Excess insurance claim question
Discussion
Returning a hire car last week, travelling up the M5 to Bristol Airport at 0430hrs, a fox ran out in front of me.
No way I could avoid it at 70MPH.
It cracked the side of the spoiler where the fog light fits and must have killed the fox outright.
I was on an 0600hrs flight, and there was only a young lad in the car hire reception area.
I told him what had happened, he said he could not do a damage report, it would have to wait until the office opened.
I have excess insurance through insurance4carhire, registered to my Spanish address.
Budget have charged my credit card with £500.
I contacted my excess insurance company, who have said no issue and sent me the claim form.
That's the background, but my question is, do I now have to inform my 2 UK car insurance companies (for the cars I keep in the UK) that I have made a claim on my excess insurance policy?
Thanks for any advice.
No way I could avoid it at 70MPH.
It cracked the side of the spoiler where the fog light fits and must have killed the fox outright.
I was on an 0600hrs flight, and there was only a young lad in the car hire reception area.
I told him what had happened, he said he could not do a damage report, it would have to wait until the office opened.
I have excess insurance through insurance4carhire, registered to my Spanish address.
Budget have charged my credit card with £500.
I contacted my excess insurance company, who have said no issue and sent me the claim form.
That's the background, but my question is, do I now have to inform my 2 UK car insurance companies (for the cars I keep in the UK) that I have made a claim on my excess insurance policy?
Thanks for any advice.
No, but you do have to inform them that you had an accident whilst driving a hire car, explain the circumstances, and they will see it was a "fault" claim, fault being a claim where no recovery could be made from a third party. Nothing to do wit blame.
They may increase your premium for that, or they may not, depending on their own underwriting criteria.
The fact that you had excess protection is nothing to do with it.
They may increase your premium for that, or they may not, depending on their own underwriting criteria.
The fact that you had excess protection is nothing to do with it.
Well they were better off than mine
My concern is if I had any serious accident in the future, will this be registered anywhere on the insurance database and then invalidate my insurance.
Am I just better off long term, paying the excess rather than claiming on my excess policy, not sure how much difference this type of incident would make to a normal annual car policy cost.
My concern is if I had any serious accident in the future, will this be registered anywhere on the insurance database and then invalidate my insurance.
Am I just better off long term, paying the excess rather than claiming on my excess policy, not sure how much difference this type of incident would make to a normal annual car policy cost.
M3DEV said:
Why would I not claim on it?
Well depends whether the impact on my 2 UK insurance policies over a couple of years outweighs the £500.
So I imagine your premium will rise anyway when you tell the insurance companies of the accident (as and when the policies require you to). But it raises the question of why have an insurance policy for hire car excess if you are unsure of whether to use it or not? It's just a waste of premium surely if you decide not to use it?Well depends whether the impact on my 2 UK insurance policies over a couple of years outweighs the £500.
Bert
As an aside, are insurance companies making selective use of data to deliberately obfuscate one's cover and therefore defraud people wholesale? If they have access to this data at the time of a big claim to weasel out of it, how come they don't have access to that data at inception when the money is being taken? Then we have certainty about what's covered/required to be disclosed.
At the moment I feel a bit like I have to tell them I once stubbed my toe getting out of the bath just in case it changes (i.e. increases) my premium.
Bonkers being obliged to give the opportunity to increase premium when they apparently already have access to anything relevant,
At the moment I feel a bit like I have to tell them I once stubbed my toe getting out of the bath just in case it changes (i.e. increases) my premium.
Bonkers being obliged to give the opportunity to increase premium when they apparently already have access to anything relevant,
BertBert said:
So I imagine your premium will rise anyway when you tell the insurance companies of the accident (as and when the policies require you to). But it raises the question of why have an insurance policy for hire car excess if you are unsure of whether to use it or not? It's just a waste of premium surely if you decide not to use it?
Bert
That's a bit like saying why take out fully comp insurance or any insurance for that matter.Bert
You take it out for the big claims and then if you have a small claim, make a judgment call on whether to claim or not based on the impact it may has on future premiums.
Which is what I am trying to decide, along with ascertaining what info is really put on the databases.
As this is not really a motor vehicle insurance policy, but an excess insurance policy would the data bases be linked?
It is in case of the 1k type of claim that I have taken it out.
I hire a car frequently and at about £15 per day for excess cover vs the total £40 pa cost of the policy, this type of policy makes sense.
At £500, I maybe on the borderline of claiming hence the question, which really is how much sharing of information do insurance companies do, what info is uploaded to databases?
If I had used the hire companies excess cover, then I don't think I would ever say anything, but as this excess policy is in my name, I am not sure whether I need to tell my car insurance providers.
Edited by M3DEV on Monday 8th December 10:35
supermono said:
As an aside, are insurance companies making selective use of data to deliberately obfuscate one's cover and therefore defraud people wholesale? If they have access to this data at the time of a big claim to weasel out of it, how come they don't have access to that data at inception when the money is being taken? Then we have certainty about what's covered/required to be disclosed.
At the moment I feel a bit like I have to tell them I once stubbed my toe getting out of the bath just in case it changes (i.e. increases) my premium.
Bonkers being obliged to give the opportunity to increase premium when they apparently already have access to anything relevant,
And this.At the moment I feel a bit like I have to tell them I once stubbed my toe getting out of the bath just in case it changes (i.e. increases) my premium.
Bonkers being obliged to give the opportunity to increase premium when they apparently already have access to anything relevant,
M3DEV said:
ging84 said:
Not sure there has been an accident, no damage to 3rd party property or any injuries as far as I can tell, do most people tell there insurera every time they have minor damage after hitting a bird or rabbit? Why should a fox be any different
This is the question!supermono said:
As an aside, are insurance companies making selective use of data to deliberately obfuscate one's cover and therefore defraud people wholesale? If they have access to this data at the time of a big claim to weasel out of it, how come they don't have access to that data at inception when the money is being taken? Then we have certainty about what's covered/required to be disclosed.
At the moment I feel a bit like I have to tell them I once stubbed my toe getting out of the bath just in case it changes (i.e. increases) my premium.
Bonkers being obliged to give the opportunity to increase premium when they apparently already have access to anything relevant,
Do you have any examples of this "access to data and weaseling out of claims"? Or is it just a hypothesis? At the moment I feel a bit like I have to tell them I once stubbed my toe getting out of the bath just in case it changes (i.e. increases) my premium.
Bonkers being obliged to give the opportunity to increase premium when they apparently already have access to anything relevant,
supermono said:
At the moment I feel a bit like I have to tell them I once stubbed my toe getting out of the bath just in case it changes (i.e. increases) my premium.
If you have insurance for stubbing your toe, why wouldn't you? Even if it wasn't your fault, the fact that you've stubbed it once probably means you have an increased risk of doing it again.I really don't see the problem.
TwigtheWonderkid said:
Because an insurance claim is being made. The excess protection policy is a red herring, and makes no difference. OP was driving, had an accident for which hire firm will be making a claim, and using OP's name as the driver at the time. Therefore OP needs to tell his own insurers at next renewal, regardless of the excess protection situation.
Very clear, thanksForums | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff