Car Insurance - Overseas accident affecting UK renewal premium

[terminal7]

I have a fully comprehensive car insurance that covers me and the OH for my car. I also have additional cover with a specialist company that covers up to 60 days abroad that I use to cover for any car hire. Last year I drove into a bollard in France and the specialist cover paid the repair costs to the hire car company ex the excess. Do I need to detail such an accident for my renewal re my UK car? I made no claim under the UK car insurance.

I have tried to input the above into the usual comparison sites but the assessment appears to assume that I made a claim on the UK insurance.

T7

[bungeejumper]

No expert here, but I'd have thought it needed to be declared. Don't take this the wrong way, but the insurance company wants to form an impression of what sort of driver you are, not just about who paid for your last knock.

It probably wouldn't be worth the risk of not letting on, because your insurance might refuse a claim if you made one now. AIUI, it isn't just UK insurance companies that pool their claims records in a central database - the scheme also extends to several European countries, maybe all of them.

That said, I really doubt that a claim would up your premiums by very much. When my wife had a knock-for-knock claim on her insurance, it added about £30 to my insurance (because she's a named driver in my car), and about £40 to hers, for about two years, after which everything reverted to normal. Worse things happen at sea, as my old mum used to say.

BJ

[Lootman]

No expert here, but I'd have thought it needed to be declared. Don't take this the wrong way, but the insurance company wants to form an impression of what sort of driver you are, not just about who paid for your last knock.

It probably wouldn't be worth the risk of not letting on, because your insurance might refuse a claim if you made one now. AIUI, it isn't just UK insurance companies that pool their claims records in a central database - the scheme also extends to several European countries, maybe all of them.

I am not in a position to doubt that there might be some kind of pan-European database or formal international system of sharing information. But how would such a system work? Surely it would require some kind of common identifier to link accidents in different countries. The license plate of a vehicle might be one such method, except in this case it was a hire car.

In a similar situation I have to say that my instinct would be to not report it to any UK entity, especially if as in this case I had hit a low-value inanimate object and there were no injuries.

[Dod101]

T7

It depends what your renewal documents ask. If 'Have you had any accidents in the last five years?', you have to answer Yes, irrespective of whether the insurers pool their claims or not. Speculating on that is trying to decide if you will 'get away with it', which is basically what Lootman is advocating. That is the so called 'moral hazard' which insurers must price into every policy, as they know that some will try to cheat the system (and may get away with it)

If the question is 'Have you made a claim on this policy?' you can truthfully say no.

Dod

[GoSeigen]

That said, I really doubt that a claim would up your premiums by very much. When my wife had a knock-for-knock claim on her insurance, it added about £30 to my insurance (because she's a named driver in my car), and about £40 to hers, for about two years, after which everything reverted to normal. Worse things happen at sea, as my old mum used to say.

BJ

This is not necessarily true. If it happens to be the third claim in a three year period, that can exclude a lot of underwriters who prefer lesser risks. The price of insurance could be doubled or worse relative to just two claims.

Personally I'd declare it. But I don't declare every bump and ding to our car, especially as it is v. old with close to zero value and we usually only buy 3rd party insurance. Recently a supermarket delivery van scraped us while passing in a narrow lane, I didn't bother to claim off their insurers and will not declare any loss as for us the loss is negligible, even though there was a "collision".

GS

[DrFfybes]

I have a fully comprehensive car insurance that covers me and the OH for my car. I also have additional cover with a specialist company that covers up to 60 days abroad that I use to cover for any car hire. Last year I drove into a bollard in France and the specialist cover paid the repair costs to the hire car company ex the excess. Do I need to detail such an accident for my renewal re my UK car? I made no claim under the UK car insurance.

I have tried to input the above into the usual comparison sites but the assessment appears to assume that I made a claim on the UK insurance.

T7

If it is a "collision Damage Waiver" annual policy taken over here with one of the big providers then it is a UK insurance policy.

I suppose if the policy solely for hire cars used overseas (ie doesn't cover hire cars in the UK), underwritten by a foreign insurance company, and paid for in the local currency then it might not be in the shared database.

Paul

[Lootman]

If 'Have you had any accidents in the last five years?', you have to answer Yes, irrespective of whether the insurers pool their claims or not. Speculating on that is trying to decide if you will 'get away with it', which is basically what Lootman is advocating.

I wasn't exactly advocating not disclosing it. But rather stating what my first instinct would be.

But if you really want to be able to avoid mentioning small accidents like this then it's better to do what GoSeigen was suggesting and not claim it on any insurance policy nor report it to anyone. Then there really would not be any external record of the accident. You can often fix minor bodywork damage yourself or, with an old vehicle, just regard it as "character".

On the other hand if you made a claim then your options are more limited in seeking to finesse the fact. I don't think that insurance companies should be punishing drivers who have the odd bump or scrape here or there. It's really not material to the risk they are worried about.

[Dod101]

I agree with you there Lootman. My late wife knocked a mirror off a car in our local main street. Being an honest soul she stopped and left her details on the damaged car's windscreen, much to the surprise of the owner! We did not claim on the insurance and I just paid for the damage. No need for any hassle and the other party was so grateful they sent us flowers if I recall rightly!

Dod

[Lootman]

I agree with you there Lootman. My late wife knocked a mirror off a car in our local main street. Being an honest soul she stopped and left her details on the damaged car's windscreen, much to the surprise of the owner! We did not claim on the insurance and I just paid for the damage. No need for any hassle and the other party was so grateful they sent us flowers if I recall rightly!

I had a similar experience from the other side. Some guy overtook me and, in doing so, knocked my mirror off. We both stopped and were about to swap details, when he pulled 200 quid in cash out of his wallet and said "Will this make it go away?"

It did. I suspect that he maybe did not have a driving license, tax or insurance. Although if so it was even nicer of him to stop rather than speed off.

[terminal7]

After extensive use of comparison sites, the result is that I am being offered fully comp for just over £400 ex disclosure and just over £600 with disclosure.

T7

[bungeejumper]

After extensive use of comparison sites, the result is that I am being offered fully comp for just over £400 ex disclosure and just over £600 with disclosure.

That seems quite a lot over the odds. (I am assuming, perhaps arbitrarily, that this knock against the bollard was a rare lapse, and that the bumper damage wasn't far above £1,000?)

Maybe try an old-fashioned insurance broker?

BJ

[terminal7]

Thanks for all the advice and as a result disclosed all.

My existing company quoted 28% increase initially for renewal prior to disclosure then went just over 50% after disclosure.

After comparison sites etc have got same cover as before for plus12%.

Looking at my records, I note that I have changed every year for the last 4 years because of large renewal increases.

T7

[quelquod]

I had a similar experience from the other side. Some guy overtook me and, in doing so, knocked my mirror off. We both stopped and were about to swap details, when he pulled 200 quid in cash out of his wallet and said "Will this make it go away?"

It did.

Lucky you! I carelessly cracked mirrors with a parked car last year (narrow street and oncoming traffic guv! ). Stopped and walked back but the other party had disappeared and I heard nothing afterwards. However I got little change from £600 for fixing my mirror (5-series) AND my insurer jacked up my renewal by almost 100% after declaring but not claiming. However after a bit of price comparing I did end up paying less than the previous year even after declaring the incident. Loyalty never pays.