Foreign Lorry Drivers !!!!

[EAndy]

We just changed insurers and they quoted us on our work van £942 any driver, covers cost of £500,000 equipment inside etc, etc.

Forgot to declare a non fault claim originally on the phone (£2000 of damage where van overshot a junction and took out the side door and a wheel), rang them back and they put it in... £942

Made no difference at all.

Insurance is purely hit and miss.

For anything under £500 just purely on the basis of the hassle factor and what not I would just pay out rather than go through insurance though. I think my excess is about £350 anyway and I'd have to wait to get that back 'x' amount of time I'd rather just skip all the paper work and 5 following years of hassle declaring it and stump up the £500.

But out of principle of it not being your fault I understand your dilemma especially as I have a uninsured pigeon costing me a front bumper respray + grill which is a good few hundred.

[GlastoVeteran]

Here's the REALLY stupid thing - even if you cover the cost yourself you are legally obliged to declare it at renewal time. Yep, even though you have paid for it yourself they will still want to load your premium because they see you as a higher risk.

Of course no-one is going to declare it if they go down this route, but I believe by law you have to. I think you'll find that rather than insurers asking "how many claims have you made in the last 5 years" it will be "how many accidents or losses have you suffered in the last 5 years". It's worded to cover this. Madness.

[KingOfTheGT-R]

I hate insurance companies, they are so greedy.

[Julesthecat]

I had a couple of "no fault" claims on policy and when it came to renewal (or changing insurance company - which I do most years ) they always said that no fault claims didn't count against me when calculating insurance premium.

However, the risk you may run in claiming is that the insurance co decides on your behalf to settle 50/50 because it's not worth the hassle or cost to pursue. That happened a mate of mine even though it clearly should have been a no fault claim.

I reckon that you should claim but only if you are certain that there is no possible benefit-of-the-doubt for the lorry driver if he were to dispute fault.

Another alternative may be to talk to the company he works for to see if they would be willing to cash up without going thru insurance. For £400 or so they might just sign off on it without admitting liability.

[SamboGrove]

Well i've literally just got a quote from admiral multicar and i got 2 quotes. I did one without putting in 2 no fault accidents which my other half had about 2yrs ago and one quote that included them.

The difference in cost was to put my GTR up by about £100 (even though shes down as an occasional user) and put her insurance for her mini countryman up by about £50.

Conclusive proof imo that no fault claims do put your insurance up. Ridiculous!