Hit & Run

Cuchulain

Cuchulain

Cuchulain

Soldato
Joined
28 Dec 2004
Posts
7,620
Location
Derry
Coming back from doing the weekly shop yesterday I was driving home on the inside lane, went straight on over a roundabout and just as I was exiting a car came up on the outside lane, swerved over, hit the side of my car and ran me off the road into some railings, then, drove off without a care in the world. I got the registration number, phoned the police, waited for them to come and inspect the damage and then drove home (still driveable). They didn't seem that interested and said they might try tracing the driver today (might?!!) and could I take all my insurance details to my local nick.

So, inform the insurance company now or just wait until they've investigated it and given me a crime reference number? It's a whole handling having to deal with my claims company, endless forms and constant sending off of driving license/counterpart and if the police don't come up with anything I'm not going to bother putting a claim in my excess is a little on the high side but am I supposed to report non-fault accidents regardless?

Thanks.
 
yer fault or non fault claims get rated upon, so you r insurance can be invalid or your insurance company would back date the charge when they find out
 
If there is no claim, you do not need to inform them. An insurance premium cannot change due to an accident mid policy, it can only change at the end of the period.
 
Guessing that the railings you hit were damaged? With the police being involved it's pretty likely that somewhere down the line you'll be hit with an exhorbitant bill for replacing those railings which could well make it worth your while claiming anyway.
 
Dr Who said:
If there is no claim, you do not need to inform them. An insurance premium cannot change due to an accident mid policy, it can only change at the end of the period.
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yes so you need to inform them so they rate upon it correctly at renewal :)
 
kaiowas said:
Guessing that the railings you hit were damaged? With the police being involved it's pretty likely that somewhere down the line you'll be hit with an exhorbitant bill for replacing those railings which could well make it worth your while claiming anyway.
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The railings don't look damaged, just a dent on the offside wing, scraped along both, the police have traced the address of the owner but it has to be dealt with by another station, chances are it was someone who came up to Derry for our Halloween celebrations and was driving back the next day still wasted.

But talking of exhorbitant bills, I'll be taking the car to the dearest body shop I know once the police get's his insurance details.
 
Dr Who said:
No need to report the accident if no claim, if a claim then no need to inform them as they know.

Hope that is clear enough for you
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insurance companies(the admiral group for sure ) will ask for accident,losses theft, incident or claims in a set amount of time, so even if you dont claim you need to elt your insurance company know by the renewal date
 
SGWills said:
insurance companies(the admiral group for sure ) will ask for accident,losses theft, incident or claims in a set amount of time, so even if you dont claim you need to elt your insurance company know by the renewal date
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Well if you are muppet enough to tell them about an accident which nobody knows about and only you lost money on, then so be it.

When you tell them about an accident, they want the claim value, to assess risk, with no claim, there is no claim value, so how do you explain that one?

So presumeably, if your car gets broken into, and you dont claim, you have to tell Admiral group about that as well by that logic...

Sorry, but in 28 years of being insured, I have never informed any insurance company about any incident that has not resulted in a claim/police involvement, anyone who does, just deserves any extra loading they might add on. But I am sure, everyone else who decides not to claim on insurance informs their insurer every time.

I assume you work for Admiral Group?
 
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encephalopathy said:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/northern_ireland/8337809.stm

!! anwhere near your accident?
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Not really, that happened on the road I used to live on though, it was a rough old place.

But in other news, the police phoned me this morning, they sent a unit from the guys local cop shop round and he's admitted liability and is willing to pay for the damage. The police asked me if I'd like to press charges, I said no (too much hassle, court dates etc) so long as he doesn't mess me around when I give him the (sky high but legit) quote for the damage. Apparently this feller is going to ring me later on so I'd best try and hold my tongue.
 
Shame you aren't going to press charges TBH - you'd only have to appear in court if he pleaded not guilty anyway, which he presumably wouldn't.
 
Dr who - Long story short yes. As you said most people don't report small/minor claims and that's fine until they are told their insurance is void with no refund or they need to pay a back dated amount before they can procede with a new claim.many people, yourself included can be lucky with minor claims if no one reports them but claims underwritting exchange will inform your insurance company if they believe a claim is worth noting and then the knock on effect is you can be refused insurance on a moral hazard reason which you would have to tell your next insurance company that some companies won't cover you for that reason.

Sorry if it seems OT however does explain to OP regarding non disclosure
 
Get on the phone to your insurers immediately and inform them; even if you don't plan on making a claim.

If the other party make a claim, it will look very bad for you if they start making things up AND as another has said, if you have damaged property you may be getting a bill fromo the owners.

You did the right thing contactin the police, they will look at any criminal element, you now must inform your insurance company who will chase up the other party to cover any Personal Injury, damages claims etc.......

PS Why don't you get to the Dr's and look at submitting a PI claim? (If you have any whiplash etc or any symptoms come on over the next few days).
 
SGWills said:
Dr who - Long story short yes. As you said most people don't report small/minor claims and that's fine until they are told their insurance is void with no refund or they need to pay a back dated amount before they can procede with a new claim.many people, yourself included can be lucky with minor claims if no one reports them but claims underwritting exchange will inform your insurance company if they believe a claim is worth noting and then the knock on effect is you can be refused insurance on a moral hazard reason which you would have to tell your next insurance company that some companies won't cover you for that reason.

Sorry if it seems OT however does explain to OP regarding non disclosure
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Sorry, but you are still missing the point, massively, claims underwriting exchange will not know anything about an incident they have not been involved in. If my car is smashed into with a shopping trolley in a car park, and I decide not to claim, but to repair the damage myself, there is ZERO oligation on me to inform my insurance company. I have checked my policy documents in regard to this, the only requirement is that I inform them in a timely fashion of anything likely to result in a claim.

Your information is just plain wrong, except for your possible requirements with Admiral as a condition on their policies for a future valid claim.

Anything that does result in a claim, the company will know about as you will inform them with a claims form.

You keep using the words "claim" in your explanations, and it seems you yourself do not even understand the difference between a claim and an incident.

Sure at renewal, I should disclose all accidents losses etc when assessing my next years premium, but there is zero need to inform the insurance company mid term unless a claim is possible.

You have not discussed non-disclosure, as material facts are only relevant to disclosure at APPLICATION stages, not mid term during a typical policy.

So where do Admiral draw the line? Do they insist all losses including shopping trolley collisions on private ground are disclosed? Howabout car door damage due to poor care on the car next to you? What about hitting a pothole and damaging a tyre?

Where do they draw the line?

Anyway, as the other driver has now been caught, blame can be apportioned, so there is no reason not to now let the insurer know and make a claim through him, as this will not now impact on his liability and he can recover his excess through uninsured loss recovery.
 
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never mentioned that he HAS to tell them now, but as i did say he would have to advise his insurance company as the original post was "am I supposed to report non-fault accidents regardless?"
 
SGWills said:
never mentioned that he HAS to tell them now, but as i did say he would have to advise his insurance company as the original post was "am I supposed to report non-fault accidents regardless?"
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Fair point, and for a non-fault accident, where you have the other party to account for it, there is no reason not to report and go through a claim

;)
 
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