Hi All,
I had my mate listed as another driver in my car insurance policy and he had an accident hitting the rear side into a piller. My excess is $800 which my friend is happy to pay. However, I wonder if i go with the insurance, my premium will be increased even i wasn't the driver while the accident occurred.
Will taking my mate off from the insurance policy after the claim will bring my premium back to where it was? Please assist.
Thanks
The general likelihood is that your insurance premium will increase if you make a claim, regardless of blame or fault. Even if you claim as the driver and wasn’t your fault (e.g. someone rear-ended you when stationary), your premium usually still increases as you are seen as a higher risk to claim.
Your mate may have been driving but you made the claim. In the weird world of personal insurance you are both penalised for this.
Your premiums are going up. If you went to another company and you didnt list this claim in your disclosure (to try and get a cheaper price) it would be grounds for them to make your insurance claim null and void in the future (not what you want), because YOU have made this insurance claim (it dosnt usually phrase it as if you were the driver, it usually says "in the last x years have you had any accidents, insurance claims, claims denied or insurance refused or cancelled")
By the same token when your mate goes to renew his own insurance he has a duty to phone up the insurance company and disclose the accident he has had in your car. This will result in increased premiums for him as well. If he chooses not to tell them then has a accident that would have the right to refuse the claim due to non-disclosure.
Since you haven't made the claim yet. Find a new provider, select no claims. Take out the policy. Wait a few days, make the claim. Hopefully this policy will run 3-5 years with no claim and you can go back to your old provider if you wish.
Clever
Yeah, thats not the way insurance works. Most insurance companies are owned by 2-3 large companies (IAG, Suncorp) so your driving history isnt as secret as you think it is.
Also the question the insurance companies explicitly asks is "Have you had any accidents or claims"… not just "claims". If you have a accident that dosnt result in a claim your are required to disclose it.
This advice is also a good way to get charged with fraud (knowingly entering into a contract under false pretences), also once you have had insurance/claim refused or cancelled you will find it near on impossible to get any insurance for the next 5-10 years (which would extend to all forms of insurance including home and contents)
Incorrect! First insurer I started a quote with (NRMA) has this:
How many motor claims have you made in the last 3 years?
As well as
In the past 2 years, has any owner or driver had their licence cancelled or suspended due to any driving offences?
And
In the last 5 years, has any owner or driver had any insurance refused, cancelled or avoided, insurance renewal not offered, special conditions imposed or claim refused?
Nothing saying "Have you had any accidents?" or similar.
Whoever negged me, and tunza, please revoke it - you were wrong.
How do you reply to the question about having any existing damage on the car?
@iforgotmysocks: this question wasn't asked. And even if it was, you could answer it honestly - they just don't want to have to cover anything that happened in the past. That's fine - you aren't planning to claim it with them. So they can exclude it as much as they like.
so what happens if you have an accident 6 months later and you make a claim.
After they do a check on you, will your insurance company turn around and say you lied on your application hence, we are not covering you at all……
Potential liability can run into the thousands…if not, hundreds of thousands depending on the severity.
Not worth the risk.
Pay for the excess and count your lucky stars that your still on earth.
Except you didn't lie, because at the time of the statement, you hadn't had any claims.
I don't see how this will work as most insurance policies only cover incidents that occur during the period of the insurance.
You will need to declare when the accident occurred. If it occurred before the policy then you need to claim on your previous insurance.
Of course, this advice seems premised on you having no integrity so I suppose you can try to lie about when the accident occurred. If you do that then you are looking at fraud and I hope you get caught because you are making insurance more costly for everyone.
well said mate.
The idea is you DO claim on the previous insurance, but you get the next year (or however long you can prepay) at no claim bonus prices (with a different insurer).
I think you guys didn't understand the post.
If you claim on previous insurance you still have to notify the new insurance if not done so already.
@Hybroid: why? If it is already taken out and paid for.
People have accidents every day and choose to take care of them themselves rather than tell their insurance, if the excess is higher than paying to fix it, or if they don't want to lose their no claim bonus.
@Quantumcat: Because they make you, to see you as a higher risk and gouge you further. If you don't and have an accident which you claim and they find out you didn't tell them about past history, they'll refuse to pay out blaming you for not keeping them updated as per T&Cs.
@Hybroid: are you saying that anyone who pays to fix a little dent themselves to avoid losing the no claims bonus or whose excess is greater than the cost to fix it, is just setting themselves up to not have cover in future accidents?
Why would people do it then? And what constitutes a reportable incident? A little scratch that isn't worth fixing? Replacing broken glass in your wing mirror? Dent to a hubcap? Where does it stop? If I buy a buffing pad on ebay and fix a scratch, suddenly they won't cover me in future? It doesn't make any logical sense that you have to report things you're not involving your insurance in.
@Quantumcat: No, that's not what I said. None of those items are CLAIMS. If it's a claim, you have to let them know.
If you make any changes to what is considered a stock car then you also have to let them know. Minor repairs are not notifiable.
It will still increase if you make a claim.