Insurance Claim - Am I In The Clear?

meths · 14 Jan 2020 at 12:41

On Christmas Eve my wife reversed into a car as she was parking. It was arguably a 50/50 but that's not the issue.

Anyway, there was some cosmetic damage to the other car - we don't care about ours as it's not the main car is due being replaced anyway.

The driver of the other car said with it being Christmas Eve they were too busy to deal with it there and then so we exchanged contact details and she said she'd be in touch. I took pictures of the damage and reg number just in case I'd need them later.

That was three weeks ago and I've not heard a peep out of them. I'm starting to think they might not have been insured or there's something else going on but it's got me wondering about whether there's a time limit to instigate a claim with the insurer and they've missed it?

It's a strange situation as it was a new car and at least one door and the rear wheel arch is going to need a respray.

grudas · 14 Jan 2020 at 12:54

I've heard of people getting claims from 6 months ago.. not sure what the legallity of that is but hey oh

ttaskmaster · 14 Jan 2020 at 13:20

Still s'posed to inform your own insurance, no?

meths · 14 Jan 2020 at 13:24

ttaskmaster said:
Still s'posed to inform your own insurance, no?

I didn't know that. A Google search suggests so but that never occurred to me.

I assumed the whole thing would be triggered by the party making the claim.

DB_SamX · 15 Jan 2020 at 01:43

Meths said:
I didn't know that. A Google search suggests so but that never occurred to me.

I assumed the whole thing would be triggered by the party making the claim.

Check the insurance paperwork; typically they ask any accidents to be reported, regardless of anticipated fault or claim.

meths · 15 Jan 2020 at 08:59

Thanks for the replies guys. I'll say to my wife and she can let the insurer know.

I imagine the effect on future premiums will be fairly minimal anyway and I suppose it's better to err on the side of caution.

kaiowas · 15 Jan 2020 at 09:58

One potential issue - Many years ago I had a minor accident on the way into work (Waiting to join a roundabout, car in front 'went' but then stopped again. I didn't react in time and lightly went into the back of them at a couple of mph). No visible damage on either car so assumed I'd got away with it. After a couple of days the other party (who worked at the same place as me) had obviously had people in her ear talking about whippy compo so informed me that she'd be making a personal injury claim. At this point I had no choice but to inform my insurance company. Come renewal time a couple of months later, as there was a potential claim pending, they quoted me as if I had lost NCB with the reassurance that I'd be refunded the difference and my NCB restored if the claim was rejected. This went on for 2-3 years without any actual claim being made however because there was always the potential that a claim could be made they couldn't give me back the lost NCB or refund me for previously overpaid premiums. I asked several times what the time limit was for a claim to be made and never got a satisfactory answer. After a couple of years of this I got fed up of being tied to the same insurer waiting for this to be resolved and cut my losses and went elsewhere.

Eventually I saw the third party at a social event (she'd left my place of work some time previously) and it turned out that she had pretty much forgotten about it. I never did get my NCB restored and in total this cost me hundreds in reduced NCB at renewal over those first few years.