Hit pothole - council wants insurers details??

[eltax91]

Hi guys

Earlier in the week I was unfortunate to hit a pothole on the outside of a bend on an NSL road.

It burst the tyre and damaged the rim beyond repair. Upon informing the local council they offered to send me a form to claim compensation.

I haven’t followed up as I’m not bothered as long as the pothole gets repaired. But they sent it any way.

On this form it’s mandatory to give them insurer name, phone number and policy number to make a claim.

I guess my main question is why? Would they notify the insurer of an ‘accident’ and thus potentially cause an increase in premium.

I haven’t notified my insurer, should I have?

[bimsb6]

They want to claim against you for damaging their pothole !

[KelWedge]

I have done that, feel free to fill in the form if it makes feel better, sit back wait 12 weeks for the letter that says, we are not paying as road had been inspected withing the previous etc etc

[Bobtherallyfan]

Daft as it seems Insurance companies say that you should notify them them of pothole damage, even if you intend to claim from a third party.....effectively the same as any accident damage. By requesting details of your insurers, the Council is ensuring that you are not submitting duplicate claims. As usual a few chancers mean the rest of us get more aggro.

[parabolica]

Bobtherallyfan said:

Daft as it seems Insurance companies say that you should notify them them of pothole damage, even if you intend to claim from a third party.....effectively the same as any accident damage. By requesting details of your insurers, the Council is ensuring that you are not submitting duplicate claims. As usual a few chancers mean the rest of us get more aggro.

The council will also be doing this to make sure you're an insured driver.

[greysquirrel]

You have to be legally using the road otherwise they will tell you to FRO, which is fair enough really why should they pay for someone’s repair when they haven’t paid their dues to be on the road?

[TwigtheWonderkid]

greysquirrel said:

You have to be legally using the road otherwise they will tell you to FRO, which is fair enough really why should they pay for someone’s repair when they haven’t paid their dues to be on the road?

Not true. Even if you are uninsured, drunk, and fleeing from a murder you have just committed, that doesn't allow others to negligently damage your property. If the council are responsible for the damage under the rules that govern their obligations, then they are responsible, regardless if you were driving uninsured.

There are penalties for driving without insurance, and having your car damaged by a pothole isn't one of them.

[greysquirrel]

Ah ok, they just ask to annoy you then.

[Osinjak]

greysquirrel said:

You have to be legally using the road otherwise they will tell you to FRO, which is fair enough really why should they pay for someone’s repair when they haven’t paid their dues to be on the road?

I actually laughed at loud at that.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

greysquirrel said:

Ah ok, they just ask to annoy you then.

There's various reasons they might ask, and maybe one of those is to deter people who have no insurance, because people without insurance are often not very bright, and therefore might just listen to morons who no nothing about basic legal principles of tort, and think they are not entitled to claim!

HTH.

[Dog Star]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

There's various reasons they might ask, and maybe one of those is to deter people who have no insurance, because people without insurance are often not very bright, and therefore might just listen to morons who no nothing about basic legal principles of tort, and think they are not entitled to claim!

This was my thinking - they can eliminate probably about 25%of the pothole claims (this is a total guess - from experience of friends and family who been hit it appears to me that a ridiculous proportion of drivers aren't insured),

This is just conjecture - I also wonder if the sort of scrote who has no insurance also is more likely to be a chancer making false pothole damage claims.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Dog Star said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

There's various reasons they might ask, and maybe one of those is to deter people who have no insurance, because people without insurance are often not very bright, and therefore might just listen to morons who no nothing about basic legal principles of tort, and think they are not entitled to claim!

This was my thinking - they can eliminate probably about 25%of the pothole claims (this is a total guess - from experience of friends and family who been hit it appears to me that a ridiculous proportion of drivers aren't insured),

This is just conjecture - I also wonder if the sort of scrote who has no insurance also is more likely to be a chancer making false pothole damage claims.

Yes, that could well be the thinking behind it.

But the bottom line is, if you are claiming directly off someone else who has negligently damaged your property, you are under no obligation to tell them who you insure your property with, or indeed if it's even insured.

In the USA I think their legal system includes a "clean hands" principle, whereby in some cases, you cannot claim for damages if you weren't doing the right thing yourself. We don't have that in the UK. So if you park on a double yellow line, and a steam roller flattens your car, you can still make a claim against the steam roller. If you're driving without insurance, and you're involved in a non fault accident, you can still claim off the responsible party.