# Just been hit, do I inform insurance?



## Darlofan (Nov 24, 2010)

So parked up in a side street parking bay. Just reading texts on phone when there's an almighty bang. Look up to see my wing mirror smashed to pieces and a van pulling up further up the road. Get out of car to find my drivers door is caved in and gouged for 3/4 of the width.

Turns out the vans side door wasn't secure and had swung open as he came round corner!!

Anyway driver was ok with things (cameras on his van so all recorded). His firm said he will have to fill out a report and someone will ring me to sort things. It's quite a large firm (funnily enough one I dealt with for about 20 yrs until a few yrs back) so I'm not worried they'll try anything funny. Just wondering if I tell my insurance company or just leave it to his? 

Annoyed really as got hit from behind 2 yrs back and although ncb is protected and not my fault premiums are still hit. Renewed last week funnily enough and removing accident on comparison sites reduced cost by about £65😠😠


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## lick0the0fish (Feb 29, 2016)

Even if the claim is not your fault you should tell your insurer.

Unless they are going to pay for repairs WITHOUT going through an insurer as some large firms do this to save premiums.

It would be worth a conversation with them to find out a: how they are going to pay for the repairs and b: if its going through insurance, the details so you can tell your insurer


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## Kimo (Jun 7, 2013)

Yes you should tell insurance 

I know how annoying a non fault claim is though, someone drove into me and even though it's non fault my insurance has rocketed


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

As above, strictly speaking you should notify your Insurers of any accident as it is a condition of your policy.

However, if the Third Party is paying privately and not involving their own insurers, then personally i would take a view on it and treat it like you would if you caught your wing mirror on the garage wall and fixed it yourself.

However if the Third Party are getting their own Insurers involved, then you should inform your own insurers, but for "notification only" and not for the purpose of making a claim. It will still be noted as a non fault accident, which unfortunately some Insurers will make a loading for (not that i agree with it, but there actuarial reasons behind this).


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## empsburna (Apr 5, 2006)

Darlofan said:


> So parked up in a side street parking bay. Just reading texts on phone when there's an almighty bang. Look up to see my wing mirror smashed to pieces and a van pulling up further up the road. Get out of car to find my drivers door is caved in and gouged for 3/4 of the width.
> 
> Turns out the vans side door wasn't secure and had swung open as he came round corner!!
> 
> ...


How is your shoulder? does your back hurt? How are the sleepless nights? Still having night terrors?


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## Natalie (Jan 19, 2011)

empsburna said:


> How is your shoulder? does your back hurt? How are the sleepless nights? Still having night terrors?


I do hope you're not condoning making a potentially false injury claim...


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## neilb62 (Jul 30, 2007)

Please tell them.. My Son-In-Laws dad is having a nightmare at the moment... A young lass left her handbrake off and her car rolled into the front of his VX220, nothing much to look at damage wise so her dad said he'd pay for it... The parts bill alone is now approaching £8k, daddy's washed his hands of it and she's now denying doing it.. His insurance are getting snotty because he didn't tell them immediately it happened although he has all her details. All this could have been saved by a quick phone call...


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## Mike! (Jul 3, 2010)

It's an absolute joke, but yes you should inform your insurers, and yes it does make your premium go up significantly.


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## m4rkymark (Aug 17, 2014)

inform your insurers for information only.


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## Darlofan (Nov 24, 2010)

Cheers for replies. Will see what they say re insurance or not. Bloody annoying as off tomorrow for 2 weeks so looking forward to giving the car some tlc. Now looking and thinking not worth it yet if it's going into a body shop😡


And no I won't be claiming for bad shoulder etc.


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

Take it to a body shop and get an estimate for the repair (parts + labour). The Third Party will then be able to make a decision as to whether they will be paying out their own pocket or involve their insurers. This way you will know where you are and you can then inform your insurers and proceed according to the outcome.

If they do want to involve their Insurers, then their Insurers may offer you a repair so there is no need to claim under your own insurance. Not all insurers do this though, so the end result may be that you have to claim on your policy and then claim your excess back whilst your Insurers try to recover their outlay from the third party or their Insurers.


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## gatecrasher3 (Jul 21, 2006)

Shiny said:


> It will still be noted as a non fault accident, which unfortunately some Insurers will make a loading for (not that i agree with it, but there actuarial reasons behind this).


What are these reasons?


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

gatecrasher3 said:


> What are these reasons?


It is a by product of increasingly complicated rating systems and a demand for cheaper insurance, where statistics are used to fine tune each element of a rating system.

Some Insurers, not all, make a small load on your premium if you have a non fault accident. I'm sure an actuary will be able to come up with some wonderful calculation to show why, but basically a policyholder that has had no claims at all is more profitable than a policyholder that has had a non fault accident. Not because the insurers have had to pay out damages to a third party, but because there is normally the need to involve their claims department to initially deal with claim, pay the repairs and then pursue the recovery, all of which involves overheads and costs that can't be recovered from the third party. This doesn't different between a claim dealt with by a third party insurer though, although there are still related admin costs, but not as many. It will be nigh on impossible to draw a line and differentiate each type of claim, although potentially as systems progress it may happen in the future.

I'm not saying I agree with it, it is wrong that people sometimes end up being penalised on their premium because they have had a non fault accident, but hopefully it explains in part the reason why it can happen with some insurers.


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## empsburna (Apr 5, 2006)

gatecrasher3 said:


> What are these reasons?


Increase in risk of a claim because you have been involved in an accident. (Bad luck bringing back luck or statistically correct?)

I would suspect it is to do with the pooling - accident in a particular postcode that puts you at higher risk?

Pure speculation.


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## ffrs1444 (Jun 7, 2008)

empsburna said:


> How is your shoulder? does your back hurt? How are the sleepless nights? Still having night terrors?


Always one your the answer to expensive insurance, thats what the crash and claim dicks do


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## Darlofan (Nov 24, 2010)

Just had the transport manager ring me. He wants me to get 2 quotes for it and try to avoid insurance due to excesses. He's got photos of damage so is aware it's a new door and mirror and not just a smart repair!!


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## Kimo (Jun 7, 2013)

I personally think that a non fault accident makes you a lot safer and more aware

I'm permanently checking all directions now


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## Deniance (Jun 28, 2008)

If you inform insurers and its not your fault, but the other party argues it is, and nothing gets done, you are entered onto the database and your premium goes up!, happened to me, no witnesses, nobody ever looked at my car, went to renew online with no incidents, but it not let me, had to enter accident not my fault, but premium went up anyway, my car still has the damage, im on this list for 6 years, so beware


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## Rayaan (Jun 1, 2014)

Only inform insurance company if you are getting repairs done through insurance e.g. his or your insurance company are paying for the repairs.

If they are paying for it out of their pocket no point telling them. 

Yes insurance companies say you have to tell them if you have an accident but there's no definition of accident. Therefore I wouldn't class this as an accident, its just a dent and broken mirror, not an actual collision. 

Otherwise you'd have to tell them everytime you got a stone chip or hit a wall by accident!!


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## Soul boy 68 (Sep 8, 2013)

Mike! said:


> It's an absolute joke, but yes you should inform your insurers, and yes it does make your premium go up significantly.


I was involved in a non fault accident about 4 years ago, it did not effect my insurance one bit, did not go up at all, I guess it all depends on who you're with.


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## Darlofan (Nov 24, 2010)

Soul boy 68 said:


> I was involved in a non fault accident about 4 years ago, it did not effect my insurance one bit, did not go up at all, I guess it all depends on who you're with.
> 
> View attachment 45970


That was probably at the time insurance was dropping. You'd probably have found it would have dropped without the claim not stayed the same. Insurance companies aren't daft, they get their money back one way or another!


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## Kimo (Jun 7, 2013)

Soul boy 68 said:


> I was involved in a non fault accident about 4 years ago, it did not effect my insurance one bit, did not go up at all, I guess it all depends on who you're with.
> 
> View attachment 45970


Wouldn't say it depends who you're with

I've called countless insurance companies and there's a noticeable increase with every one

Double in some cases


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

It definately depends on who you are with, different Insurers have different rating structures for non-fault accidents and there are quite a few that don't load for one or two non-fault accidents.


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## ffrs1444 (Jun 7, 2008)

Read this yesterday and last night was my turn some old **** didn't see me, First thing Insurance said how's your Neck , back what a joke


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## Darlofan (Nov 24, 2010)

Can't believe it bit got rear ended last night at a roundabout!!! My insurance will soar now😠😠


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## Mugwump (Feb 17, 2008)

Soul boy 68 said:


> I was involved in a non fault accident about 4 years ago, it did not effect my insurance one bit, did not go up at all, I guess it all depends on who you're with.


I think so too - I wrote a car off at the end of 2012 - my fault entirely; nobody else on the road at the time. Protected NCB and at the next renewal, the premium was actually less on the same make and model as I had written off (although it would probably be mainly due to the replacement car being 4 years newer and having a Thatcham Cat 1 rating as opposed to the Cat 2 of the wrecked one).

On the whole, it seems to be the companies that offer the cheapest initial premiums that sting hardest in the event of a mishap, regardless of where the fault lies. Cheapest deal doesn't necessarily equal the best deal


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## Darlofan (Nov 24, 2010)

Update on this. Car is in getting repaired this week.1st accident (drivers door/mirror) company that hit me are paying themselves to avoid excesses (cost just under 2k). Rear end damage from 2nd accident has gone through insurance. 

Insurance company were all fine and sorted everything but have had the usual are you sure nobody was injured questions, several calls about daughters booster seat, trying to get me to claim for replacement despite me telling them it was a slow speed shunt and the seat is effectively a lump of polystyrene and is not damaged.


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## Mugwump (Feb 17, 2008)

It could well be the case that the excess on their company policy is more than the value of your repairs? I used to work for a company which had a lot of very expensive equipment spread across a number of sites - the excess on the company motor insurance policy was £50k! - and this even applied for the company cars and cars/vans in the motor pool.


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## Darlofan (Nov 24, 2010)

Mugwump said:


> It could well be the case that the excess on their company policy is more than the value of your repairs? I used to work for a company which had a lot of very expensive equipment spread across a number of sites - the excess on the company motor insurance policy was £50k! - and this even applied for the company cars and cars/vans in the motor pool.


Yeah it was, company wanted quotes first and as soon as he had 3 quotes he gave the go ahead. Having the 2nd accident through insurance meant the company didn't have to factor in a hire car too so that saved them money.


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## MagpieRH (May 27, 2014)

To be fair, with the child seat the general advice is to replace in the event of any accident because you can't tell what invisible damage may have been done and it's not worth the risk of it failing when you really need it. I take your point about it likely being another money making scheme for the insurers though


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