Insurance flag for Non Claim on Vehicle Recovery Request
Discussion
Hi All,
Wife went over a small hump in the road earlier today which managed to snap one of her front springs meaning the car was therefore immobile and couldnt be driven home.
We have no concern over the legallity of the speed bump in the road as its really not that big, but more rather that followed with our request to our AA breakdown cover covered by our insurance.
On calling the AA via our insurance phone line, we were told that due to the damage being caused by a traffic calming feature on the road, they were unable to recover the vehicle and would put us through to our insurance to deal with as the AA or insruance classed this as a collision. On being transfered i was told that in order to be recovered it would count as a claim against our policy, and now, due to the fact that we have told them of this so called collision, it would now be a flag on our insurance going forward. I did request over the phone of this was likely to impact future premiums but the phone operator couldnt comment, only that it was noted down on our policy now.
In the end we didnt end up using the insurance or breakdown cover to get the vehicle home and did so by other means.
I probably wont know until next May when our policy is due for renewal if this will direclty impact our premiums, but im slightly confused by where i stand legally. Ive bought a financial product where looking through the documentation its doesnt specify what an "Accident" or "Collision" is, and it doesnt include anything around driving over a feature on a public highway, and on this instance, they have refused to provide the breakdown recovery, and instead put it down as an incident on our policy record.
With the AA/Insurance logic, surely most drivers on a daily basis have an Accident/Collision everytime they go over a speed hump or traffic calming feature?
Wife went over a small hump in the road earlier today which managed to snap one of her front springs meaning the car was therefore immobile and couldnt be driven home.
We have no concern over the legallity of the speed bump in the road as its really not that big, but more rather that followed with our request to our AA breakdown cover covered by our insurance.
On calling the AA via our insurance phone line, we were told that due to the damage being caused by a traffic calming feature on the road, they were unable to recover the vehicle and would put us through to our insurance to deal with as the AA or insruance classed this as a collision. On being transfered i was told that in order to be recovered it would count as a claim against our policy, and now, due to the fact that we have told them of this so called collision, it would now be a flag on our insurance going forward. I did request over the phone of this was likely to impact future premiums but the phone operator couldnt comment, only that it was noted down on our policy now.
In the end we didnt end up using the insurance or breakdown cover to get the vehicle home and did so by other means.
I probably wont know until next May when our policy is due for renewal if this will direclty impact our premiums, but im slightly confused by where i stand legally. Ive bought a financial product where looking through the documentation its doesnt specify what an "Accident" or "Collision" is, and it doesnt include anything around driving over a feature on a public highway, and on this instance, they have refused to provide the breakdown recovery, and instead put it down as an incident on our policy record.
With the AA/Insurance logic, surely most drivers on a daily basis have an Accident/Collision everytime they go over a speed hump or traffic calming feature?
mightymoose said:
With the AA/Insurance logic, surely most drivers on a daily basis have an Accident/Collision everytime they go over a speed hump or traffic calming feature?
I guess the difference is that the insurers don’t know about it because most people (the small number who manage to damage their cars) don’t call their insurers for something like this?Chris
bennno said:
Are you sure it broke by collision with a speed hump, or had it simply failed due to age / manufacturing defect and you simply noticed it whilst going over a speed hump?
TBF this was probably the actual situation. Could have been driving with a broken spring for some time.VWs eg are notorious for broken springs and I've had a couple that were only noticed at service/MOT as they are difficult to see without jacking the vehicle up.
GasEngineer said:
bennno said:
Are you sure it broke by collision with a speed hump, or had it simply failed due to age / manufacturing defect and you simply noticed it whilst going over a speed hump?
TBF this was probably the actual situation. Could have been driving with a broken spring for some time.VWs eg are notorious for broken springs and I've had a couple that were only noticed at service/MOT as they are difficult to see without jacking the vehicle up.
broken springs are definitely not obvious. Mrs Rusty's DS3 has had a couple. Last time I was in the car when there was a "bong" noise just driving on the flat that I thought sounded odd. Checked underneath the car with a torch but couldn't immediately see anything. Car drove fine - not down on one side or anything. Went to the dealer and asked them to check as I suspected a spring, and they confirmed it was indeed broken....
mr rusty said:
broken springs are definitely not obvious. Mrs Rusty's DS3 has had a couple. Last time I was in the car when there was a "bong" noise just driving on the flat that I thought sounded odd. Checked underneath the car with a torch but couldn't immediately see anything. Car drove fine - not down on one side or anything. Went to the dealer and asked them to check as I suspected a spring, and they confirmed it was indeed broken....
well it was rather obvious to the OP's wife!mr rusty said:
broken springs are definitely not obvious. Mrs Rusty's DS3 has had a couple. Last time I was in the car when there was a "bong" noise just driving on the flat that I thought sounded odd. Checked underneath the car with a torch but couldn't immediately see anything. Car drove fine - not down on one side or anything. Went to the dealer and asked them to check as I suspected a spring, and they confirmed it was indeed broken....
Not always the case. Heard a bang late one night when I was half asleep, the next morning the car (e46) literally wouldn't move. I had to use dollies to get it down the drive enough so that RAC could HIAB it onto the back of a lorry! Doorbell footage showed the car suddenly drop at the time I heard the noise.NiceCupOfTea said:
Not always the case. Heard a bang late one night when I was half asleep, the next morning the car (e46) literally wouldn't move. I had to use dollies to get it down the drive enough so that RAC could HIAB it onto the back of a lorry! Doorbell footage showed the car suddenly drop at the time I heard the noise.
that's definitely a road traffic accident.Forums | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff