2 accidents in 2 days :-(

Wheety

First my fault, second one not.

I was driving onto a motorway and was distracted for a split second coming down the onramp. I ended up crashing into the wall, no one else involved. Lucky it was only the onramp so speed was reduced but still did a good amount of damage. Maybe €3-4000 in repairs. I'm willing to pay for it myself to keep my no claims as insurance is currently below €350. Luckily we were all ok. Air bags didn't even deploy so hopefully the damage is just to the panels of the car.

Garage I used loan me a car and the next day in a carpark and someone left their handbrake off and rolled into the loaner car. Some damage to the rear bumper. Took loads of photos and insurance details etc. We informed the Guards but they obviously didn't come (we didn't expect them to). We just did it as the service staff said they have CCTV and just in case we need the Guards to request it. Neither us or the driver of the other car were there when it happened. The girl admitted she must have left the handbrake off and was very shaken. A witness said that they saw the driver just get out and walk away after it happened. I'm not so sure but if so, the CCTV will show it.

I had rang my insurance company's breakdown assist for the first one. Does this mean they were informed or do I have to tell them I had an accident? Will that affect my premium even if I don't claim?

For the 2nd one, I had switched my insurance over. Does that mean I have to inform the insurance company about that too? I'm not sure what's going to happen here. Even though we were insured on it, I think the owner of the other car (it was a creche car) and the garage will probably sort it between themselves.

Basically what I'm asking is, do I need to inform the insurance company of both even if I don't claim?

Brian201888

You need to inform them of both, you would also be mad not to claim on the first one.

on_the_roots

If in the 1st accident the damage costs 3k or more I would say it's much better claiming on your own policy. With a E350,00 premium you probably have some NCB protection. The difference you are going to pay on the next 2 ~ 3 years will be much less than repairing it by yourself, for sure.

Wheety

How long do you have to declare a claim for, when looking for new policies?

If I pay it myself, I notice that some companies don't ask if you've had an accident, just a claim. So I wouldn't have to declare the first one?

Have asked the garage owner what he wants to do with the second one. It's their car but I was insured on it at the time.

What bad luck I had this week. If I didn't do the first one, the 2nd one wouldn't have happened .

I'll tell my insurance about both anyway.

on_the_roots

The question "have you been involved in a car accident in the past X years?" is pretty clear and means any involvement in accidents, whether or not claimed against an insurer.

However I do agree that if you didn't claim and resolved by yourself it may be impossible for the insurer to prove otherwise, but only in case the other party didn't notify their insurer about the matter, which is pretty hard to know.

Wheety

AXA only ask if there's been a claim.