Car insurance claim?

Spen08

Hi, I recently had an accident (my fault) involving two other cars. I've just checked my policy and I opted for up to 5000 miles but I've done approx 5800. Will they still pay out?
Thanks.

lisyloo

Over what period did you do the 5800?
Is this is annual mileage then my gut feeling is that you will be ok.
It is after all an estaimte given in advance adn your mileage didn't change massively.

If however you've done that over a much shorter period then of course you could be declined and prosecuted for driving without insurance.

Spen08

Thanks for your quick reply.
It was done over 9 months, will this make much difference?

lisyloo

So you should have put down 8000 instead of 5000.
What could happen is that they may ask you to pay the extra on the premium if you had put down 8000 in the first place.

I don't think it's a heinious crime seeing that you had to estimate in advance.
It's not as if you did 20,000 miles and lied about it.

They would only be able to refuse the claim if they would have refused you insurance in the light of the facts.
You would not have been turned away if you had declared 8000 miles, you simply would have been charged a bit more.
So worst case is probably a load of hassle arguing, delays (if they decide to be difficult) and an extra premium.
I don't think you would be judged as someone who deliberately mis-represented the risk e.g. someone doing 20,000 and declaring 5,000.

Spen08

Thanks again!
Just one more question, how would they know anyway?
The only documentation I have with the mileage on is my MOT's and from between March 07 and March 08 shows 7800 miles travelled
My insurance mileage was 8000 up until my renewal in June 07 and due to a change in circumstances I knew I would be using my car less from July 07, so that's when I opted for lower mileage from June 07
The only reason I know I've gone over is from my own calculations, the insurance company didn't ask my mileage.
I'm not planning to be dishonest , I'm just curious.

lisyloo

As you say the details are on MOT certificates.
I would expect the assessor who visits your vehicle to get the mileage, so they would be able to work it out that way (unless clock completely smashed).

I don't know exactly what systems they have in place but there will certainly be some computer/manual checks to guard against fraud.

I don't think they expect people to be spot on, but if your usage changes significantly and the risk alters then there is an obligation to inform the insurer.
I don't honestly know where they draw the line but clearly they know it is an estimate.

MarkyMarkD

Spen08 I'm interested in the fact that at renewal you "knew" that you'd be doing less mileage, whereas in fact you are still doing nearly 8,000 miles per year. How did you manage to be 3,000 miles short in your estimation?

Spen08

I knew I'd be doing less miles due to a change of job and I would be using public transport to get there.
However it was an oversight on my part that I didn't check that I'd gone over my limit due to other travelling that did not relate to work.
Btw this is my 1st claim in 23 years of driving.

MarkyMarkD

Well done on the safe driving history!

I'm sure that everything will work out fine. But once the claim has been settled, you should contact your insurer and tell them that your annual mileage has increased to 8k.

Steve1981

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

Spen08 I'm interested in the fact that at renewal you "knew" that you'd be doing less mileage, whereas in fact you are still doing nearly 8,000 miles per year. How did you manage to be 3,000 miles short in your estimation?

things change - it is however ph own responsibility to inform insurers of any changes that would effect the policy - in this situation it is likely that ph will be asked to pay the difference as lisyloo said - it is unlikely that insurance would be declared void - companies can do this but it would only be against the INSURER as opposed to third party risks - therefore technically ph would not be uninsured (as I said though I doubt it will come to that)

S