Minor accident = Z4 write off :(

[Rockhopper]

The question they usually ask is:

“Have you had any accidents, claims or losses – regardless of fault – in the last 5 years?”

You were lucky they didn’t just cancel it as then you’d be in a world of pain as another question they ask is:

“ In the last 5 years, have you or anyone on this policy had any insurance policy cancelled or declared void by an insurer for fraud or misrepresentation?”

You’d be lucky to even get a quote if you answered yes to that one!

 

[trailZ4]

Hey guys, thanks for all the comments and apologies for taking ages to respond.

So I took advice above and have cancelled the claim on my car - I've still had to go through insurance for 3rd party though as I ran into the back of someone.

So now I just need to get my Z4 repaired out of my own pocket. It looks like slam panel may be bent but I'm hoping sub frame is not affected - I really was only going quite slow for impact. I think it'll be difficult to find a replacement bumper so will probably end up paying a bodyshop to repair and respray...

 

[Pondrew]

As said by several people above. if you contact insurance regarding a claim they will put it on the national insurance database whether you actually claim or not. It goes down as 'an incident' which to all intents and purposes is an accident to them and you.
Generally for the next 5 years any insurance company will load your premiums by around 25%.
You can ask the insurance company who put the info on the database to remove it, and they can. But they won't!

Made this mistake when I hit a pheasant (which ran straight out from the verge) and it smashed my nearside headlight in a brand new Merc. Didn't claim and paid the £900 for a new headlight (that's another racket) but did enquire with insurance company whether it would be worth claiming. 25% increase in premiums for next 5 years and insurance refused to remove it from the database.

It is a fucking racket and also a cartel!

 

[trailZ4]

Agree with you Pondrew and all others slating insurance... the whole industry is farcical.

That said, I've accepted that my premium will increase and I can't really complain in this instance as I made a genuine claim to have the 3rd party vehicle repaired. It's just frustrating that owning a car like mine means any relatively minor damage (like what happened recently) will almost certainly result in them just writing my car off.

 

[Scubaregs]

One of the questions on an insurance quote is "any accidents, claims or convictions in the last X years?"

So not claiming is fine, but not revealing you had an accident when asked during a quote, even though you didn’t claim, is technically insurance fraud and could render your policy null and void.

Yes it's a racket. My biggest bugbear is an accident on my bike or in my car counts against both policies, but my NCB does not.

 

[brillomaster]

playing devils advocate, what counts as an accident though? i kerbed a wheel the other day, is that an accident? or if someone bangs their door into mine and leaves a small dent? my dad scraped their bumper and wing along a low wall on their property, but didnt claim anything on their insurance - should that be declared an accident?

 

[smorris_12]

As far as the insurance is concerned, the only form of accident should be where a claim or prosecution is involved. Otherwise, who's to say anything happened? If you drag a car down to the scrappy whether due to untrammelled rust, random electrical fire or ending up in a ditch due to ice on the road or the ice in a dozen gins, it shouldn't matter as it's your business how you dispose of an asset.

Unfortunately, it seems that the insurance companies take inquiries about accidents as proof of them.