Am I obliged to provide insurance details

[truel]

Any help gratefully received

Unfortunately I ran into the back of another car at traffic lights the other evening. The impact speed was less than walking speed - I have a cracked number plate and minor scratches on the bumper and the other car has a small split in the rear bumper

Obviously all my fault, and I am keen to do what is right to sort things out.

Because I have a fairly significant excess, and will lose No Claims Bonus if I claim, the cost to me of paying for the repairs (by an OPC bodyshop) will be less than the cost of claiming

I have therefore offered to arrange this, make a hire car available for the 2 days the bodyshop needs the car, and cover all and any incidental expenses

The other driver is adamant that matters must proceed through insurers. I have therefore tried dealing with their insurers, who refuse to deal with me, saying they can only deal with my own insurers

Does anyone know the law on this please? Am I obliged to get my insurers involved - or am I entitled to deal with matters in person?

Many thanks

Matthew

[tigger1]

You must provide your insurance details to anyone who has reason to ask for them. You've damaged somebody's car and they have a right to ask for your details.

Not going through insurance can be helpful (although you should still inform them) - but it's not a choice for you to make, it's something you'd both have to agree on.

[bluepolarbear]

I think legally you can deal with the paperwork yourself but the other insurance company won't be geared towards working that way. The insurance is just that and ensures that you can meet any claims againist your liability.

The bigger problem is by not declaring the accident to your insuranace you are withholding a material fact which in turn invalidates your insurance meaning you do not technically have any insurance and therefore commit a criminal offence.

[tigger1]

bluepolarbear said:

The bigger problem is by not declaring the accident to your insuranace you are withholding a material fact which in turn invalidates your insurance meaning you do not technically have any insurance and therefore commit a criminal offence.

Not entirely true...IMHO

Up until the point the insurance company withdraw the insurance at no point, he does have insurance that meets the minimum requirements as set out in law. It's not valid though, and they won't pay out in the result of a future accident...

[truel]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Sorry - I should have been clearer; I have indeed informed my insurers that a minor accident occurred, which was my fault, and which I am paying to sort out - my understanding is that, as I am not making a claim against my policy, they will not penalise me on future premiums

I can see why I would be obliged to provide details if I weren't offering to make things absolutely right personally, but surely given that I am, it is open to me to deal in person rather than via my insurers?

Thanks again

Matthew

[Derek Smith]

truel said:

Thanks for the feedback guys. Sorry - I should have been clearer; I have indeed informed my insurers that a minor accident occurred, which was my fault, and which I am paying to sort out - my understanding is that, as I am not making a claim against my policy, they will not penalise me on future premiums

I can see why I would be obliged to provide details if I weren't offering to make things absolutely right personally, but surely given that I am, it is open to me to deal in person rather than via my insurers?

Thanks again

Matthew

They can increase your premiums because you have had an accident that was, by your own admission,your fault but your no claims bonus will not be affected.

[streaky]

The other party has no right to demand that matters proceed only through your insurers. Inform him that you have notified your insurers, but that you intend to settle this directly. You can ask him to take the vehicle to a bodyshop of your (reasonable) choice and to obtain more than one quote for the work. If his insurers contact you, yoy can indicate to them your intention of dealing with this personally. That might not be their normal practice, but they have no option ... unless, there is something in your policy that requires you to hand matters over to your insurer - Streaky

[truel]

Thanks Streaky, that's as I thought and reassuring to know

There's nothing in my policy that has that effect

Many Thanks

Matthew

[tigger1]

streaky said:

That might not be their normal practice, but they have no option ... unless, there is something in your policy that requires you to hand matters over to your insurer - Streaky

That is now common in a lot of policies - you cannot "admit fault" etc etc

[JustinP1]

streaky said:

The other party has no right to demand that matters proceed only through your insurers. Inform him that you have notified your insurers, but that you intend to settle this directly. You can ask him to take the vehicle to a bodyshop of your (reasonable) choice and to obtain more than one quote for the work. If his insurers contact you, yoy can indicate to them your intention of dealing with this personally. That might not be their normal practice, but they have no option ... unless, there is something in your policy that requires you to hand matters over to your insurer - Streaky

Agreed.

What a lot of drivers think is that the 'insurance' process is something absracted from the law. Thats not the case. The legal situation is that the other driver has the right to ask or sue you for the damages caused to them by your negligence. All that happens is that you can opt for your insurance company to follow up the damages claim on your behalf - as that is what the policy provides, and in your case pay for the damages to the other party - which is what your policy provides.

There is nothing in law which states that either party must use their insurers at all. However, it is in law that you must provide the insurance details.

One issue is that your insurer may demand that they handle the claim as this is in your contract with them. This may be for a legitimate reason too. Lets say you admit total fault and offer to pay for the claim. Two weeks later the claimant comes back and the little dent actually costs £5000 and they now have unspecified injuries that they want compensation for too.

Of course, you would then be running back very quickly to your insurance company, cap in hand! However by that stage, you have admitted liability and the insurance company has not had the chance to act in their best interests in monitoring and fighting the claim.

That said though, that is not the remit of the other parties insurance company. Although as streaky says, they wont be used to it, you can deal with them direct. That is, as long as you dont get stuck by being charged with not supplying insurance details, which means they would just choose to go over your head anyway.

[RtdRacer]

JustinP1 said:

What a lot of drivers think is that the 'insurance' process is something absracted from the law. Thats not the case. The legal situation is that the other driver has the right to ask or sue you for the damages caused to them by your negligence. All that happens is that you can opt for your insurance company to follow up the damages claim on your behalf - as that is what the policy provides, and in your case pay for the damages to the other party - which is what your policy provides.

There is nothing in law which states that either party must use their insurers at all. However, it is in law that you must provide the insurance details.

One issue is that your insurer may demand that they handle the claim as this is in your contract with them. This may be for a legitimate reason too. Lets say you admit total fault and offer to pay for the claim. Two weeks later the claimant comes back and the little dent actually costs £5000 and they now have unspecified injuries that they want compensation for too.

Of course, you would then be running back very quickly to your insurance company, cap in hand! However by that stage, you have admitted liability and the insurance company has not had the chance to act in their best interests in monitoring and fighting the claim.

That said though, that is not the remit of the other parties insurance company. Although as streaky says, they wont be used to it, you can deal with them direct. That is, as long as you dont get stuck by being charged with not supplying insurance details, which means they would just choose to go over your head anyway.

That is arguably the best post I've ever seen on PH. Well explained, cogent without being overly brief, instructive and darn helpful too.

Kudos.

[Biggriff]

You must provide the paperwork and report it to your insurance company regardless.

[supermono]

Immediately after the best post in PH history Biggriff said:

You must provide the paperwork and report it to your insurance company regardless.

Well done for restoring the balance.

SM

[JustinP1]

supermono said:

Immediately after the best post in PH history Biggriff said:

You must provide the paperwork and report it to your insurance company regardless.

Well done for restoring the balance.

SM

Yeah. Its the coppers fault anyway. They're all the same, always looking to screw you and never help you out. Only out to get speeders, and I was only speeding to get home to stop my house being burgled by the underclasses - and when I rang them, they told me they couldnt send a copper as they were at the Chinese takeaway getting their discount for the boys - and then he asked me whether I was white, black or asian for their statistics!?



There we go, SP&L completely back to normal.... Move along now, nothing to see here...

(Thanks for the kudos by the way, I am secretly chuffed, and I must do some work now...)

[7db]

Great post (although obviously I think it would have been better with some insight into the evidential integrity of red-light observers).

RTA (if you'll forgive the pun) legal point:- you are obliged to produce a certificate of insurance to anyone with reasonable grounds for requiring it *only* where someone other than you - the driver - or your passenger is injured. Otherwise legal duties discharged with stop, and driver and RK details and registration.

No injury reported in this collision so no need to produce insurance details.


Separately your contract of insurance has two interesting details, as posted above:-
i) it is a contract of utmost good faith - and you MUST disclose anything relevant to the insurer as soon as possible. Having a fault accident is definitely relevant. They may put your premiums up as a result.

ii) they may insist on dealing with any case which they cover on your behalf. Indeed, they may even provide legal representation for you in criminal proceedings just to help.

[Trax]

From what I seem to remember from a long way back working in claims, was I am sure in the contract the insurance have a right to deal with the matter however they see fit, i.e. they can admit liability even if you dont. Might not be sure though.

A good thing to think about though, you can pay your insurance company back the amount they have paid out in the claim, so as to not have claimed. This will at least protect your NCD, so hence just the same as you having settled direct.

[streaky]

7db said:

Great post (although obviously I think it would have been better with some insight into the evidential integrity of red-light observers). ...

Well, providing they were not partaking of the delights on offer in the bordello, I image their integrity to be at the normal level - Streaky

[corozin]

If you refused to offer me your insurance details at the scene I would personally suspect you were uninsured and be calling the Police, but I digress...

If you fail to provide insurance details the third party insurer will simply locate and contact your insurer via the DVLA at which point you'll be back to square one but with a pissed off insurance company wondering why you tried to avoid informing them

So is it really worth it? You can tell them you intend to settle the costs yourself, but you must tell them about the incident. Failure to do so will be a breach of contract = no help, cancelled policy, no refund.

[Richard C]

tigger1 said:

You must provide your insurance details to anyone who has reason to ask for them. You've damaged somebody's car and they have a right to ask for your details.

Not going through insurance can be helpful (although you should still inform them) - but it's not a choice for you to make, it's something you'd both have to agree on.

No this is not correct.

You can your address and details and your legal obligation is discharged. You can choose to meet any claim yourself but your contract with your insurer will almost certainly demand that they are notified of any incident that may give rise to a claim

[odyssey2200]

All you to give is your name and address.