Own fault, no claim accident car insurance questions

imsi

A youngster I know who has 3rd party cover on her first car has had an accident involving no other road users but with too much damage to her car to make it worth repairing. There are 3 questions she'd like answered.
1] Does this have to be reported to her insurer even if it is not covered by her policy(i.e. only 3rd party cover)?
2] If she does report it, will there be any extra charge when she transfers this policy to her next car or a loss of no claims bonus on her next renewal?
3] If the incident is not reported, what chance is there of the insurers finding out? The police and fire services were called to the accident.

msmicawber

Hi imsi,

What did she hit, as that may be relevant? For instance, if she hit someone's wall or something. Was the accident on a public road? If she does report it, it may well affect her no-claims bonus, but I don't know the ramifications of not reporting, I'm afraid. I suspect it depends where it happened - if on private property, and no other insurance claim was involved, then I suspect that it's no one's business but hers and the owners of the property (provided they sort out between them recompense for any other damage the accident caused).

V_tricky

1) Yes - she should report it to her insurer, it's part of the terms & conditions of the policy

2) If she's not claiming, and neither are the third party, she will not lose her no claims discount HOWEVER, the insurance company may put a loading on her policy, but give her a discount on the total premium

3) If she doesn't report it, and there is no third party claim (which would include a claim from the Highways Agency for any street furniture) then the insurers wont find out. Of course unless she accidentally tells them at a later date

If there is a third party claim, even if it's just for a barrier or roadsign, then the game is up. People have upto 3 years (or til they reach 18 plus 3 years) to make a claim for personal injury, and upto 6 years to claim for property damage, so her insurers might not get a third party claim for several months, so if there was anyone or anything else involved in the accident it's better that she fess up now, IMHO