eddie snax:
After the storms of 87, Mum and Dad had some damage to out buildings, well the whole gable end had come down. So the assessor came out, filled out his report and went away, a week or 2 later the old Man got a letter stating that the property had been under insured and that the claim would not proceed, not so fast thinks the old man, he still had the original property report from which the insurance agent had valued the policy a few years earlier(being a not bog standard property they’d had a surveyor to do it), so he gets onto the insurance people and starts putting in a few why’s and what fors, so the agent is sent out, and takes a copy of the report, after another couple of weeks they had to admit they were in the wrong, as though the property was under insured, it was their fault, so they paid up and honoured the premium for remainder of the term
All this wriggling out of paying has been going on for years
I believe they’re taught to say that the first words out of their mouths should be ‘you’re not covered for that’ and then fight it from there. Happy to take the premiums but …
I don’t know exactly what information is kept on the database, but I find it hard to believe that when a company makes an insurance claim the drivers details are not passed onto the insurance company, I would say that the drivers details are almost certainly put on the Cue database.
slightly off topic here , but many years ago I bought a car that was stolen recovered , (no damage) however the ins co had paid out to the then owner . someone else bought it from ins co (possibly through auction or whatever) . I insured the car as normal and approx. 18 month later it was stolen again ! this time it was written off due to damage being more than the cars worth.i put in a claim and was refused. when I queried this I was told about its history (it was listed on a database ?) and they wouldn’t be paying out for it again as I hadn’t disclosed the facts (I didn’t know ) my reply was "you let me insure a car ,and took my money knowing its history in the hoped the gamble (for that’s what insurance is) would go your way ■■? I wonder what the ombudsman will make of that ? they paid out eventually but I struggled to get reasonable ins quotes for a few years . so I am of the opinion that they all piddle in the same pot and information is shared . so I would be inclined to declare any claims rather than suddenly find my (expensive ) car is only insured up to the point I make a claim .
Certainly rely on TN to het a debate off the ground.
Some interesting replys here thanks for them all
My car insurance was renewed not long ago and as usual i was shocked at the renewal figure, when i looked into it one of the “optional” boxes had licence number. As im clean and no adverse history i entered my number and my quote dropped nearly £200.
Anyway like i said just summit me and a few drivers started discussing. Thanks all for replies.
My personal opinion is its wrong that our professional and personal licences clash in this way if you see where im coming from
End of the day it makes no difference if its,car,house, travel,life insurance etc if you dont declare relevant info Insurers will try and wriggle out of paying up. Same goes for premiums they will try to increase them for the slightest reason no matter how trivial, I made an inquiry ,only a phone query no paperwork involved, about a broken water pipe to see if I was covered,I wasnt,the following year my premium shot up when I queried why I was told I had made a claim for broken pipe damage.
Every detail about Insurance is held on a central database,that`s why you get numerous offers from Companies you have never had dealings with when your renewals are due
Agency driver does one day only for a company and causes damage to a lorry
The driver does no more work for that agency
Company puts a claim into their insurer naming the driver
The driver who has nothing now to do with the agency or the company gets asked by their own private car insurance company if they have had any claims in the past … the driver says no because they are not aware of any
If you had two cars, each with their own insurance, a claim on one vehicle WOULD affect the renewal of the second vehicle also.
The vehicle you drive for work is effectively your second vehicle, it’s just that YOU don’t pay for it. Therefore any bump in a works vehicle would also affect your private insurance.
On a side note, insurance companies are complete cockwombles. After the 2007 floods in Hull, insurance companies were forced by parliament to offer home insurance at “competitive rates”. They got round this by bumping the excesses up to tens of thousands of pounds. That agreement is coming to an end now and anyone living within 3 miles of a river in Hull (that’s most of us) is considered a flood risk and struggles to get insured.
Agency driver does one day only for a company and causes damage to a lorry
The driver does no more work for that agency
Company puts a claim into their insurer naming the driver
The driver who has nothing now to do with the agency or the company gets asked by their own private car insurance company if they have had any claims in the past … the driver says no because they are not aware of any
Which would be correct, if they only asked about claims, but they don’t they phrase the question to ask for details of incidents involving any vehicle, like Aviva do. Just done an online quote with them.
In your scenario the driver would have been aware of an incident they were involved in. As ever with ins companies it is how the question is worded and this is what will catch folks out when answering them.
There was a case recently, where the owners of a ship were claiming for something, and the Insurer refused to pay out stating that some piece of information had not been disclosed, thus invalidating the insurance policy. The Courts decided that as the said piece of non disclosure was of no material effect to the claim at hand, the Insurer could non invalidate the policy, and had to pay up
what that not when harland and wolff forgot to tell them that captain smith had already written of the olympic before they rung it up as the titanic and subsequently sank it?..
Agency driver does one day only for a company and causes damage to a lorry
The driver does no more work for that agency
Company puts a claim into their insurer naming the driver
At which point it isn’t rocket science to understand that the ‘driver’ in question is then on the insurers’ data base and needs to answer any questions in the future, asking for details of ‘any’ previous accidents,accordingly.
Agency driver does one day only for a company and causes damage to a lorry
The driver does no more work for that agency
Company puts a claim into their insurer naming the driver
At which point it isn’t rocket science to understand that the ‘driver’ in question is then on the insurers’ data base and needs to answer any questions in the future, asking for details of ‘any’ previous accidents,accordingly.
And possible scenario;
You insure your private car for £350; a week later your insurer finds your name on the database and now knows you have had a bump and failed to disclose, they now increase your premium to £1,350 and ask you for the £1,000 - you refuse to pay and the insurer cancels your policy refuses to give you back your initial £350. You are now faced with the unenviable task of looking for an insurer as not only someone who has previously been refused but as a suspected liar. And it may not just be your motor insurance affected, your home insurance may double or treble; Insurance companies are pure poison.
As soon as I saw the title I thought, on Truck net ! you serious.
Every time I fill in an insurance form I answer it as honestly as I can. I figure they have seen every scam going at one time or another so it will take some one a lot clever then me to pull the wool over their eyes.
As far as I’m concerned a traffic incident is a traffic incident, work or not makes no difference.
I note that some insurance companies also want to know details of any non - motoring convictions.
So anyone who has been pinched for not having a TV licence, climbing upon the Runcorn Bridge or
urinating in a public place, etc etc. can expect to have increased premiums?
Agency driver does one day only for a company and causes damage to a lorry
The driver does no more work for that agency
Company puts a claim into their insurer naming the driver
The driver who has nothing now to do with the agency or the company gets asked by their own private car insurance company if they have had any claims in the past … the driver says no because they are not aware of any
Only that the insurer would contact the driver, via the last known address available to the agency, requiring a statement of the events surrounding the claim and would not proceed with the claim until such a statement had been received, so said driver would know all about the insurance claim
I’m not sure, but I’m fairly confident, that in the case of an insurance investigation, the investigators would be able to access the drivers recorded address from the DVLA, and tha agency would have the drivers licence number, so he’d be tracked down
I had a number of bumps over the years and an ex mate/family friend refused to get in my car and said i’m not insured,he reckoned that because I didn’t declare my accidents in my lorry to my car insurers then I wasn’t insured,i haven’t had even a scratch in my car in over 25 years but he reckons the accidents in my lorries count so refused to get in my car,no skin off my nose as the guy is a ■■■■ to this day,allways telling me he didn’t like hgv drivers even though his dad was one on drinkwater many years ago
dieseldog999:
There was a case recently, where the owners of a ship were claiming for something, and the Insurer refused to pay out stating that some piece of information had not been disclosed, thus invalidating the insurance policy. The Courts decided that as the said piece of non disclosure was of no material effect to the claim at hand, the Insurer could non invalidate the policy, and had to pay up
what that not when harland and wolff forgot to tell them that captain smith had already written of the olympic before they rung it up as the titanic and subsequently sank it?..
If I have an accident with a work vehicle, such as causing slight damage to car, do I have to declare this to my private insurer?
DS, by email
In many cases, if a driver is involved in a minor accident where the damage is minimal then they will try to fix the vehicle themself without making a claim against their insurance.
However, if the damage is more extensive, then of course it’s likely that the insurance companies will become involved, and this can get a little more complicated when it is a commercial vehicle that has been damaged, said Ross Travers, managing director at C&A Mackie, a specialist motor insurance company.
He said: "Unofficially, a lot of motorists who have a slight accident in a work vehicle will leave the company’s own insurer to deal with the issue and will not mention the incident to their own private insurer.
"While you may think this will protect any ‘no claims bonus’ that you’ve built up, you could be leaving yourself open to problems a little further down the line.
“Essentially, you are withholding information that an insurer needs in order to calculate your risk as a driver.”
If an insurer discovers that a driver has failed to report an accident, then the driver’s personal policy could be declared null and void, and they might struggle to obtain cover in the future.
“Non-disclosure is a serious issue.” Mr Travers said. “Honesty is generally the best policy, even if you feel that accidents involving your work vehicle shouldn’t impact your own personal insurance.”
dieseldog999:
There was a case recently, where the owners of a ship were claiming for something, and the Insurer refused to pay out stating that some piece of information had not been disclosed, thus invalidating the insurance policy. The Courts decided that as the said piece of non disclosure was of no material effect to the claim at hand, the Insurer could non invalidate the policy, and had to pay up
what that not when harland and wolff forgot to tell them that captain smith had already written of the olympic before they rung it up as the titanic and subsequently sank it?..
The Olympic sailed successfully from 1911 until she was scrapped in 1935
and honoured the premium for remainder of the term
