[Help] Zero fault car accident.

Uncle C · Nov 18, 2017

My wife was in our car and stationary when a lady in a land rover reversed into her. She confessed "Sorry, I just didn't look" and her insurance company are paying for everything including car loan.

My questions

1. Are our insurance company entitle to load our premium next year.
2. If we change insurance companies do we have to declare it as an accident if asked.

I guess this could affect many others now or in the future.

Thanks

Notters · Nov 18, 2017

1. Yes.
2. Yes.

Mayonaise · Nov 18, 2017

Yes - you are supposed to declare it as a non-fault claim as your title suggests.

To be honest, some insurers will still up your premium because of this (who ever said life was fair) and some won't so it is important to shop around when to come to renew your policy

Guy Fawkes · Nov 18, 2017

Uncle C said:
My wife was in our car and stationary when a lady in a land rover reversed into her. She confessed "Sorry, I just didn't look" and her insurance company are paying for everything including car loan.

My questions

1. Are our insurance company entitle to load our premium next year.
2. If we change insurance companies do we have to declare it as an accident if asked.

I guess this could affect many others now or in the future.

Thanks

I had a claim years ago where my car was parked up and was hit by another car overnight, leading to my vehicle being written off. The insurance company i had were useless in the extreme and, even though the person responsible had been caught, sentenced and imprisoned, my insurance company kept telling me that no one had been identified and that i would have to make an uninsured drivers claim through the motor insurers bureau.

I refused to accept this, especially as i had been in contact with the Police officer involved and he had told me that the Police had contacted the insurance company several times and provided the other party's details and they were aware of who it was.

By pushing on with the claim, i eventually got the pay out from my insurace company instead.

It might be worth getting legal advice from somewhere like Citizens Advice and look to see whether trying to push it to Court (if it gets that far) will be better for you that accepting what they are proposing for this claim

In my experience, they try to do as little as possible for their claimant and try to settle it in a way that costs them less and without much hassle to them rather than whats best for their insurance policy holder

Oh and yes you would have to declare it

Uncle C · Nov 18, 2017

Strange.

I think if you are a bad debtor and clear the debt, you are entitled to have it struck from the records. Similar should apply to victims of zero fault accidents. I wonder what excuse they use to load your renewal quote?

Geoffbn2 · Nov 18, 2017

Uncle C said:
My wife was in our car and stationary when a lady in a land rover reversed into her. She confessed "Sorry, I just didn't look" and her insurance company are paying for everything including car loan.

My questions

1. Are our insurance company entitle to load our premium next year.
2. If we change insurance companies do we have to declare it as an accident if asked.

I guess this could affect many others now or in the future.

Thanks

yes to both questions
This is what happened to me 3 years ago, also expect the car hire company to attempt to mug you with charges not covered and make sure you put your phone numbers on the telephone preference service, you'll be getting multiple calls every day for years.
Also you'll need to know how much the damage repairs costs as when i renewed insurance they were a pain about the costs even though it was all handled for me by the other drivers insurance.

GT49er · Nov 18, 2017

Uncle C said:
My wife was in our car and stationary when a lady in a land rover reversed into her. She confessed "Sorry, I just didn't look" and her insurance company are paying for everything including car loan.

My questions

1. Are our insurance company entitle to load our premium next year.
2. If we change insurance companies do we have to declare it as an accident if asked.

I guess this could affect many others now or in the future.

Thanks

I've had two over the years - one many, many years ago. On both occasions, the other driver owned up and supplied their details. I then claimed off their insurance company and they paid up. End of.

jonnyrovers · Nov 18, 2017

Yes & Yes

2 years ago my car was struck by a flying road sign in high winds. The traffic management company that owned the faulty sign agreed to cover the cost of the repairs entirely, and wholly accepted responsibility for the incident. The only condition they insisted on was proof that i had informed my insurance company so that their audit trail was complete.

In the 2 years since the incident I have seen an increase of 25% on my premium. If I experiment by removing the claim from online quotes the premium reverts to something more reasonable. I have asked several insurers how this is so, all say that the incident demonstrates that I expose my self and my vehicle to risk. So, the risk of a freak incident like mine is one in the millions. They have disproportionately increased my premium by a quarter. It gets me very angry when ultimately they tell me that the modelling of quotes is carried out by complex computer algorithms and humans are powerless to intervene.

If anyone is interested, I have found an insurer that still uses actual people to calculate premiums based on many factors including the one that computers don't have, common sense. I now insure both my cars and my house through this company. Happy to share if you pm me.

Igzilla · Nov 18, 2017

I had my car written off on Tuesday - BMW piled into the back of me whilst I was stationary at a roundabout waiting for my turn to enter it. As my insurance is up for renewal at the end of next month, I am fully expecting a very large premium initially as, even though I was not at fault and the other driver has admitted liability, until it's all resolved it sits on my record as my fault. When I was going through the claim, they picked up Mrs Igzilla's crash a couple of years ago (I am second driver on her insurance) - that was a drunk driver trying to slalom between her and the car she was overtaking.

Cheshire Cat · Nov 18, 2017

Or she pays up to you direct without going through her insurance, in which case nobody else knows and nobody's premium increases - assuming she can afford it. Otherwise you are probably going to get stiffed by the insurance company, although they will probably deny it and you won't be able to prove anything either way. Financial services industry as a whole is a complete self interested rip off.

Bodian · Nov 18, 2017

Rather bizarrely, I've had the opposite experience. I went into the back of a car on a roundabout, as the driver in front changed from second to first, instead of up to third, and stalled the car dead; as the chap behind me said - it was like an emergency stop, but with no brake lights. Our car was written off, as the air bags went off - and the car in front had £10,000 worth of damage (!! - one dented towbar it seemed to me - but it was a top of the range Mercedes...).

However, despite the driver fulsomely apologising, and accepting that it was her fault - in the eyes of the insurance company it is always the driver behind who is at fault. So, my company paid up for everything, and I had 'At fault accident' on my insurance record for around five years. But, much to my surprise, my insurance premium went down the year after, and has gone down since. It went up this year - but that's six years later, so I don't think it can be connected.

JC Footy Genius · Nov 18, 2017

Uncle C said:
My wife was in our car and stationary when a lady in a land rover reversed into her. She confessed "Sorry, I just didn't look" and her insurance company are paying for everything including car loan.

My questions

1. Are our insurance company entitle to load our premium next year.
2. If we change insurance companies do we have to declare it as an accident if asked.

I guess this could affect many others now or in the future.

Thanks

If the other driver has admitted and confirmed it was their fault and their insurance company admitted liability then the answers should be no and yes.

I had a similar experience last year. I was stationary, the other driver scraped my car and admitted it was their fault/liability. Once the claim is settled my insurance company (direct line) informed me my premium would not be affected (it wasn't) but you do need to inform any other insurance companies (if they ask) of the incident but emphasise it was a other party fault accident so shouldn't (theoretically) impact your premium.

:shrug:

CheeseRolls · Nov 18, 2017

I had someone go into the back of my car last year and their insurance paid me £100 for them to fix the problem, without going through my insurers. This is legitimate and my insurers were notified and aware. I got everything I would have got through my own insurers a hire car that was up from the basic model, car collection and delivery and minimal hassle.

This is one example of free markets working against everyone. It is in the interest of the insurers, to pass on every possible inflated administrative charge they can to their rivals. The market then responds by pushing up everyone's policy charges as the costs associated with insurance have gone up yet again. Wouldn't it be great if we were part of a big club that could intervene and say force insurance companies to apply the same cross charges to rivals as they do within their own organisations.

beorhthelm · Nov 18, 2017

Uncle C said:
Strange.

I think if you are a bad debtor and clear the debt, you are entitled to have it struck from the records. Similar should apply to victims of zero fault accidents. I wonder what excuse they use to load your renewal quote?

the basis is that your probability of making a claim has increased. its not fault or what the claim was but that claim was made.

drew · Nov 18, 2017

Bodian said:
Rather bizarrely, I've had the opposite experience. I went into the back of a car on a roundabout, as the driver in front changed from second to first, instead of up to third, and stalled the car dead; as the chap behind me said - it was like an emergency stop, but with no brake lights. Our car was written off, as the air bags went off - and the car in front had £10,000 worth of damage (!! - one dented towbar it seemed to me - but it was a top of the range Mercedes...).

However, despite the driver fulsomely apologising, and accepting that it was her fault - in the eyes of the insurance company it is always the driver behind who is at fault. So, my company paid up for everything, and I had 'At fault accident' on my insurance record for around five years. But, much to my surprise, my insurance premium went down the year after, and has gone down since. It went up this year - but that's six years later, so I don't think it can be connected.

The fact is that you did go into the back of her. What if she had performed an emergency stop because someone stepped out? I appreciate that there were no brake lights but you still need to allow adequate clearance.

Weststander · Nov 18, 2017

JC Footy Genius said:
If the other driver has admitted and confirmed it was their fault and their insurance company admitted liability then the answers should be no and yes.

I had a similar experience last year. I was stationary, the other driver scraped my car and admitted it was their fault/liability. Once the claim is settled my insurance company (direct line) informed me my premium would not be affected (it wasn't) but you do need to inform any other insurance companies (if they ask) of the incident but emphasise it was a other party fault accident so shouldn't (theoretically) impact your premium.

Good post. Don't know where people got the loading 'yes' information from.

South Stand Bonfire · Nov 18, 2017

Geoffbn2 said:
yes to both questions
This is what happened to me 3 years ago, also expect the car hire company to attempt to mug you with charges not covered and make sure you put your phone numbers on the telephone preference service, you'll be getting multiple calls every day for years.
Also you'll need to know how much the damage repairs costs as when i renewed insurance they were a pain about the costs even though it was all handled for me by the other drivers insurance.

Ditto!!

studio150 · Nov 18, 2017

Weststander said:
Good post. Don't know where people got the loading 'yes' information from.

From working in the insurance industry and having an understanding of how motor insurance premiums are calculated.

If you look at very large data amounts, you will see that people that make claims regardless of fault are more likely than those that don't to have a further claim in the next few years. Yes, the non fault claim will not alter your no claim discount, but most insurers include an incidence factor within the premium calculations and this will be increased on the next renewal

studio150 · Nov 18, 2017

Cheshire Cat said:
Or she pays up to you direct without going through her insurance, in which case nobody else knows and nobody's premium increases - assuming she can afford it.

And then in a few years time you have another claim, and mention this incident to your insurer which you have not previously advised them. Your insurer then stops your current claim to fully investigate why you failed to disclose the previous claim, which you are required to report to them to comply with the policy conditions

Super Steve Earle · Nov 18, 2017

studio150 said:
From working in the insurance industry and having an understanding of how motor insurance premiums are calculated.

If you look at very large data amounts, you will see that people that make claims regardless of fault are more likely than those that don't to have a further claim in the next few years. Yes, the non fault claim will not alter your no claim discount, but most insurers include an incidence factor within the premium calculations and this will be increased on the next renewal

No fault accident in 2015. Premiums virtually identical in 2016 and 2017. Full Personal Injury claim pursued successfully with Insurers too.

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[Help] Zero fault car accident.

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