Do I need to grass myself up to insurers?

Liampope · 22 Jan 2013 at 13:04

Motors - you'll know the answer...

In November my named driver (sister in law) had a little bump in my car. Did a small amount of damage to a third party. Although my excess was 0 and there was no no-claims to lose because I've transfered that out to my policy in Norway, so it wouldn't have cost anything to claim, she decided to get the third party's car repaired privately without a claim so as hopefully not to jeapordise her car insurance future. It was only a hundred and something quid to repair so that was all done to the third party's satisfaction and i thought that was that.

Just got a letter from my company claims dept saying they have been 'informed of a possible incident involving my car' asking me to confirm and provide details. I believe this is cos the third party reported the incident to his insurers before it was agreed to repair with no claims.

So question is, do I have to shop my sis in law? I guess I probably do, no?

It doesn't actually ask who was driving, but I'd imagine they may ask if i confirm the incident as I assume the purpose of all this is to add the 'culprit' to some sort of 'even-though-it-was-tiny-and-I-never-cost-you-a-penny-I-still-crashed-so-please-rape-me-with-high-premiums-in-future' database.

I'd like to avoid her being stung with high premiums in the future if/when she gets her own policy, if possible. If i play along and shop her would she even have to declare the incident in the future as there was no claim resulting, so it'd be OK?

Or, naughty I'm sure, could I just ignore it, or even deny it? Any sort of 'I dont have to incriminate myself' defence valid or justifiable (if only morally)? If it makes any difference she doesn't use the car anymore and I'm gonna scrap/sell it. Should have cancelled the policy already but not gotten around to it yet. I guess, though, this latter may have come anyway even if I had.

What advice/experience, OCUK motors? Thanks.

p1RATE · 22 Jan 2013 at 13:11

I wouldn't even respond

jigger · 22 Jan 2013 at 13:23

You could be unaware of any incident involving your policy. Ask for some details.

Stephen B · 22 Jan 2013 at 18:49

there are 3rd party companies "chasing" discepancies in policies these days

my partner was a named driver on my car and when she had borrowed it one day and parked up at a friends, while unoccupied a neighbour reversed into it.

We reported it to our insurers got car repaired and thought that was the end of it, 18 months on I get a charge on my policy for not disclosing details of a named driver involved in an accident !

after weeks of calls and letters I got no-where [foreign call centres FFS !], the closest thing I got to how they could justify it was that I didn't mention it at renewal time even though we reported the incident at the time.

Fell into the obvious renewal reminder trap " in order to continue your cover with us you need do nothing", this to the uninformed means you still need to declare absolutely everything that has happened since last renewal.

more of a rant I suppose than directly helpful, but in my opinion insurers should be treated with extreme caution, the days of trying to slip something by them is long gone.

I am now insured with BMW directly and hope for the slight increase in premium I am treated in a much more honorable fashion

btw both myself and partner were with Elephant, we have both changed insurers since

[TW]Fox · 22 Jan 2013 at 18:52

Stephen B said:
I am now insured with BMW directly and hope for the slight increase in premium I am treated in a much more honorable fashion

Sadly you are not insured with BMW directly at all - you are insured by Allianz instead, a big insurer. They simply trade using the BMW name, but are just another big insurer. One of the worlds largest, infact.

As far as the OP is concerned I'm not sure how you can avoid furnishing the insurer with the information they require. It is, after all, your car and it was involved in an incident

Django x2 · 22 Jan 2013 at 20:00

You don't need to provide them with any information whatsoever.

[TW]Fox · 22 Jan 2013 at 20:02

Lucero said:
You don't need to provide them with any information whatsoever.

On what basis do you make this comment? His own insurer, who he has a policy with, have contacted him regarding an incident involving his insured car and an insured driver?

Liampope · 22 Jan 2013 at 20:45

Hmmm well as this reminded me I hadn't gotten round to cancling the policy yet I phoned up to do so and I can't cos there's an open claim. Doh. Well I can, but I'd waive any premium refund (and I guess they'd still chase me forever for the details). Spoke to sis in law and apparently the third party did notify his insurer of the incident before they decided to settle privately, which must be how they know. After they repaired privately the guy contacted his insurer to say not gonna claim.

When I was on the phone to mine, I tried 'I'm not aware of any incident' for the lols and they certainly wont just leave it at that. In fact it's arguably a worse position as the woman seemed to then be following procedures for bracing for a disputed claim even though the third party company hasn't even made one, so she wouldn't stop going on about arranging for an assessor to go and see if my car had any damage etc. Seems like the only way they'll calm down a bit is if I give them the details so they know there wont (or shouldn't at least) be a claim coming.

Did run a few quotes and looks like saying yes to 'any previous accidents' with no claim resulting isn't going to ruin her life. Added 10% or less to quotes. Ah well. I could probably try to deny it forever but dont see that ending well. Dont really see any alternative. Just a bit annoying that if you settle a really minor incident privately and dont cost any insurer a penny they still find a way to screw you! Grrr.

[TW]Fox · 22 Jan 2013 at 20:46

They are not 'screwing' her. She caused an accident and is therefore more of a risk?

Batf1nk · 22 Jan 2013 at 20:47

Could you not try playing dumb. I mean if your sis bumped the car, and didn't tell you about it then as far as your concerned, there has been no incident?

mejinks · 23 Jan 2013 at 01:27

How would you feel if you owned say a BMW and took it to BMW for an MOT, only for one of their salesmen to reverse into it in a customers car, fix it at their expense and out of the blue your current insurance company mention that you haven't informed them of the claim against you.

[TW]Fox · 23 Jan 2013 at 08:05

mejinks said:
How would you feel if you owned say a BMW and took it to BMW for an MOT, only for one of their salesmen to reverse into it in a customers car, fix it at their expense and out of the blue your current insurance company mention that you haven't informed them of the claim against you.

How is that anything like the same thing? In the case in the OP, one of the insured drivers on his policy was the one who damaged the car. This means that his insurer is potentially liable for any costs, which it isn't in the case of your salesman example.

ubersonic · 23 Jan 2013 at 08:29

[TW]Fox;23614290 said:
How is that anything like the same thing? In the case in the OP, one of the insured drivers on his policy was the one who damaged the car. This means that his insurer is potentially liable for any costs, which it isn't in the case of your salesman example.

I think he is thinking of post #4 not the OP, the one where the guy mentions somebody reversing into his car while it was parked unoccupied.

bainbridge · 23 Jan 2013 at 08:57

First things first, ring your insurer and ask if they have any tp allegations, for all you know there could be an unrelated claim being made against you or indeed the people your relative hit might be trying to persue a claim. Find out what this is about from the insurers covering the vehicle at the time, not some ambulance chasing company.

Once you know where you are, if it is just a case of notification only, advise them what happened and ask them to close their file. Once this is done ask them to update the mid and confirm in writing it was notification only. Keep this safe to show future insurers who may pick up the incident on the mid.

When getting quotes leave the incident off initially, note the price then get a requote with it on there, then you can see who loads the premium for it (I wouldnt insure with someone who loads for notification only on principle).