Advice and opinions needed

[2004rickyh]

I'll try and keep this short, 3 months ago my girlfriend had a knock in her little ka with a Mercedes ML. The ML man admitted liability straight away and was very apologetic, girlfriend was a little shaken but was fine. The front bumper corner of her car was taken clean off and he had a little mark on his alloy. He gave my girlfriend his details, and off they went. Any ways I phoned him and said its just a bumper I get it repaired cheaper than his access would be if we went through insurance, he agreed and said that will be fine let me know the cost. Next phone call I made he changed his tune completely and said it was my girlfriends thought!! So after back and fourth going round in circles to whom was to blame we decided to go knock for knock. Got the bumper repaired for £100, just couldn't be asked to go through the insurance for such a minor knock and there were no witnesses.

Now tonight I get a letter from her insurance saying he's making a claim. WTF. He put the claim in last week. There's was no damaged to his car apart from the mark on the alloy which was more than likely already there.

On on the phone to my girlfriends insurance for an hour explaining what happened and ask what is he claiming. It's his word against her.

If for instance and a big IF! He won this claim, how will this affect my girlfriend insurance? Is it going to rocket in price. The reason I'm asking, if never been in a accident or this situation before. Girlfriend is panicking lol

all help will be much appreciated

 

[Chris]

This is the problem when there is no witnesses and you decide to sort damage on your own without the insurance. Chances are now it will be 50/50 liability.

 

[2004rickyh]

This is the problem when there is no witnesses and you decide to sort damage on your own without the insurance. Chances are now it will be 50/50 liability.

Thats what the insurance basically said, just annoyed me that's he's claiming for damages on his car when there was none, and it's took him 3 months to make this claim.

 

[Merde Francais]

If her car is repaired then can she deny knowledge of the accident? Or did you open the letter, ring the insurance, then tell them all about it?

 

[Jimmy]

As Chris says, more than likely a 50/50 outcome. It will be down to each insurer to work that out.

Unfortunately this is the problem when dealing with things directly and not using insurers - some people are fine with it and very honest, however some, like in this case, are total peckers and will change their minds.

As for how it will affect your GF's insurance.... Any claim made will have an effect on the premium, whether it's fault or non-fault. How much by depends on her individual circumstances.

It's one of the risks of driving on the public roads...

 

[shells2074]

Get some free solicitors advice. They usually have 15-30 minutes for free. It's quite possible this guy could have inflicted more damage himself to his car too. Ps a non fault claim has no effect on your premium bit yes it will effect your gfs insurance if they agree with him.
Always always ring insurers and take photos too if poss.
Good luck.

 

[montana]

But of a sneaky trick that. It's out in the open now and as insurers are now aware your gf will have to declare it in future (regardless of outcome , as Jimmy said). Whether it will affect her premium even if it went down the non fault route is impossible to say.

 

[2004rickyh]

Yeah the bloke was a proper slippery b***tard personally. 1 when he hit my gf he drove off! it was only the fact that my gf beeped and shouted out the window he finally stopped. 2 there was no damaged to his car, so wtf is he claiming for? I know exactly where he lives coz he lived down the same road he hit her, so might go round there and have a quick snoop at his car.

 

[Fernandez]

Get some free solicitors advice. They usually have 15-30 minutes for free. It's quite possible this guy could have inflicted more damage himself to his car too. Ps a non fault claim has no effect on your premium but yes it will effect your gfs insurance if they agree with him.
Always always ring insurers and take photos too if poss.
Good luck.

Unfortunately a non fault claim or even a notification to your insurance of an incident will in most cases affect your future premiums. There's only a handful of companies that won't load your premium come renewal time.

Increasingly insurer's at using data collected on the Claims and Underwriting Exchange computer (CUE) to set premiums. Originally this system was use purely to counter fraud and avoid multiple claims as it holds records of all claims, fault and non fault and also non claim notifications.

Statistics show that those who are involved in an incident whether it's a no no fault claim or simple no claim notification (I say an incident as this applies to theft and vandalism) are far more likely to claim again in the future hence the larger premiums.

In the OP's Case I'd suspect that it'll be 50/50. As your GF has already notified her insurance company it'll be on record so you may aswell fight it.

 

[shells2074]

Well I'm not affected In this case. Non fault and the insurance notified me they weren't involved. I got damage repair and two weeks later noticed a faulty headlight casing and that went through.

 

[montana]

Well I'm not affected In this case. Non fault and the insurance notified me they weren't involved. I got damage repair and two weeks later noticed a faulty headlight casing and that went through.

If the insurance told you they werent involved , chances are they have recorded the fact (as Fernandez said) which means you will still have to declare it in future.

When you buy insurance you will be asked a question along the lines "have you had a accident in the last 5 years , regardless of fault ?" The answer is yes. It's a no win situation !!

The one and ONLY time you 'could' get away with answering no to this question , would be if it was all done privately between two parties.

 

[Jimmy]

It's really not worth lying to/hiding information from insurers about incidents, fault or not. If the truth comes out then you can get in an awful lot of trouble.

We pay our premiums and hope that nothing happens. If it does and premiums go up, well that just has to be added to the many costs of driving. It can be unfair, especially when it is someone else's carelessness, but that's the chance we take.

 

[montana]

It's really not worth lying to/hiding information from insurers about incidents, fault or not. If the truth comes out then you can get in an awful lot of trouble.

We pay our premiums and hope that nothing happens. If it does and premiums go up, well that just has to be added to the many costs of driving. It can be unfair, especially when it is someone else's carelessness, but that's the chance we take.

Agreed !

 

[shells2074]

I was assured as it's 'non fault ' my premiums are not affected at all. 'Have you had an accident in the last 5 years?', well my parked vehicle got reversed into so my answer would be 'the guy that reversed into it had an accident yes'. Non fault does not affect premiums, my insurance were no longer involved. I'll be sure to update this in May at the renewal though and let you all know.

 

[Chrisgti6]

I was assured as it's 'non fault ' my premiums are not affected at all. 'Have you had an accident in the last 5 years?', well my parked vehicle got reversed into so my answer would be 'the guy that reversed into it had an accident yes'. Non fault does not affect premiums, my insurance were no longer involved. I'll be sure to update this in May at the renewal though and let you all know.

It depends on the insurer but in most cases it WILL affect it. Regarless of not being in the car at the time. The question asked is 'Have you made a claim, regardless of fault' blah blah blah. Yo have made a claim, just not on your own insurance policy, on the third parties.

I know this to be true as my wife has 2 non-fault claims on her record (one of which the car was parked up, just like yours) and they add about £30 a year to her premium.

It won't make a huge difference, and if you can find the right insurer it'll not cost you anything extra, but i've not found one yet!

 

[shells2074]

It's wrong isn't it. It's someone else's fault and we may face costs too. They need to sort that out. Like I said though, I've been assured my by insurers and the other parties that my premiums aren't affected at all

 

[matt9566]

I had a non fault claim sometime last year and it has affected my premium quite a lot, when I found the cheapest price without the claim added compared to the cheapest price with the claim, it added about £300+ on for the year. I am only 22 with only 1 year no claims so I suppose i'm still classed as slightly high risk anyway (Although i've never had any accidents other than the non fault one)
I did phone the insurance company and explain that the accident wasn't my fault in any way and all costs were recovered from the other insurer however they said it still counts towards how many accidents my type of car has had and makes it a higher risk hence the price increase.

 

[Jimmy]

Yeah unfortunately these days insurers will load premiums regardless of fault. It's massively unfair if it's someone else that is to blame, however that's the world we live in.

The amount the premium changes will vary from one person to the next, but there is likely to be an effect...

 

[shells2074]

I really do think it may depend on the insurers and the policy you have. I have all the bells and whistles so they can whistle for more dough from me

 

[ben_r1]

Similar thing happened to my mrs a few years back. Her insurance rocketed as did mine because she was a named driver, bad times.