Insurance question - write off and re-insurance

[Wildfire]

Quick one.

We were on holiday and someone wrote our parked car off. They left a note and it was settled on their policy (no-excess paid etc.)

When I come to re-insure, do I declare this as a non-fault claim, not affecting our / my policy?

Just so I'm sure when I start hitting up the comparison sites. It's the first claim I've ever had really, so not too sure.

Cheers

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Yes.

[kestral]

If asked.Yes.

[BertBert]

Wildfire said:

Quick one.
When I come to re-insure, do I declare this as a non-fault claim

Yes

Wildfire said:

Quick one.
not affecting our / my policy?

Depends on the insurer.
Bert

[matjk]

annoying as it is, yes you should declare it, your insurance will almost certainly go up, even if you find a cheaper quote, that cheaper quote would probably be cheaper still without no fault claim.
The way i try to look at it is "You are now an unlucky person, something happened beyond your control (unlucky) that caused an insurer to pay out, they don't want to insure unlucky people (who would), "

[BertBert]

Despite the widespread ignorance of the Ph population, it's not that hard to understand. Once you work out that non fault accidents aren't the same as completely random accidents, for example people who park everyday in supermarket car parks are more likely to have (non-fault) dings than someone who doesn't, conditional probability does the rest

[TwigtheWonderkid]

BertBert said:

Despite the widespread ignorance of the Ph population, it's not that hard to understand. Once you work out that non fault accidents aren't the same as completely random accidents, for example people who park everyday in supermarket car parks are more likely to have (non-fault) dings than someone who doesn't, conditional probability does the rest

Exactly this.

It's nothing to do with "unlucky". All to do with stats. If an insurance co change more for a non fault claim, it's because their stats show people with a non fault claim are more likely to claim in the future than someone with no claim at all.

And it might not be all people. They may charge more for a young driver with a fault claim, but not a mature driver. Or someone in a certain area, but not someone i n a different area.

[ianwayne]

I've had to declare for over 4 yrs a young chap on a scooter not paying attention going into the back of me at lights in 2012. Some companies only ask for the last 3 but the comparison sites usually ask about the last 5. I've done 'dry runs' with and without mentioning it and it made no difference. (I accept it was minor damage, your case was different). If you can tick the boxes, non-fault, settled in full, no cost to you, it shouldn't affect the quote too much. But they usually ask 'how much' too and the fact you say it was a write-off means it was presumable a substantial pay out.

Use gocompare or meerkat and run through a quote with and without the claim and see the difference. Obviously you have to declare it but it will illustrate to you the difference, and which companies load more. Since you say it happened whilst parked, the fact you have to park in the road and what happened will likely be elevating the quote in the first place.

Edited by ianwayne on Tuesday 9th October 07:22

[LosingGrip]

BertBert said:

Despite the widespread ignorance of the Ph population, it's not that hard to understand. Once you work out that non fault accidents aren't the same as completely random accidents, for example people who park everyday in supermarket car parks are more likely to have (non-fault) dings than someone who doesn't, conditional probability does the rest

What is annoying is getting T boned by a van as they missed the give way sign...Driving my mum's car (named driver) we now both have to declare the non fault claim on our own policies. Pain in the arse!

[grumpy52]

My dear departed dad had a car written off when sat at a T junction by someone who slammed their brakes on for no reason , lost control and spun into mum and dad waiting one car back from the T junction .
His insurance with his insurers jumped up on renewal so I rang round and found him insurance even cheaper than pre accident with the claim declared.
Things have changed these days but it always seems better to deal directly with proper insurance specialists rather than comparison sites or generic call centres.