Neighbour hit car

[flimper]

I've told AXA I don't need a hire car, but I've just seen what I can choose from and am tempted to change my mind!

TVR Tuscan Targa (4.0), Porsche Boxster S (3.2), BMW Z4M (3.2),
Mercedes-Benz CLK350 Cabriolet (3.5), Mercedes-Benz E 350
Cabriolet/Coupe, BMW M3 E46 (3.2)

[Big Bad Boris]

Hopefully Mr Tidy will be on soon, as he has some background in insurance. My understanding is that you should just hold the neighbour responsible, claim off him directly and it’s up to him to get his insurer involved. There should not be any need to involve your insurer who will inevitably bump up premiums etc. I may be wrong though.

I believe you need to inform your insurer, but don’t actually open a claim.

[Mr Tidy]

I've told AXA I don't need a hire car, but I've just seen what I can choose from and am tempted to change my mind!

TVR Tuscan Targa (4.0), Porsche Boxster S (3.2), BMW Z4M (3.2),
Mercedes-Benz CLK350 Cabriolet (3.5), Mercedes-Benz E 350
Cabriolet/Coupe, BMW M3 E46 (3.2)

Can you change your mind?

I'd love to have a TVR for a few days!

And Saga weren't too happy that I didn't report it For Information Only - maybe that's why they charged another £20 and increased the excess?

[Nanu]

I had a claim when a drunk driver hit my car, witnessed Police prosecuted him and I claimed off his insurance but out of curtesy informed my insurance as I thought they would find out anyway.

My premiums went up and when I queried this they said it was because I was an increased risk. Had to declare it for the next 7 years.

[Zedebee]

Hopefully Mr Tidy will be on soon, as he has some background in insurance. My understanding is that you should just hold the neighbour responsible, claim off him directly and it’s up to him to get his insurer involved. There should not be any need to involve your insurer who will inevitably bump up premiums etc. I may be wrong though.

I believe you need to inform your insurer, but don’t actually open a claim.

Do read your small print, but I don’t see why you should have any obligation to inform your insurer if your car is damaged and you have no intention of making a claim. They are not a party to the transaction. Clearly if you have damaged someone else’s vehicle or property you would need to notify them so as not to invalidate the third party element of your insurance.

[pvr]

The small print does say “accident or loss whether claimed or not”. Unfortunately no way of getting out of that one

[MikeyH]

I thought there is something about full disclosure on insurance forms

[beanie]

I had a claim when a drunk driver hit my car, witnessed Police prosecuted him and I claimed off his insurance but out of curtesy informed my insurance as I thought they would find out anyway.

My premiums went up and when I queried this they said it was because I was an increased risk. Had to declare it for the next 7 years.

This sort of thing always strikes me as an abuse of statistics. It’s one thing to cause an accident or be partially to blame, but to be a victim that sufferers through zero personal fault shouldn’t lump you in to the same category.

Perhaps they should refund their increase if you don’t claim within those seven years

[pvr]

It is an abuse by the insurance companies, and only done in the UK.

[tomscott]

My car was stolen while under the care of a garage. Not on my property or my care.

The garages CCTV was conveniently non operational. In the end my insurance lost the case in court and I ended up loosing my 14 years no claims because even with protecting your no claims they only protect 3 years. So essentially it was all claimed on my insurance even tho it was no fault of my own and all the fault of the garage. It was in a locked compound and they wrote the numberplate on a keyring attached to my keys.

My insurance was around 320 and this year the cheapest renewal was over 900 and I have to wait 5 years to stop declairing it.

I was with admiral and they were a complete nightmare. They made made decisions on my behalf without first asking.

This was at the peak of the car cost craze. It was a 3 year old clubman JCW with 10k on it and pretty much every option you could get and there wasn't another one for sale similar for less than 28k. Admiral offered me 16k and with negotiation the top I could get was 18.5k thankfully this paid the rest of the finance and left me with my deposit. That being said if I needed to go and buy another I wouldn't have been able to.

Bottom line you have to have insurance due to law but they are never on your side, the cost of the insurance and then they fight with you when they need you most.

[pvr]

How exactly is that different to when the garage crashes your car when driving it around? That is on their insurance, not on yours.

[tomscott]

Yep but there you go. That's how it was ruled. BS.

[beanie]

Bloody hell, that’s awful

At the very least you should have been put back to the same situation/compensated correctly. Did you not speak to a lawyer or the ombudsman?

[Nanu]

Legal claim against the owners of the garage I would have thought

[MikeyH]

Legal claim against the owners of the garage I would have thought

Agreed, duty of care