Car insurance accident disclosure

[Chrisbee]

I had a minor shunt whilst driving a customer's vehicle in my works yard. The yard is not open to the public but customers have access when delivering/collecting their vehicles. The cost of the damage done was less than the excess (which is £3000.00)on our company insurance policy. However, although no claim is to be made against the insurance I am required to submit an accident claim form for their records. My question is: Do I need to inform my car insurance company of this accident and if I don't will the information be on an insurance data base somewhere in cyber space and invalidate any future claim due to non disclosure?

Who's in the know in the insurance industry?

Chrisbee

 

[Angus1]

To cover yourself (no pun intended) I believe the correct course of action is to inform the insurance company, but clearly state "FOR INFORMATION ONLY - NOT A CLAIM" on all correspondence.

Thats how it was done when I were a lad.

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hello Chrisbee

I do not claim to be expert in insurance matters, but from the rigmarole of trying to move insurers it is clear there is an industry wide database that records claims. I am not sure what else it records.

I find it rather insidious, as whilst trying to change companies, I was made to feel very uncomfortable, because I had not told the new company that I had made a stone chip windscreen repair, which I had forgotten as it carried out by one of those companies that sets up a stall on a local shopping car park and did not affect my NCD.

However coming back to your circumstances, it depends on how the question is asked e.g.

Have you made a claim in the last four years?

or

Have been involved in an incident in the last four years?

These are similar but in practice very different.

The insurance company is in the business of assessing risk. Prior incidents are generally considered to raise the risk profile of a client, so if an incident was not disclosed, then they would be assessing you on incorrect information. If the incident was deliberately withheld, then it could be construed as a fraud

I should point out that just because an incident occurs off a public highway, it is still an incident that could lead to a claim on your insurance. So my guess is that you should disclose the incident. - otherwise if it came to light after a non disclosure the insurance company would almost certainly reassess your risk, and might void your policy.

 

[Chrisbee]

Thanks John, I tend to agree but it raises the question about all the scuffs on the bollards in my local Tesco's car park and your average banger racing driver. Then of course there are the dents that appear on your car door in the town centre carpark. Is anyone truly accident free?

Chrisbee

 

[ProfJohnL]

Hi again,

In short I tend to agree that most people do have some minor incidents, but if you don't declare them they might come back to bite you later.

Incidentally (no pun intended) the correct word is incidents rather than accidents. If you probe deep enough into any incident you will eventually find that it was caused by someone who either deliberately or innocently failed to do something they should have done.

So technically there is no such thing as what is commonly called an accident.

 

[Chrisbee]

True, I failed to miss the wall !!!!!!!!!!

Chrisbee

 

[Meister]

Chrisbee you should always disclose ANY accident/collision to an insurer/broker when/if asked the question:

"Have you have any accidents or claims in the last ** years ?"

The reason is simple.

There is a specific offence of "Making a false statement to obtain insurance" for which a person could be prosecuted if they do not disclose details of accidents etc.

Steve

 

[Chrisbee]

Hi Steve

Again, I partially agree but surly when the insurance company asks about accidents/incidents they are relating to road traffic accidents/collisions/incidents? In my case I was moving a coach (PSV/PCV), for which I don't even hold a licence, in a partially built stage on private land. The vehicle was unroadworthy in that it had no body and hence no rear view mirrors. At what stage do insurance companies draw the line? To take it to the ridiculious, what if I run over a snail on my drive?

I realise I could ask my insurance company but that would mean a posible increase on my premium depending on the opinion of the person I spoke to. Does anyone from the insurance industry have a view?

Chrisbee

 

[Meister]

Hi Chrisbee,

I understand what you are saying.

Each one of us must make the decision if something should be reported or not and personally I would tell the insurer/broker rather than run the risk.

Steve

 

[Richard_374347246]

Chris,

I am from the dreaded industry and if you submit the claim form even for "Information Purposes only" then you should disclose the matter to your other policies. If you correctly explain that it was on your company policy and that no official claim was made then it should not prejudice you in any way - just because it falls within your policy excess does not make it a "non claim".

To answer some of the other points made I can confirm that there is a central data base kept of claims for Motor and Household Claims and that Insurers will check your details against this data base to make sure you are disclosing correctly.

Sometimes insurers only double check this data base when you submit your claim and it can cause major problems if they have found you to have not been disclosing information.

Insurers do have a poor reputation for sometimes not understanding the why's and for's but if you utilise the services of an Insurance Broker then they will act in your best interests.

Hope this may help.

Richard

 

[Chrisbee]

Chris,

I am from the dreaded industry and if you submit the claim form even for "Information Purposes only" then you should disclose the matter to your other policies. If you correctly explain that it was on your company policy and that no official claim was made then it should not prejudice you in any way - just because it falls within your policy excess does not make it a "non claim".

To answer some of the other points made I can confirm that there is a central data base kept of claims for Motor and Household Claims and that Insurers will check your details against this data base to make sure you are disclosing correctly.

Sometimes insurers only double check this data base when you submit your claim and it can cause major problems if they have found you to have not been disclosing information.

Insurers do have a poor reputation for sometimes not understanding the why's and for's but if you utilise the services of an Insurance Broker then they will act in your best interests.

Hope this may help.

Richard

Thanks Richard

That's much as I thought.

Chrisbee