Insurance question - recovery firm damaged vehicle
Discussion
This is not actually about me but I'm writing it as if it were
I own a large van for which I have comprehensive insurance. It's insured for private use (as opposed to business use) - I'm retired and it has only ever been used for personal use.
What happened was while I was on an expedition with the van some way from home that I had an accident - a personal injury type accident away from and entirely unrelated to the van - call it a "slip and trip" or similar and I was carted off to hospital for a few scans and so on. In the end fortunately perfectly OK but some concussion so not recommended to drive for a while. So I was driven home by a friend and then..
I had a breakdown recovery style policy which included recovery if I could not drive the vehicle due to illness injury etc
Had the vehicle recovered to my home address using the policy. No issue with eligibility to claim. Vehicle was perfectly drivable as no accident or breakdown etc. Recovery firm elected to tow/trailer as I suppose only one driver needed. Recovery firm hit vehicle on a tree - no dispute about this, they accept they did it and that they will repair. Vehicle is usable as damage superficial (although real) so is still being used.
Current situation is quotes for repair have been obtained and awaiting approval
In principle I could claim off my insurance (I think? - comprehensive insurance so would cover damage by myself or by a third party) but I haven't and don't intend to.
I suppose in principle it is the same as if a neighbour drove into my car while it was parked in my drive, say, accepted he had done it and claimed on his insurance to put me back into the position I would have been in had he not done it?
The question is - Insurance renewal coming up - is this something I need to tell my insurance company about?
Mike
I own a large van for which I have comprehensive insurance. It's insured for private use (as opposed to business use) - I'm retired and it has only ever been used for personal use.
What happened was while I was on an expedition with the van some way from home that I had an accident - a personal injury type accident away from and entirely unrelated to the van - call it a "slip and trip" or similar and I was carted off to hospital for a few scans and so on. In the end fortunately perfectly OK but some concussion so not recommended to drive for a while. So I was driven home by a friend and then..
I had a breakdown recovery style policy which included recovery if I could not drive the vehicle due to illness injury etc
Had the vehicle recovered to my home address using the policy. No issue with eligibility to claim. Vehicle was perfectly drivable as no accident or breakdown etc. Recovery firm elected to tow/trailer as I suppose only one driver needed. Recovery firm hit vehicle on a tree - no dispute about this, they accept they did it and that they will repair. Vehicle is usable as damage superficial (although real) so is still being used.
Current situation is quotes for repair have been obtained and awaiting approval
In principle I could claim off my insurance (I think? - comprehensive insurance so would cover damage by myself or by a third party) but I haven't and don't intend to.
I suppose in principle it is the same as if a neighbour drove into my car while it was parked in my drive, say, accepted he had done it and claimed on his insurance to put me back into the position I would have been in had he not done it?
The question is - Insurance renewal coming up - is this something I need to tell my insurance company about?
Mike
mikemike39 said:
This is not actually about me but I'm writing it as if it were
I own a large van for which I have comprehensive insurance. It's insured for private use (as opposed to business use) - I'm retired and it has only ever been used for personal use.
What happened was while I was on an expedition with the van some way from home that I had an accident - a personal injury type accident away from and entirely unrelated to the van - call it a "slip and trip" or similar and I was carted off to hospital for a few scans and so on. In the end fortunately perfectly OK but some concussion so not recommended to drive for a while. So I was driven home by a friend and then..
I had a breakdown recovery style policy which included recovery if I could not drive the vehicle due to illness injury etc
Had the vehicle recovered to my home address using the policy. No issue with eligibility to claim. Vehicle was perfectly drivable as no accident or breakdown etc. Recovery firm elected to tow/trailer as I suppose only one driver needed. Recovery firm hit vehicle on a tree - no dispute about this, they accept they did it and that they will repair. Vehicle is usable as damage superficial (although real) so is still being used.
Current situation is quotes for repair have been obtained and awaiting approval
In principle I could claim off my insurance (I think? - comprehensive insurance so would cover damage by myself or by a third party) but I haven't and don't intend to.
I suppose in principle it is the same as if a neighbour drove into my car while it was parked in my drive, say, accepted he had done it and claimed on his insurance to put me back into the position I would have been in had he not done it?
The question is - Insurance renewal coming up - is this something I need to tell my insurance company about?
Mike
I own a large van for which I have comprehensive insurance. It's insured for private use (as opposed to business use) - I'm retired and it has only ever been used for personal use.
What happened was while I was on an expedition with the van some way from home that I had an accident - a personal injury type accident away from and entirely unrelated to the van - call it a "slip and trip" or similar and I was carted off to hospital for a few scans and so on. In the end fortunately perfectly OK but some concussion so not recommended to drive for a while. So I was driven home by a friend and then..
I had a breakdown recovery style policy which included recovery if I could not drive the vehicle due to illness injury etc
Had the vehicle recovered to my home address using the policy. No issue with eligibility to claim. Vehicle was perfectly drivable as no accident or breakdown etc. Recovery firm elected to tow/trailer as I suppose only one driver needed. Recovery firm hit vehicle on a tree - no dispute about this, they accept they did it and that they will repair. Vehicle is usable as damage superficial (although real) so is still being used.
Current situation is quotes for repair have been obtained and awaiting approval
In principle I could claim off my insurance (I think? - comprehensive insurance so would cover damage by myself or by a third party) but I haven't and don't intend to.
I suppose in principle it is the same as if a neighbour drove into my car while it was parked in my drive, say, accepted he had done it and claimed on his insurance to put me back into the position I would have been in had he not done it?
The question is - Insurance renewal coming up - is this something I need to tell my insurance company about?
Mike
mikemike39 said:
This is not actually about me but I'm writing it as if it were
Don't worry, you could just say it was "your friend", that's usually how it goes.You were not involved in the "accident", so I would not declare it. Same as if the car/van was in a garage being repaired and it suffered damage. It's the person that damaged the vehicle that's been involved in the accident.
mikemike39 said:
The question is - Insurance renewal coming up - is this something I need to tell my insurance company about?
Mike
Most if not all Insurers on most if not all policies would normally expect the Insured to let them know about any incidents or facts that may affect their assessment of the risk. Mike
It would then be for them to decide what additional premium , if any , may be due on renewal.
In all likelihood the circumstances as described won’t make any difference.
However what you don’t want is a situation , albeit probably very unlikely that post renewal said Insurer “ finds out “ about the incident and then accuses you of withholding information leading to potential a further additional premium or worse a potential cancellation - the latter for these circumstances would be extremely unlikely though.
The other point is you - if you are going to constantly worry about whether you told them or not then assuming the latter , the worry won’t be worth it.
One thing to add, if you do decide you should inform your own insurers:
Explain it all as you have done here, but make sure you put the explanation to the insurers in writing.
Sadly the quality of education of staff at call centres, and their tendency not to have English as their first language, has deteriorated considerably in recent years and the chances of them writing the explanation down accurately is, in my opinion, remote, particluarly the part about the van being recovered and you being nowhere near it when it was damaged.
Being able to refer them to your written explanation when the inevitable happens and they get it wrapped around their corporate necks is worth the time spent writing it down, I think.
Explain it all as you have done here, but make sure you put the explanation to the insurers in writing.
Sadly the quality of education of staff at call centres, and their tendency not to have English as their first language, has deteriorated considerably in recent years and the chances of them writing the explanation down accurately is, in my opinion, remote, particluarly the part about the van being recovered and you being nowhere near it when it was damaged.
Being able to refer them to your written explanation when the inevitable happens and they get it wrapped around their corporate necks is worth the time spent writing it down, I think.
You are required to tell your insurance of any incident which involves your car being damaged or causing damage, whether you are in/near or around in the vicinity of the incident.
My daughters car was dragged for 8 feet by a scaffolding truck whilst it was outside her house, she only knew about the incident by seeing it on her door ring camera as it actually happened, she was in the house.
It will go down as a non fault incident, and it may or may not result in an increase of your insurance premiums.
My daughters car was dragged for 8 feet by a scaffolding truck whilst it was outside her house, she only knew about the incident by seeing it on her door ring camera as it actually happened, she was in the house.
It will go down as a non fault incident, and it may or may not result in an increase of your insurance premiums.
Racing Newt said:
You are required to tell your insurance of any incident which involves your car being damaged or causing damage, whether you are in/near or around in the vicinity of the incident.
My daughters car was dragged for 8 feet by a scaffolding truck whilst it was outside her house, she only knew about the incident by seeing it on her door ring camera as it actually happened, she was in the house.
It will go down as a non fault incident, and it may or may not result in an increase of your insurance premiums.
Correct, but also it may affect the actual value of the vehicle they are insuring, don't forget.My daughters car was dragged for 8 feet by a scaffolding truck whilst it was outside her house, she only knew about the incident by seeing it on her door ring camera as it actually happened, she was in the house.
It will go down as a non fault incident, and it may or may not result in an increase of your insurance premiums.
No, you don't have to declare it. You're not covered for a start, as the driver of your vehicle at the time of the accident isn't a named driver on your policy, and was driving under different insurance. It's nothing like your neighbour hitting your car. It's like your neighbour borrowing you car, insuring it for himself to drive, and crashing it.
If i lend my car to my brother, who insurers it himself for him to drive, and he crashes it, it's nothing to do with me or my insurers. It's him and his insurers that will sort it, like in your case.
If i lend my car to my brother, who insurers it himself for him to drive, and he crashes it, it's nothing to do with me or my insurers. It's him and his insurers that will sort it, like in your case.
Racing Newt said:
You are required to tell your insurance of any incident which involves your car being damaged or causing damage, whether you are in/near or around in the vicinity of the incident.
You really are not. There's been lots of posts from people who have gone to the dealership to collect their new car, that they have bought and paid for, only to find damage on their car. The dealership apologise profusely, and sort out the issue. Those people do not have to notify their insurers. The garage are responsible, they have insurance to cover it, and they deal with it. if that was your car, then your car has been damaged, but you weren't in possession of it, someone else was, and that person will sort it out, either out of their own pocket or thru their insurance that was covering your car whilst it was under their control. It's got sweet fa to do with your insurance co. Suppose the delivery co delivering the OP's van saw the damaged, and got it fixed pronto before delivering the van back to the OP? It's exactly the same incident, except the OP doesn't even know it happened. How is he meant to tell his own insurers in that case?
Edited by TwigtheWonderkid on Saturday 25th October 21:44
Edited by TwigtheWonderkid on Saturday 25th October 21:44
TwigtheWonderkid said:
You really are not. There's been lots of posts from people who have gone to the dealership to collect their new car, that they have bought and paid for, only to find damage on their car. The dealership apologise profusely, and sort out the issue. Those people do not have to notify their insurers. The garage are responsible, they have insurance to cover it, and they deal with it. if that was your car, then your car has been damaged, but you weren't in possession of it, someone else was, and that person will sort it out, either out of their own pocket or thru their insurance that was covering your car whilst it was under their control. It's got sweet fa to do with your insurance co.
Suppose the delivery co delivering the OP's van saw the damaged, and got it fixed pronto before delivering the van back to the OP? It's exactly the same incident, except the OP doesn't even know it happened. How is he meant to tell his own insurers in that case?
...and not only new cars. There are posts about cars in for routine servicing being damaged and the dealership repairing them. Suppose the delivery co delivering the OP's van saw the damaged, and got it fixed pronto before delivering the van back to the OP? It's exactly the same incident, except the OP doesn't even know it happened. How is he meant to tell his own insurers in that case?
GasEngineer said:
TwigtheWonderkid said:
You really are not. There's been lots of posts from people who have gone to the dealership to collect their new car, that they have bought and paid for, only to find damage on their car. The dealership apologise profusely, and sort out the issue. Those people do not have to notify their insurers. The garage are responsible, they have insurance to cover it, and they deal with it. if that was your car, then your car has been damaged, but you weren't in possession of it, someone else was, and that person will sort it out, either out of their own pocket or thru their insurance that was covering your car whilst it was under their control. It's got sweet fa to do with your insurance co.
Suppose the delivery co delivering the OP's van saw the damaged, and got it fixed pronto before delivering the van back to the OP? It's exactly the same incident, except the OP doesn't even know it happened. How is he meant to tell his own insurers in that case?
...and not only new cars. There are posts about cars in for routine servicing being damaged and the dealership repairing them. Suppose the delivery co delivering the OP's van saw the damaged, and got it fixed pronto before delivering the van back to the OP? It's exactly the same incident, except the OP doesn't even know it happened. How is he meant to tell his own insurers in that case?
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