[Help] Zero fault car accident.

[Blues Rock DJ]

Definition of the word 'accident' an unfortunate incident that happens unexpectedly and unintentionally, typically resulting in damage or injury. I rest my case

 

[Bodian]

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.

Yes - fair enough. But if she had performed an emergency stop because someone stepped out, I would have seen a) the person, and b) her brake lights. Given that we were going at the same speed, then I would almost certainly have had time to stop. But because she effectively stopped as if she had gone into an invisible wall, I was inside the stopping distance before I realised she wasn't moving any longer. That is - there was adequate clearance until it disappeared! Anyway, no harm done to anyone - it was pretty low speed. But the point of the story was that my premiums didn't go up - and I reckon that may have been because I was with a small company who actually looked at what had happened rather than just running it all through a computer. Who knows though?

 

[studio150]

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

 

[c0lz]

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

You have to declare a non fault accident upto 5 yrs, made no difference to our premium or quotes during the 5 yr period.

 

[Gazwag]

More importantly do not under any circumstances give your insurance company your mobile phone number or you/your wife will be plagued by those tosser ambulance chasers for years. My car was hit in a car park near 3 years ago, all repairs though the other driver insurance but I still get calls from the trying to get me to pretend I was injured when I wasnt even in the car.

 

[Lady Whistledown]

More importantly do not under any circumstances give your insurance company your mobile phone number or you/your wife will be plagued by those tosser ambulance chasers for years. My car was hit in a car park near 3 years ago, all repairs though the other driver insurance but I still get calls from the trying to get me to pretend I was injured when I wasnt even in the car.

You get those calls anyway. I've- touch wood- not made any insurance claims for years, apart from a couple of windscreen replacements, but these companies just go around cold-calling thousands of numbers in the hope of finding somebody who actually has been in an accident. God that must be a soul destroying job. I never even engage with these people: the second I hear "Good morning, I'm calling you today because I understand you've been involved in an accid...."<CLICK>. I presume other people have similar reactions, so I imagine it must get pretty tedious having the phone put down on you all day.

Back to premiums: Mr K got rear end shunted whilst stationary at a red traffic light earlier this year (car behind him got hit first and then punted into him). There were injury claims as a result, as well as damage to three vehicles. He's a named driver on my insurance. I declared his claim when I renewed my policy last week, and it doesn't seem to have had any effect, as my premium actually went down slightly. Perhaps it was simply a case of it being a no-fault claim in which the driver of the first vehicle admitted liability straight away, but I was mildly surprised, I admit.

 

[cliveh27]

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?

Unfortunately this is not strictly true. Your bad debt will stay on the records held by credit reference companies for 6 years. If you have settled it, it will appear as such. If it was a CCJ and you settle it, it will appear as satisfied. Credit and loan companies will still see these records, but (in general) they will look more favourably on a settled debt than an unsettled one.

 

[Theatre of Trees]

You get those calls anyway. I've- touch wood- not made any insurance claims for years, apart from a couple of windscreen replacements, but these companies just go around cold-calling thousands of numbers in the hope of finding somebody who actually has been in an accident. God that must be a soul destroying job. I never even engage with these people: the second I hear "Good morning, I'm calling you today because I understand you've been involved in an accid...."<CLICK>. I presume other people have similar reactions, so I imagine it must get pretty tedious having the phone put down on you all day.

Have some fun with them.
Caller: I'm phoning about your recent accident.
Me: Which one?
Caller: Er, your recent one.
Me: I'm very accident prone, I've had a few recently.
Caller: Your recent one.
Me: Which one? You're the one phoning me tell me which one it is.
Caller breaks off call.

You can do a good one with your previous accident causing you memory loss and them having to tell you about it. Went round in circles for about five minutes with that one before, any question met with the answer I can't remember can you tell me what it is. They can't and eventually give up, leaving you with a few months free of them phoning you.

 

[Weststander]

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

I worked in the motor insurance too.

As well as anecdotally. In the last five years, both of the car owners/drivers in our household have been involved in several 'not at fault' accidents. The repair bills to the other insurers on each occasion were huge. Yet our already low premiums continued similarly year after year (NCD was already at max, so that wasn't a factor).

Perhaps the truth is that higher risk groups, such as drivers in the age group 17 to 29, and/or with convictions, would be prone to premium loading for not at fault accidents?