Declaring Motor accidents which occured at work - Police??

Sea_Shell · 16 October 2019 at 7:40AM

Was watching last nights episode of Traffic Cops and they often have to put their patrol car deliberately into an accident situation to stop a suspects vehicle, or they get rammed by a getaway car etc.

Over the course of a year, as a driver, they must have no end of accidents, which could be described as both fault and non-fault.

My question is, do they have to declare these accidents to their private car insurers, or do they somehow have immunity against such incidents, as they were purely in the course of their employment?

Do they insure their private cars through some special police scheme that ignores these accidents?

You'd think there must be something, as otherwise they be uninsurable on the open market.

Are there any other "driving" jobs that give you such immunity if it exists? Ambulance? Armed Forces?

Thanks.

BoGoF · 16 October 2019 at 8:33AM

As I understand it police vehicles are not insured in the 'normal' way, they are crown exempt. That is the government or local authority foot the bill.

Sea_Shell · 16 October 2019 at 8:42AM

Yes, I realise that the police "self insure" for own damage and TP liability, but does that then extend to them being exempt, as drivers, for having had any accidents, in the private insurance realm?

I guess if they don't show up on the Insurers claims database, then private insurers would never know about them?

eddddy · 16 October 2019 at 8:56AM

BoGoF wrote: »

As I understand it police vehicles are not insured in the 'normal' way, they are crown exempt. That is the government or local authority foot the bill.

I think the OP means that when you take out private car insurance, most insurers ask a question like:

"Have you been involved in any accidents or incidents in the last x years?"

And a traffic police officer might have been involved in many 'incidents' through their work which involved ramming criminals' vehicles, or being rammed by criminals' vehicles, or having the vehicle they're driving being vandalised by demonstrators, etc.

(Arguably, many of them will not be 'accidents', because the ramming was intentional. But I guess they are 'incidents'.)

Edit to add...

Just because the incidents aren't recorded on CUE, I don't think it would be a good idea to give misleading answers in an insurance application.

But I guess insurers might have special arrangements for policies for police officers.

Aretnap · 16 October 2019 at 7:52PM

Standard retail policies ask about accidents, and there is no addendum to the question which says 'but not accidents which you had driving a police car' so the answer is yes, they would clearly have to be declared, or the policy would potentially be void. Whether the insurer would find out if they lied is an open question, but committing insurance fraud as a police officer doesn't strike me as a great career move.

Whether the insurers apply a different weighting for accidents if the occupation is "police officer', or whether there are specialist policies aimed at the police which ask different/more detailed questions I have no idea. It would be a question for an insurance broker (of whom there are a few on this board) or a traffic cop (of whom I don't think there are many - you might get a better answer whether l elsewhere).

Declaring Motor accidents which occured at work - Police??

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