Fault claim on wife's insurance - increased premium?
Discussion
I hit a small Muntjac deer in the wife's car, I'm a named driver and the car is being repaired by a main dealer, quite a lot of damage, estimated £4 to £5k repair bill so no choice but to claim. We both have protected Ncd .
Come renewal time, my wife's insurance will go up due to the fault claim, when my insurance is due I'll also have to declare the accident? Is it likely that both insurance will go up? If that's the case then it encourages couples to fabricate who was driving, I'm not intending to do this as we've already truthfully given the details.
Come renewal time, my wife's insurance will go up due to the fault claim, when my insurance is due I'll also have to declare the accident? Is it likely that both insurance will go up? If that's the case then it encourages couples to fabricate who was driving, I'm not intending to do this as we've already truthfully given the details.
Casa1862 said:
I hit a small Muntjac deer in the wife's car, I'm a named driver and the car is being repaired by a main dealer, quite a lot of damage, estimated £4 to £5k repair bill so no choice but to claim. We both have protected Ncd .
Come renewal time, my wife's insurance will go up due to the fault claim, when my insurance is due I'll also have to declare the accident? Is it likely that both insurance will go up? If that's the case then it encourages couples to fabricate who was driving, I'm not intending to do this as we've already truthfully given the details.
Couldn't she just remove you from her insurance come renewal, she's not the one making the claim or having accidents after all?Come renewal time, my wife's insurance will go up due to the fault claim, when my insurance is due I'll also have to declare the accident? Is it likely that both insurance will go up? If that's the case then it encourages couples to fabricate who was driving, I'm not intending to do this as we've already truthfully given the details.
Casa1862 said:
I hit a small Muntjac deer in the wife's car, I'm a named driver and the car is being repaired by a main dealer, quite a lot of damage, estimated £4 to £5k repair bill so no choice but to claim. We both have protected Ncd .
Come renewal time, my wife's insurance will go up due to the fault claim, when my insurance is due I'll also have to declare the accident? Is it likely that both insurance will go up? If that's the case then it encourages couples to fabricate who was driving, I'm not intending to do this as we've already truthfully given the details.
You had the accident, not your wife, so her insurance premium will only change if you are added again as a named driver. If she takes out insurance without you the premium would be the same regardless of this accident as it was not hers.Come renewal time, my wife's insurance will go up due to the fault claim, when my insurance is due I'll also have to declare the accident? Is it likely that both insurance will go up? If that's the case then it encourages couples to fabricate who was driving, I'm not intending to do this as we've already truthfully given the details.
Just be careful about how you report this on insurance and what you get charged for. My wife was involved in a claim whilst driving "my" car; we have a two car two driver policy.
A couple of weeks after the next renewal I got a stroppy letter from the insurer (Admiral) saying that I hadn't declared an accident and that as a result my premium would rise by £700. Turned out that they saw the record of my wife's incident on my car's policy and the record of her incident on her car's policy and assumed there were two separate accidents involving two different but identical cars on the same day. Duh!
The following year the same thing happened except that before informing me they took an additional £900 from my bank account. All sorted in the end but it took numerous phone calls and letters to persuade them that no we hadn't had two accidents on the same day with two identical cars.
I had little option but to stick with Admiral however as we live in a high risk area and the next cheapest quote was more than £900 more than them!
A couple of weeks after the next renewal I got a stroppy letter from the insurer (Admiral) saying that I hadn't declared an accident and that as a result my premium would rise by £700. Turned out that they saw the record of my wife's incident on my car's policy and the record of her incident on her car's policy and assumed there were two separate accidents involving two different but identical cars on the same day. Duh!
The following year the same thing happened except that before informing me they took an additional £900 from my bank account. All sorted in the end but it took numerous phone calls and letters to persuade them that no we hadn't had two accidents on the same day with two identical cars.
I had little option but to stick with Admiral however as we live in a high risk area and the next cheapest quote was more than £900 more than them!
Not sure about your specific situation, but I would still say that yes your premium will go up in any case.
My wife's car was hit while empty and parked in a car park. Other driver accepted liability. We notified our insurance, but claimed through the other driver's insurance.
Wife's premium went from £400pa to £600pa and mine (with wife as named driver) from £450pa to £550pa.
Nearly every insurer we got a quote with increased the price by a similar amount because of the 100% non-fault claim - I think LV were the only one we found that didn't, but they were more expensive to start with so it wasn't much help.
My wife's car was hit while empty and parked in a car park. Other driver accepted liability. We notified our insurance, but claimed through the other driver's insurance.
Wife's premium went from £400pa to £600pa and mine (with wife as named driver) from £450pa to £550pa.
Nearly every insurer we got a quote with increased the price by a similar amount because of the 100% non-fault claim - I think LV were the only one we found that didn't, but they were more expensive to start with so it wasn't much help.
romeogolf said:
You had the accident, not your wife, so her insurance premium will only change if you are added again as a named driver. If she takes out insurance without you the premium would be the same regardless of this accident as it was not hers.
Wrong. A claim was made on her policy. She will have to declare for next 5 yrs regardless of who else is a named driver or not. Audemars said:
Wrong. A claim was made on her policy. She will have to declare for next 5 yrs regardless of who else is a named driver or not.
I suspect it depends on the exact wording of the question asked, some companies seem to ask whether you have been involved in an accident or claim (to which she would have to answer "yes"), some just ask if you've been involved in an accident (to which she could honestly answer "no"). It's a moot point if the OP needs to be on the policy anyway.
kambites said:
I suspect it depends on the exact wording of the question asked, some companies seem to ask whether you have been involved in an accident or claim (to which she would have to answer "yes"), some just ask if you've been involved in an accident (to which she could honestly answer "no").
It's a moot point if the OP needs to be on the policy anyway.
It is risky to be pedantic about how to interpret these questions. Fact is that she has effectively made a claim and should always answer yes. Stating otherwise can lead to future insurance being deemed void if she needed to claim again. Insurance companies do not give a monkeys about the exact wording but the intent of the question. This will mean a lifetime black mark of cancelled insurance. Having to declare that you previously have had insurance cancelled is the biggest issue as you will then be paying 300% to 500% increase in premiums for life. It's a moot point if the OP needs to be on the policy anyway.
Edited by Audemars on Monday 24th April 10:00
kambites said:
I suspect it depends on the exact wording of the question asked, some companies seem to ask whether you have been involved in an accident or claim (to which she would have to answer "yes"), some just ask if you've been involved in an accident (to which she could honestly answer "no").
It's a moot point if the OP needs to be on the policy anyway.
The claim will be on the insurance database under her name (as it was her policy that the claim related to), so will be picked up by future insurers anyway. They will load her premium as a result, although hitting a deer is about as non-fault as a fault claim gets, so won't be treated the same as running into another car, for example. It's a moot point if the OP needs to be on the policy anyway.
As the driver of the car, the OP will have to declare the accident as a matter of course when applying for insurance for the next 5 years. I was in a very minor non-fault accident (rear-ended in traffic at low speeds - all cars safely driveable) in a company car last year, and it increased my premium on my private policy by four quid at renewal!
The car insurance industry has this sort of thing pretty sewn up.
Audemars said:
It is risky to be pedantic about how to interpret these questions.
True, but when I've actually contacted companies to ask such about ambiguities, it's surprising how often the answer has been in my favour. I think where questions are ambiguous, it's often because the companies want people who wont put the effort in check to tell them more than they strictly have to. I've just renewed our insurance and managed to knock more than £100 (about 30%) off the quote by contacting the company and asking what they really meant by one of their questions; it turned out the question (which admittedly in this case didn't relate to a claim or accident) on their form was simply incorrect.
Edited by kambites on Monday 24th April 10:05
Casa1862 said:
Thanks, we need to stay on each other's insurance. I was driving my wife's car, so she will have a claim and I'll have been in an accident.
They'll both go up. I've had a right pain for the last three years as back in the beginning of April 2014 we had the garage burgled and emptied - this included our motorbikes (one mine, one hers).
This means that since then (and we are both named drivers on each others car and bike policies) we have both had to declare a total loss theft claim - it's been a bloody nightmare with a lot of companies refusing to quote. One thing I did find useful was that some car insurers don't load for bike claims, and luckily some ask for 5 years and some for 3 years claims history. We've just gone over the three years and her bike premium has gone through the floor. Which was nice.
Dog Star said:
They'll both go up.
I've had a right pain for the last three years as back in the beginning of April 2014 we had the garage burgled and emptied - this included our motorbikes (one mine, one hers).
This means that since then (and we are both named drivers on each others car and bike policies) we have both had to declare a total loss theft claim - it's been a bloody nightmare with a lot of companies refusing to quote. One thing I did find useful was that some car insurers don't load for bike claims, and luckily some ask for 5 years and some for 3 years claims history. We've just gone over the three years and her bike premium has gone through the floor. Which was nice.
Same here , wife reversed my car into a building (doh!) causing about £3k's worth of damage, its affected my insurance on BOTH my cars as I had the claim plus her insurance on her own car as she had the accident I've had a right pain for the last three years as back in the beginning of April 2014 we had the garage burgled and emptied - this included our motorbikes (one mine, one hers).
This means that since then (and we are both named drivers on each others car and bike policies) we have both had to declare a total loss theft claim - it's been a bloody nightmare with a lot of companies refusing to quote. One thing I did find useful was that some car insurers don't load for bike claims, and luckily some ask for 5 years and some for 3 years claims history. We've just gone over the three years and her bike premium has gone through the floor. Which was nice.
Thanks for all the info, I would think this type of incident is very common as most couple would be insured on each others car, makes sense as it does not cost extra and you never know when the need to drive your partners car. Fairly certain both will go up.
Come her renewal:
Main driver any claims or accidents in last 5 years - Yes
Named driver any claims or accidents in last 5 years - Yes
Come my renewal:
Main driver any claims or accidents in last 5 years - Yes
Named driver any claims or accidents in last 5 years - Yes
As mentioned just need to make clear it's one incident and they don't think it's two, I'm not sure if it would have made a difference if my wife had hit the deer.The answers would be:
Come her renewal :
Main driver any claims or accidents in last 5 years - Yes
Named driver any claims or accidents in last 5 years - No
Come my renewal:
Main driver any claims or accidents in last 5 years - No
Named driver any claims or accidents in last 5 years - Yes
Two less yes, but still an incident on each so i'd expect a hike.
Come her renewal:
Main driver any claims or accidents in last 5 years - Yes
Named driver any claims or accidents in last 5 years - Yes
Come my renewal:
Main driver any claims or accidents in last 5 years - Yes
Named driver any claims or accidents in last 5 years - Yes
As mentioned just need to make clear it's one incident and they don't think it's two, I'm not sure if it would have made a difference if my wife had hit the deer.The answers would be:
Come her renewal :
Main driver any claims or accidents in last 5 years - Yes
Named driver any claims or accidents in last 5 years - No
Come my renewal:
Main driver any claims or accidents in last 5 years - No
Named driver any claims or accidents in last 5 years - Yes
Two less yes, but still an incident on each so i'd expect a hike.
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