Insurance Help - Car Sold Back to Dealer, Damaged By Them
Discussion
Hi all. Long-time browser, new poster here.
I'm looking for some advice or possibly just reassurance really. Hope to hear from Loon if possible.
My girlfriend bought a used car (c. £2,000) in June or July this year. The dealer gave her a warranty at the point of sale. On its first longish drive the engine management light came on, and it was noticed that the idle was very erratic, with the car feeling like it was about to stall. Green Flag came out and read the code, and diagnosed a lean mixture. The mechanic thought he could hear an air leak, but he couldn't find it.
The dealer took it into their own preferred garage with no questions asked, and we got it back 2 days later, having been told that the inlet manifold had been repaired.
To cut a long story short, the fault reoccurred and the car went back to the dealer 2 further times, each time coming back with the fault unfixed. The last time we saw the car was around 1 month ago, when we handed it back to the dealer for the fourth time, and they gave my girlfriend a courtesy car from their sale stock.
For the last month they've been dodging our requests for updates, and three days ago we learnt why: at some point during this last stay in the garage, the car has been lent to a friend of the mechanic and crashed. They think that it's likely to be written off. After telling us about this they offered my girlfriend their apologies and a full refund, which she received from them yesterday.
My question is this: Do we need to tell our insurer, or can we just cancel the policy and not mention it? The car has been insured on a multicar policy beside my own car since she bought it. Is there anything that could come back and bite us if we don't tell them about this?
Thanks
I'm looking for some advice or possibly just reassurance really. Hope to hear from Loon if possible.
My girlfriend bought a used car (c. £2,000) in June or July this year. The dealer gave her a warranty at the point of sale. On its first longish drive the engine management light came on, and it was noticed that the idle was very erratic, with the car feeling like it was about to stall. Green Flag came out and read the code, and diagnosed a lean mixture. The mechanic thought he could hear an air leak, but he couldn't find it.
The dealer took it into their own preferred garage with no questions asked, and we got it back 2 days later, having been told that the inlet manifold had been repaired.
To cut a long story short, the fault reoccurred and the car went back to the dealer 2 further times, each time coming back with the fault unfixed. The last time we saw the car was around 1 month ago, when we handed it back to the dealer for the fourth time, and they gave my girlfriend a courtesy car from their sale stock.
For the last month they've been dodging our requests for updates, and three days ago we learnt why: at some point during this last stay in the garage, the car has been lent to a friend of the mechanic and crashed. They think that it's likely to be written off. After telling us about this they offered my girlfriend their apologies and a full refund, which she received from them yesterday.
My question is this: Do we need to tell our insurer, or can we just cancel the policy and not mention it? The car has been insured on a multicar policy beside my own car since she bought it. Is there anything that could come back and bite us if we don't tell them about this?
Thanks
What question does the insurer ask, and what does it state in the documents?
If it ask's if YOU (the policyholder or named driver(s)) have been invovled in an accident, the honest answer is no.
I assume she will be buying another car, so why not just change the policy to the new vehicle?
If it ask's if YOU (the policyholder or named driver(s)) have been invovled in an accident, the honest answer is no.
I assume she will be buying another car, so why not just change the policy to the new vehicle?
Yes, but we handed it back with the intention of getting it back later. The car was insured in my OH's name at the time of the incident, so I'm just concerned about the possibility of this coming back on her somehow. If I'm over-thinking or worrying too much I'm happy to be told as much 
bradjsmith88 said:
What question does the insurer ask, and what does it state in the documents?
If it ask's if YOU (the policyholder or named driver(s)) have been invovled in an accident, the honest answer is no.
I assume she will be buying another car, so why not just change the policy to the new vehicle?
Thanks for the reply Brad. I agree that it would be true to say she's not been involved in an accident, when receiving a new quote later on, so I'm not worried about that. I'm more concerned about whether she has an obligation to declare this to the insurer now or not, ie on their claims line. If it ask's if YOU (the policyholder or named driver(s)) have been invovled in an accident, the honest answer is no.
I assume she will be buying another car, so why not just change the policy to the new vehicle?
Shwar25 said:
Is this not a case of TWOC?
Surely the person who crashed the car didn't have the owners permission to be using it.
^ This is the sort of thing I've been slightly worried about. Obviously we've got our money back from the dealer so we've got no interest at all in bothering the Police about TWOC or anything like that. But will it affect us in any way? I'll rest easy if Loon posts Surely the person who crashed the car didn't have the owners permission to be using it.
chriskerry said:
See this is why I hope to get a reply from loon. Some people say don't be stupid, just cancel. Then someone says contact the insurer ASAP. Could you elaborate please? Why do you think I need to contact them?
pork911 said:
Think about it for a moment and consider why on earth wouldn't you inform them?
If I had a good reason to inform them, I would not be asking for advice here. The reason I would be glad not to have to inform them is that I predict that it would save me a hell of a lot of hassle to just cancel the policy and forget about it. I won't be replying to you again if you can't be anything other than patronising and obstructive, so don't waste your time adding to the thread if you can't manage this.
You don't want to inform the insurer and are looking for support from an Internet forum. Difficult not to be patronising towards you but hey ho.
The car has been involved in an accident while insured under a policy you hold.
The insurer have a potential interest with regard to any passengers the mechanic had with him, any other vehicles or other things he may have hit.
Even if the garage assure you no passengers and he merely hit thin air and also their own policy covers everything, given their conduct so far you shouldn't rely on that at all, and anyway shouldn't refrain from telling your insurer.
Just because you aren't making a claim doesn't mean you shouldn't tell them.
Now, exactly what is the upside of not telling them?
Are you incapable of imagining the 'hassle' you might face if you don't tell them and comparing that to picking up the phone to tell them what you should be telling them?
The car has been involved in an accident while insured under a policy you hold.
The insurer have a potential interest with regard to any passengers the mechanic had with him, any other vehicles or other things he may have hit.
Even if the garage assure you no passengers and he merely hit thin air and also their own policy covers everything, given their conduct so far you shouldn't rely on that at all, and anyway shouldn't refrain from telling your insurer.
Just because you aren't making a claim doesn't mean you shouldn't tell them.
Now, exactly what is the upside of not telling them?
Are you incapable of imagining the 'hassle' you might face if you don't tell them and comparing that to picking up the phone to tell them what you should be telling them?
Wasn't there a thread recently about a guy who sold the car, but kept his insurance live for a month afterwards, so he could benefit from an extra years no claims. The car was sold on and crashed by the new owner. When it was found that the previous owner still had insurance, he was persued for the costs.
This sounds like a similar situation, in that the owner still had insurance on a vehicle that has been crashed.
This sounds like a similar situation, in that the owner still had insurance on a vehicle that has been crashed.
pork911 said:
You don't want to inform the insurer and are looking for support from an Internet forum. Difficult not to be patronising towards you but hey ho.
The car has been involved in an accident while insured under a policy you hold.
The insurer have a potential interest with regard to any passengers the mechanic had with him, any other vehicles or other things he may have hit.
Even if the garage assure you no passengers and he merely hit thin air and also their own policy covers everything, given their conduct so far you shouldn't rely on that at all, and anyway shouldn't refrain from telling your insurer.
Just because you aren't making a claim doesn't mean you shouldn't tell them.
Now, exactly what is the upside of not telling them?
Are you incapable of imagining the 'hassle' you might face if you don't tell them and comparing that to picking up the phone to tell them what you should be telling them?
I will gladly inform the insurer if this is the right thing to do. Surely you can see why I'd prefer to just cancel and forget about it, but I do not want to dodge any responsibility I owe to them at all. The reason I asked for advice was so that I could ascertain whether I do owe it to them to tell them or not. I am just hoping for some consensus on whether I need to tell them or not, and I've not seen any consensus yet. The car has been involved in an accident while insured under a policy you hold.
The insurer have a potential interest with regard to any passengers the mechanic had with him, any other vehicles or other things he may have hit.
Even if the garage assure you no passengers and he merely hit thin air and also their own policy covers everything, given their conduct so far you shouldn't rely on that at all, and anyway shouldn't refrain from telling your insurer.
Just because you aren't making a claim doesn't mean you shouldn't tell them.
Now, exactly what is the upside of not telling them?
Are you incapable of imagining the 'hassle' you might face if you don't tell them and comparing that to picking up the phone to tell them what you should be telling them?
Thanks for your first constructive post on the matter. If I were to tell them, I'm concerned about things like effect on premium. I have no idea whether this is a valid concern, which is why I asked for help.
I also have no idea what the insurer's standpoint would be; as someone has pointed out, the vehicle seems to have effectively been TWOC, so does that mean that it wasn't insured at the time of the incident? And if so, will the insurer wash their hands of it?
Looking at the lack of consensus displayed in the thread, I hardly think that my request for advice was stupid. So it'd be nice if you could wind your neck in and try being pleasant.
chriskerry said:
Looking at the lack of consensus displayed in the thread, I hardly think that my request for advice was stupid. So it'd be nice if you could wind your neck in and try being pleasant.
Chill... you'll live longer.If you want Loon's advice, try PM'ing him, he's very helpful.
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