saint Posted October 27, 2015 Author Share Posted October 27, 2015 You are required to inform the police IF you don't swop details with all interested parties, or if there are injuries, otherwise they dont want / need to know. If you make a claim at any stage during your policy and your car is a total loss the policy generally ends otherwise the policy will only be adjusted at renewal. As said earlier and others have also said, insurance is not fair but you have to see it from their side, it's easier for them to refund an adjustment than Chase an individual, and yes any reported accident will potentially impact future premiums regardless of fault and even if you have protected n.c.b. I was speaking to a copper about this recently and he said in the eyes of the law there is no such thing as an accident. It is a road traffic collision and all of them are meant to be reported to the police and they will then take a view as to whether any further action needs to be taken. He said its the law as it stands. Obviously they don`t tend to get involved in something that is just a small coming together but if its more serious then they take a view on whether action should be taken to stop it happening again, such as an awareness course. Or they may just prosecute because they feel the outcome requires it and you need to suffer the consequences. Hopefully he was wrong and you are not obliged to report it. I know i would never involve them unless forced to as they always seem to make matters worse On this topic, if there's a "next time" or for anyone else out there - what do you legally have to do after a minor accident? I called my insurance like a good boy to notify them of a potential claim which has led to them going "he made a claim lads, lets shred that NCB and pocket his cash!". Yes, I can get the money back next year once it blows over (I better do since I now have a thousand pound loan to cover that time!) but did I jump too soon? The other guy never even contacted his insurance, so I basically dobbed myself in. Adrian Flux are sympathetic, but the underwriters don't care about any of it, even telling me to go to the ombudsman if I had a problem. I did, and they said everything so far is within the law since there is potential for a claim up until 9 months after the event. Regardless, if this kind of thing happens again I'm giving the other guy my details and then waiting to see what happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigjackb Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 You are required to inform the police IF you don't swop details with all interested parties, or if there are injuries, otherwise they dont want / need to know. If you make a claim at any stage during your policy and your car is a total loss the policy generally ends otherwise the policy will only be adjusted at renewal. As said earlier and others have also said, insurance is not fair but you have to see it from their side, it's easier for them to refund an adjustment than Chase an individual, and yes any reported accident will potentially impact future premiums regardless of fault and even if you have protected n.c.b. I was speaking to a copper about this recently and he said in the eyes of the law there is no such thing as an accident. It is a road traffic collision and all of them are meant to be reported to the police and they will then take a view as to whether any further action needs to be taken. He said its the law as it stands. Obviously they don`t tend to get involved in something that is just a small coming together but if its more serious then they take a view on whether action should be taken to stop it happening again, such as an awareness course. Or they may just prosecute because they feel the outcome requires it and you need to suffer the consequences. Hopefully he was wrong and you are not obliged to report it. I know i would never involve them unless forced to as they always seem to make matters worse I can guarantee you that not all accidents are reportable to police, only if there is injury or if insurance details are not swapped are Police needed to be contacted. This comes from being a cop and unfortunately having far too many calls about minor RTC's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaydnH Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 Why would you charge someone for something that may happen in the future... Ummm... isn't that the definition of insurance? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mouthwash Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 (edited) Why would you charge someone for something that may happen in the future... Ummm... isn't that the definition of insurance? When you take my sentence out of context, maybe. Edited October 28, 2015 by mouthwash Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grundy Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 Tax might increase on food next year, lets whack up the Tax now by 50% just incase. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nowhereboy Posted October 28, 2015 Share Posted October 28, 2015 You are required to inform the police IF you don't swop details with all interested parties, or if there are injuries, otherwise they dont want / need to know. If you make a claim at any stage during your policy and your car is a total loss the policy generally ends otherwise the policy will only be adjusted at renewal. As said earlier and others have also said, insurance is not fair but you have to see it from their side, it's easier for them to refund an adjustment than Chase an individual, and yes any reported accident will potentially impact future premiums regardless of fault and even if you have protected n.c.b. I was speaking to a copper about this recently and he said in the eyes of the law there is no such thing as an accident. It is a road traffic collision and all of them are meant to be reported to the police and they will then take a view as to whether any further action needs to be taken. He said its the law as it stands. Obviously they don`t tend to get involved in something that is just a small coming together but if its more serious then they take a view on whether action should be taken to stop it happening again, such as an awareness course. Or they may just prosecute because they feel the outcome requires it and you need to suffer the consequences. Hopefully he was wrong and you are not obliged to report it. I know i would never involve them unless forced to as they always seem to make matters worse On this topic, if there's a "next time" or for anyone else out there - what do you legally have to do after a minor accident? I called my insurance like a good boy to notify them of a potential claim which has led to them going "he made a claim lads, lets shred that NCB and pocket his cash!". Yes, I can get the money back next year once it blows over (I better do since I now have a thousand pound loan to cover that time!) but did I jump too soon? The other guy never even contacted his insurance, so I basically dobbed myself in. Adrian Flux are sympathetic, but the underwriters don't care about any of it, even telling me to go to the ombudsman if I had a problem. I did, and they said everything so far is within the law since there is potential for a claim up until 9 months after the event. Regardless, if this kind of thing happens again I'm giving the other guy my details and then waiting to see what happens. In hindsight if you hadn't contacted the insurance company and settled it outside of the insurance it's highly unlikely they would have ever found out about it. The only way would be if someone informs them or for some reason the police got involved (which rarely happens). So to answer your question, yes you did pretty much drop yourself in it but technically speaking you did the "right thing". As a broker I find myself in this situation loads, a customer will be making small talk and drops themselves in it by informing me of an accident that was settled outside of the insurance. My heart sinks every time, inside I'm thinking "just shut up, your opening a can of worms here". It's my legal obligation to advise the underwriter of the incident once a customer tells me something and you guessed it, my job to call them back and inform them the good news about premium increases. For the record (and incase my company is reading ) I am in no way advising anyone not disclose things to an insurance company. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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