Insurance advice

[Gazzr]

Hi, I'm after some insurance advice, as every time i try to Google this. I get bombarded with bullshit claims websites....

Basically, I had a minor bump at a roundabout last week. I stopped at a set of lights and the guy behind didn't. The damage to my car looked minimal and i only got his name and mobile number. (I also got a photo of his car, including his reg, his knackered bumper and he was still sat at the wheel when the photo was took) After closer scrutiny of my car, there is some damage to the bumper and trims etc...

I have spoke to him since on the phone and he requested we settle without insurance companies and that i get a couple of quotes. I have done this and forwarded them on (email). Now he's not answering the phone or responding to text messages.

I have now reported this to the police but they say it is for my insurance company to track him down and pursue. The advice i am after is this - if i report to my insurance company and they find that he is not insured, am i committed to making a claim? As the damage is probably less than £500 i wouldn't want to lose my no claims for it. But, if he is insured. I get a free repair.

My other option is to contact one of the claims websites that might pursue this without going through my insurance - but if i contact them they will then hound me for eternity. Has anybody had any experiences like this? Or know a bit more than me about how the insurance systems work?

Any advice would be appreciated.

[Bald Bouncer]

As far as I am aware If you contact the insurance company this is registered as an accident no matter if you claim or not and could increase premiums, as for checking if the other person is insured then there are online sites you can check on to find this out, I haven't the links to hand and you should be aware you have to state you are the owner when checking.

[liveseytowers]

If it was me i'd contact the insurance company to tell them of the incident and give them all the details. You can check if the car is insured using http://www.askmid.com/

If it turns out its not insured you don't have to go through the claims process however I believe that when you renew you should declare the accident. I'm not sure if I would declare it if I didn't claim though. Also some insurance companies protect you against uninsured drivers and won't charge any excess so that's worth checking if it wasn't insured.

[BigBrand]

Your only committed to a claim once your insurance has paid out any monies in respect of your claim. Before that, you're free to withdraw at any stage. Take note though, that an insurance company may only seek to recover a claim on the basis of a loss to them being occurred. IE They have to pay your claim, before the recoup it back.

I'd personally fuck your insurance company off and deal via a reputable accident management firm. Your insurance company will add your details to the CUE system, which some insurance companies use for risk on inception, regardless of liability.

If you need a list of well known industry leaders for AMC cases, drop me a PM.

[Bald Bouncer]

Your only committed to a claim once your insurance has paid out any monies in respect of your claim.

No doubt that is the case but the notification to the insurance company that you have had an accident claim or not could effect future premiums, I say this because I have read people moaning about it on the net and I am fairly sure I have also read people saying it on here before.

[BigBird]

If you do find that he is not insured go back to the police. They will then take an interest and should pursue him on your behalf if he wasn't insured when he rear ended you. (">

[BigBrand]

No doubt that is the case but the notification to the insurance company that you have had an accident claim or not could effect future premiums, I say this because I have read people moaning about it on the net and I am fairly sure I have also read people saying it on here before.

Swings and roundabouts I guess, you'll have to weigh up.

* How much your new insurance company/renewal price will rise by the fact your on the CUE system for having a none fault claim.

or

* If the Third Party Insurance you go directly to enter your details on CUE (which is rare) and your current insurance finds out, and you've not disclosed it, how much they'd charge as an additional premium.

I'd say the chances of the latter are much less than the former.

[funkyg]

No doubt that is the case but the notification to the insurance company that you have had an accident claim or not could effect future premiums, I say this because I have read people moaning about it on the net and I am fairly sure I have also read people saying it on here before.

Yep, this happened to me. I informed them the day after a guy did a hit and run on my parked up car. A witness told me about it and managed to find him, he paid out in full. However it is still on my record as an accident even though they did not pay out a single penny. I wasn't even in the car and they classed it as ME having the accident.

[andy262000]

I had a guy wipe me out, came straight through a give way in bad rain spun me round and into a kerb and he did same, got my phone out started taking pictures and he was going mad claiming I was at fault, I asked for his details and he said he was from scotland turned out he was polish and not insured, police wasn't interested as he got himself insured when he left. I was in a hire car and as his insurance wouldn't cover him because he was uninsured at the time it went through the mib. The hire company wasn't even bothered whether he was insured or not as it was not my fault and I got a bit of compo for fracturing my wrist. The hire company just passed it over to a management company. This person will probably think you will go away best option as previously suggested is get a management company involved.

[bbshark]

if you phone up inquiring about a possible claim it is recorded and it will be assessed on your future possibility to claim. this is taken into account when they access your risk.
Was on watchdog about them doing it a while back.

[Mr.James]

I had someone go into side of me. She admitted liability and it was recorded as a not-at-fault claim for me. Next year my insurance doubled (250 to 500) and I phoned up to ask why. Turns out the fact that I was involved in an accident, even though it wasn't my fault, meant I was a higher risk driver. The following year I went into back of someone in an accident virtually identical to yours. I admitted liability and the following year there was 200 increase (just under 700 now). The bit that really annoyed me though is that I always got no claims protection. Thing is two accidents in any three year period means you can't buy claims protection. I had to drive about for a full year with my 75% no claims bonus at risk...


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[BigBird]

Yep, this happened to me. I informed them the day after a guy did a hit and run on my parked up car. A witness told me about it and managed to find him, he paid out in full. However it is still on my record as an accident even though they did not pay out a single penny. I wasn't even in the car and they classed it as ME having the accident.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Insurance companies need more regulation. Why the feck should you be classed as a higher risk when it wasn't your fault. Especially if you were not even in the vehicle at the time. Maybe its a sort of penalty for having the cheek to make a claim in the first place, instead of paying for the damage yourself. Its certainly a way of putting people off reporting a small accident an paying for it themselves. It is so wrong.

We have to have insurance by law. You can't choose not to be insured and consequently ripped off. So why isn't there legislation in place to protect us from these rip off insurance companies who seem to make the rules up as they go along, and always to suit themselves. (">

[Bald Bouncer]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Insurance companies need more regulation. Why the feck should you be classed as a higher risk when it wasn't your fault. Especially if you were not even in the vehicle at the time. Maybe its a sort of penalty for having the cheek to make a claim in the first place, instead of paying for the damage yourself. Its certainly a way of putting people off reporting a small accident an paying for it themselves. It is so wrong.

We have to have insurance by law. You can't choose not to be insured and consequently ripped off. So why isn't there legislation in place to protect us from these rip off insurance companies who seem to make the rules up as they go along, and always to suit themselves. (">

This is the same story with every other 'self regulated' industry and it goes the same way in nearly every case, they start screwing customers and finally the public call for regulation and the industry say's ok but of course you don't want to be spending public money regulating and passing legislation so we will pay for the regulator and set it up for you, this is why unless someone can think of an exception they are all toothless and ultimately look after the interests of the company not the customer.

[Goldberg]

I wasn't even in the car and they classed it as ME having the accident.

And I bet you had to pay the Ambulance Fee! I had a bad stint about 8 years ago, 1 car wrote off when parked up and I was out of the country and twp people rear ending me with one of them quite serious! None my fault but there was an Ambulance fee on all of the claims!

[BigBrand]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. Insurance companies need more regulation. Why the feck should you be classed as a higher risk when it wasn't your fault. Especially if you were not even in the vehicle at the time. Maybe its a sort of penalty for having the cheek to make a claim in the first place, instead of paying for the damage yourself. Its certainly a way of putting people off reporting a small accident an paying for it themselves. It is so wrong.

We have to have insurance by law. You can't choose not to be insured and consequently ripped off. So why isn't there legislation in place to protect us from these rip off insurance companies who seem to make the rules up as they go along, and always to suit themselves. (">

Scenario.

You've had 2 none fault claims, each one you were hit in the rear by another car. In Insurance terms you're innocent. When infact you were a dithering mother trucker and slammed on as you missed your turn, or you hit the wrong pedal or were brake happy causing a chain reaction of some kind, when realistically you've caused the incident because in reality no one drives with the correct stopping distance between cars so you'll always be innocent.

This can make you higher risk.

Just don't fucking tell your insurance if it's not your fault, they'll always screw you over.

[Gazzr]

Thanks for all the info. Scary really.
Update on where i am at.....
I sent the guy a text yesterday warning that he needed to get in touch before the end of the day or I was passing it over to my insurance company. Initially i suspected he wasn't insured as when the accident happened he seemed like he really didn't want to be there at the roadside.
He is now saying he can't afford to pay the cheapest quote i have (<£500) and will send me his insurance details after work. I now fear that I might actually be going through the insurance company and from what you are all saying i'm gonna be penalized also FFS!
Presuming he does supply the details, is it possible for me to pass this to an accident management company and avoid going on this register?

[BigBrand]

Yes. Albany assistance, paradise law. Proddow mackay solicitor. Irwin Mitchell. Ai claims solutions and a1 claims are all industry leading accident management firms

[Geko]

Thanks for all the info. Scary really.
Update on where i am at.....
I sent the guy a text yesterday warning that he needed to get in touch before the end of the day or I was passing it over to my insurance company. Initially i suspected he wasn't insured as when the accident happened he seemed like he really didn't want to be there at the roadside.
He is now saying he can't afford to pay the cheapest quote i have (<£500) and will send me his insurance details after work. I now fear that I might actually be going through the insurance company and from what you are all saying i'm gonna be penalized also FFS!
Presuming he does supply the details, is it possible for me to pass this to an accident management company and avoid going on this register?

I wouldn't worry too much. My experience is nothing like the above.

I had a crash that was my fault. 6k worth of a claim. The next year my insurance went up with Admiral (who were great, by the way). So I left and went to esure at the price I was paying before the accident. A year later I came back to Admiral at 25% less than I paid pre-crash. No other details changed, except I had to replace my car with a more expensive one (by double) when I wrote it off.

I was still with admiral 3 years later until I bought a 2 year old Merc. They wanted to charge me £500 a year insurance. So... Now I am back at esure for £300 a year. Hopefully Admiral will come up with a better offer next year.


Make sure you always shop around. One year I got my renewal through, went on confused and my insurance company were offering me a 25% discount as a new customer. Wankers. I rang them and they sorted it out.

[BigBrand]

I've always done well with the following structure.

* Always show around.
* Use all the price comparison sites, get your cheapest two, and then call them to see if they can beat the others price.
* Try and pay in full if possible, this avoids hefty APR charges.
* When considering your cheapest insurance, check to see if they're on a cashback website.
* If Paying in full, and via a cashback website or not, try and use a Cashback creditcard, and then pay the lump sum off. you'll get a bit more back also.
* Don't be scared to play with quotes, add drivers in, remove drivers, change your miles up or down by a few thousand, and maybe change your occupation to another matching title, all these have effects on premiums.
* BE HONEST, don't try and lie, if you do, it may come back on you when you need it the most! As remember insurance is based on utmost good fatih, that's your duty to disclose all material facts, and insurance company is only ever arsed about you, should you claim.
* Be hard, tell you insurance that the price is not good enough and you need to drop it by X amount. Most of the these big players have the option to apple "promo" discount codes to policies, in order to get the sale.

[blacksheep]

Also try random things like adding parents/spouse as additional drivers. When my parents were <60 it knock ~£30 adding one of them as a second driver. I've had a mate who was quoted £20 cheaper to add his misses who only had a provisional. There's some weird glitch that seems to think if you're not the only driver you're a lower risk.