have closed the claim as "for information only"? 
What impact, if any, is it showing as having on your NCD? 

You would expect premiums to increase following the theft of the vehicle even if there were no damages claimed. Though doubling seems high unless you are a poor risk for other purposes.