Minimising insurance increases post accident
Discussion
Looking to minimise the future costs of my son's error of judgement (accident) last night.
Last night, he slipped off a rural road and hit a bank. No air bags, but bonnet, fr wings, radiator, bumper etc etc are causalities. No other parties are involved. Given its a 11 year old Fiesta I guess it's a write-off - although I've yet to look closely.
Police attended and told him it's a well know accident black spot (now there's added value).
He's 19 so this isn't going to help his insurance.
My feeling is that we should NOT claim- that way he at least keeps his 2 year NCB.
I assume he can just ring the company and tell them about the accident and that he doesn't plan to claim?
Will they still "log" or enquire as to the state of the car and/or if its a write-off?
Any thoughts from the wise?
To be clear, I am not suggestion he should fail to declare anything he is required to, and I certainly don't want him doing anything that might cause him issue downstream.
Last night, he slipped off a rural road and hit a bank. No air bags, but bonnet, fr wings, radiator, bumper etc etc are causalities. No other parties are involved. Given its a 11 year old Fiesta I guess it's a write-off - although I've yet to look closely.
Police attended and told him it's a well know accident black spot (now there's added value).
He's 19 so this isn't going to help his insurance.
My feeling is that we should NOT claim- that way he at least keeps his 2 year NCB.
I assume he can just ring the company and tell them about the accident and that he doesn't plan to claim?
Will they still "log" or enquire as to the state of the car and/or if its a write-off?
Any thoughts from the wise?
To be clear, I am not suggestion he should fail to declare anything he is required to, and I certainly don't want him doing anything that might cause him issue downstream.
if no claim and no third party - just don't mention it.
I recently had a 100% no fault accident, but the car that hit me had to go through their insurance.
So I had to tell mine. It will increase my premium (unfairly).
If nobody is claiming anything, and it isn't in the system - just leave it at that.
I recently had a 100% no fault accident, but the car that hit me had to go through their insurance.
So I had to tell mine. It will increase my premium (unfairly).
If nobody is claiming anything, and it isn't in the system - just leave it at that.
The Selfish Gene said:
if no claim and no third party - just don't mention it.
Given that the Police have a log of it, how confident would you be that it'll never ever come to light in the next five years?No, nor me.
eybic said:
Isn't the wording something like "any claims in the past 5 years"? If it is then the answer would be no I guess?????????
No, it includes any collisions whether claimed or not. They aren't daft.A passing meerkat said:
Have you had any motor accidents, claims or losses in the past 5 years, no matter who was at fault or if a claim was made?
It is really important to tell us about any fault or non-fault claims, accidents or losses, including incidents using a motorbike or van.
That's a simple choice - truth or lie. Insurers don't like lies, and insurers don't put a time limit on the "Have you ever had a policy cancelled?" question...It is really important to tell us about any fault or non-fault claims, accidents or losses, including incidents using a motorbike or van.
Edited by TooMany2cvs on Tuesday 6th February 14:44
TooMany2cvs said:
The Selfish Gene said:
if no claim and no third party - just don't mention it.
Given that the Police have a log of it, how confident would you be that it'll never ever come to light in the next five years?No, nor me.
As i'm fairly sure they have more important things to do than fill in a database when nobody or no damage was concerned. It's hard enough to get them to give a f
k when there are two cars crashed in middle of the road.Further to that even if they did - the chance it actually integrates successfully is also pretty slim.
Then I have a very healthy appetite to risk in this ridiculous risk averse world.
The OP's son could just choose to pay extra for no good reason though. The same as he could pay parking charge notices and give money to beggars.
OverSteery said:
Looking to minimise the future costs of my son's error of judgement (accident) last night.
I think the question is ''any accidents, claims or convictions in the last....?'' If you don't claim, he doesn't get prosecuted for it and in your own words last night was an ''error of judgement''/deliberate act ie not an accident lol... you can almost answer that with a no
. The chance of the police actually doing all the paperwork is none imo.It’s an interesting question.
What if you have a track day car and you have an accident in that? Insured or not?
I have a road going 7 that I insure for 5 TDs each year. It’s always been my attitude that that insurance was for a major incident, if I slid off and tapped a corner I’d just fix it myself and not incur extra costs in my other cars etc.
How would that be viewed?
What if you have a track day car and you have an accident in that? Insured or not?
I have a road going 7 that I insure for 5 TDs each year. It’s always been my attitude that that insurance was for a major incident, if I slid off and tapped a corner I’d just fix it myself and not incur extra costs in my other cars etc.
How would that be viewed?
Young driver, low value car probably not worth claiming for.
My Son drove through a flood and hydrolocked the engine, if he had claimed on the insurance then by the time he'd paid the excess and the subsequent increase in policy for the next few years it would have cost way more than fixing it, probably more than the car was worth.
It cost around £700 to replace the engine (with a second hand of similar mileage) and a lesson (hopefully) learned.
A year later he's now looking to buy a new, high performance car on which the insurance will be expensive but affordable, if he'd claimed for a write-off then it would likely have been astronomical.
My Son drove through a flood and hydrolocked the engine, if he had claimed on the insurance then by the time he'd paid the excess and the subsequent increase in policy for the next few years it would have cost way more than fixing it, probably more than the car was worth.
It cost around £700 to replace the engine (with a second hand of similar mileage) and a lesson (hopefully) learned.
A year later he's now looking to buy a new, high performance car on which the insurance will be expensive but affordable, if he'd claimed for a write-off then it would likely have been astronomical.
charltjr said:
I doubt it'll make much difference to premiums whether he claims or just notifies. The main risk factor is that he's binned it and it was his fault, the costs arising from the incident are largely incidental.
He has 2 yrs ncb. That'll be reduced to nil at next renewal if he claims, or be up to 3 (50%) if he doesn't claim. I think a 50% discount will probably make a difference to the premium. I'm no maths genius, but I reckon his premium will be about half of what it would be without the 50% discount. All this stuff about disclosing accidents that you don't claim for or notify insurance about needs to be looked at with a bit of common sense. When I had my trials motorbike, I'd go off road at the weekends and come off it maybe half a dozen times in the mud. So that's 24 accidents a month. Should I have reported them?
Have a crash, no tp involved, not claiming for own damage, then it never happened.
Part of my risk strategy in life is if I bin my car in a way your Son did the first my insurance would know is when I changed my car on the policy... Get it dragged home to break for spares and teach him spannering and buy another sub £1k car and hopefully he will have learnt something! Or empty it of stuff and call the scrap man.
That's part of the joy of owning (in my case £150) very cheap snotters, dispose of them! You could possibly fix the fiesta up but TBH the cost of doing it would buy another identical one...
The above doesnt count if you hit someone/someone hits you of course. I was lucky the other month, someone tapped me up the arse the other month on my way home from work in crawling traffic. We got out, looked at the non existant damage on both our cars (65 plate Jag XF vs a 55 plate Laguna2, he apologised profusely, we shook hands and wished each other well and off we went, no need to take it further, we were clogging up the already knackered bypass as it was! His numberplate is written on a postit note on the board at home just in case, but I'd have heard something by now.
That's part of the joy of owning (in my case £150) very cheap snotters, dispose of them! You could possibly fix the fiesta up but TBH the cost of doing it would buy another identical one...
The above doesnt count if you hit someone/someone hits you of course. I was lucky the other month, someone tapped me up the arse the other month on my way home from work in crawling traffic. We got out, looked at the non existant damage on both our cars (65 plate Jag XF vs a 55 plate Laguna2, he apologised profusely, we shook hands and wished each other well and off we went, no need to take it further, we were clogging up the already knackered bypass as it was! His numberplate is written on a postit note on the board at home just in case, but I'd have heard something by now.
if the car's still driveable just keep using the car, or fix it and keep it, or just get rid of it. Up to you. Remember you do not have to report it to your insurance company so you have the choice.
That being said - I had a write off when I was 18, my fault collision with another car and I wrote their car off. It's never put a serious dent in my premium. Sure it will stop your No Claims Bonus but you might find the insurance is not actually that outrageous.
Have you looked online to see how much insurance is going to be at renewal? I mean just go on comparethemarket and put in your sons details except with 0 NCB and one accident, and see how much it will cost?
Then you can be informed to make the decision of what to do. I am going to guess a car that is worth what like £3000? well you are probably not going to save £3000 by keeping the no claims bonus and getting rid of the car...
That being said - I had a write off when I was 18, my fault collision with another car and I wrote their car off. It's never put a serious dent in my premium. Sure it will stop your No Claims Bonus but you might find the insurance is not actually that outrageous.
Have you looked online to see how much insurance is going to be at renewal? I mean just go on comparethemarket and put in your sons details except with 0 NCB and one accident, and see how much it will cost?
Then you can be informed to make the decision of what to do. I am going to guess a car that is worth what like £3000? well you are probably not going to save £3000 by keeping the no claims bonus and getting rid of the car...
Black_S3 said:
OverSteery said:
Looking to minimise the future costs of my son's error of judgement (accident) last night.
I think the question is ''any accidents, claims or convictions in the last....?'' If you don't claim, he doesn't get prosecuted for it and in your own words last night was an ''error of judgement''/deliberate act ie not an accident lol... you can almost answer that with a no
. The chance of the police actually doing all the paperwork is none imo.Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff