When asked by an Insurance provider, "have you had any claims in the last five years " and as you are probably getting insurance cover for your MX-5 or Roadster, you then answer non, honestly, because you have not made a claim to do with your MX-5/Roadster.
IF you own another car, as I suspect most of us do, that you have made a claim for with a different insurance company and don’t divulge this when buying insurance for your MX-5/Roadster then you could be in for a shock if you ever have to claim on the Roadster policy.
I have not been in this unfortunate position but asked the question of the guy, who rang me up yesterday trying to get me to change from NU to Rias, “do you have to declare any claims on other vehicles with other insurance companies”. The guy didn’t know the answer to the question and had to go and get the answer from, I guess, his supervisor, who affirmed that yes you do have to divulge this information.
Now I appreciate that a lot of members may know this but maybe a few may not.
Really? That’s a poor show from what I can only assume is a “script” based call centre!
I thought that it was fairly obvious that it would be from any car, hence “any claims in the last 5 years”, not “claims on this vehicle in the last 5 years”.
Whilst clearing the path a bit, when it says “any motoring convictions in the last 5 years” - the SP30 (Exceeding statutory speed limit on a public road) from 4 years ago still counts!
I’m entrigued, so I’m going to make a wee poll [:)]
Yes, that is a non-fault claim. It will usually only make a tiny difference, if any to a premium, and should (technically) be declared.
If memory serves, the questions is “…accidents or claims in the last…”, so anything should be declared.
However, where you draw the line gets me - is anything that is accidental an accident? No. For instance, if you scuff a kerb, that is accidental. If you bottom out on a speed bump, it sure as heck is not deliberate, so therefore it is accidental. If you clip a mirror going in to your own garage…
So, if accidental does not mean accident (which as I understand it from a legal point it does not), what is the difference between scuffing your mirror on your garage, and scuffing it on a car in the carpark? What is the difference between scuffing your mirror, and scuffing your front wing?
I always assumed any claims meant any claims. It’s only reasonable, otherwise you could buy a new car and consider your record wiped clean. Thankfully, the only such claim I’ve ever had to reveal is a no-fault claim by my other half (a named driver on my insurance) when her own car was run into. Oh - and a replacement windscreen for me when mine got chipped. Neither affected my premium, AFAIK.
Well the good news is that 13.3% of the members who didn’t know, now do know the answer, which if is related to the number of members that are in the club, will probably be in the high hundreds. As I don’t know how many members of this club there are, I can’t say for sure.
I have had 2 Bike prangs, one 50/50 and one was pending when I insured last year with Bell. They told me they didn’t count if I had letters from insurers stating they were on bikes, I got letters and all was OK…
When I re-insured I didn’t declare the bike accidents because I thought they didn’t count. A week later I got a call from Perf Direct (new insurer) saying they had flagged up accidents and wanted lots more money to insure me [:(]. I moved to Adrian Flux, told 'em EVERYTHING!!!
^^^^Most important thing when dealing with insurers.^^^
If you fail to reveal anything that may effect your cover, from different wheels through to an SP30 5 years to a no fault claim years ago, then they will worm out of any claim you may make.
The insurance companies share claims information via a central database - Claims and Underwriting Exchange. It is principally used to protect the insurers against policyholders that make habitual, fraudulent claims but obviously can be used for other purposes (i.e. to make sure you are not telling porkies when you apply for a new policy).
They keep records of all your insurance claims (motor and home) for the last 6 years.
They couldn’t help me when I was trying to prove that I was entitled to over 9 years NCB and their system can fall down if you have both a forename and a middle name and you use your middle name as your given name …
I think the key word here is ‘claim’ - if you have a minor bump with another vehicle and settle between you without involving the insurance companies then you are in the clear. My son had a prang a few years back when just 17 and agreed to pay the driver £250 cash which kept the accident off his insurance record which would likely have been much more adversely affected when he came to renew He was clearly at fault (tail end shunt) but chose to follow that option and was lucky that the other driver was pretty decent about it.
As for telling insurance companies about everything, well coincidentally my wife has been pulled by the police today for speeding (first time ever), handed a £60 fine and an invitation to a ‘speed awareness day’. The policeman told her that on that basis there would be no points on her licence and no need to declare it to the insurance company.
Also I just found out that if you buy a brand new car and you then purchase items on the manufactures options list and these items are dealer fitted not fitted at the factory then they are classed as modifications so items like sill trims, vent trims even the hoop trims are classed as modifications and have to be declared.
That’s correct. Speed awareness courses and driver improvement schemes are not classed as convictions therefore no need to disclose. (At the moment). I can see insurance companies asking for these declarations in future as it will givethem an excuse to bump the policy price up.
You might find that any dealer fitted extras will not be replaced if damaged in an accident. My wife has just had her Vauxhall Corsa repaired and we had stainless steel Irmscher door handle covers fitted from new. They were not declared and the insurance only covered the cost of the standard handle. I think it is probably best to notify the insurance company or you could end up out of pocket.
You also need to remember that if you drive a company vehicle (car/van/truck/bus) you still have to declare any accidents that you might have had while driving at work on a company insurance policy. They all count!
Well. to bring a long story up to date, the police eventually decided that they felt my wife had been going too fast for a speed awareness course and insisted she take 3 points. I decided to ring the insurance company to disclose the fact which immediately cost me an extra £24 on my wife’s premium and a commendation from the customer service rep for my honesty.
However when I asked what the consequences might have been had my wife subsequently had an accident and not disclosed the conviction the unhesitating answer was “very simple sir, we would not have paid the claim since you hadn’t disclosed all the facts or kept us abreast of events during the period of insurance”…
Separately when I told A Plan through whom I insure my MX-5 there was no addition to my premium.
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). I can see insurance companies asking for these declarations in future as it will givethem an excuse to bump the policy price up.