Tag Archives: Accident

No Claims Discount/Bonus EXPLAINED

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No  Claims Discount (NCD) is built up over time when you do not claim for an accident.  The more years that have passed without you making a claim means you get a larger discount on your policy cost, because you are considered a lower risk to insure. When you have a fault claim or a split fault claim then your NCD will step back by 2 years. If you not claimed for have over 4 years, most Insurance companies will offer to Protect your NCD for an extra payment. This usually means they will let you have 2 fault or split fault claims within a five year period before your NCD starts to reduce.

If  you have an accident that is not your fault then this will not affect your No Claims Discount as long as your insurance company claims all the costs of your repairs back from the other Insurance Company. If your Insurance company is not able to claim the costs back (because you did not get the other vehicles registration number or the other driver was not insured), then it will be considered a claim on your policy regardless of whether you were at fault or not, as your Insurance company paid for your repairs but could not claim their costs back.

NCD is applied to the overall cost of the policy. Your premium is calculated by your driving history, previous accidents, where you live, where vehicle is kept overnight, if you use it for business etc. Once the premium is calculated that is when what ever No Claims Discount you have is applied. That means if you do have an accident but have protected  NCD, your premium will still increase as you are seen as a higher risk, it just means the same discount will be applied to a higher premium.


Accident Management Companies

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Accident Compensation

Accident Management Companies (otherwise  known as Ambulance Chasers)  are companies that provide a service to people who have had accidents but are not at fault. They can arrange the repairs to your vehicle and provide you with a hire car and they will claim the costs back from the Insurers of the person that caused the accident, plus their fee for the service.


Liability

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Most people’s expectations regarding road traffic accident liability are inaccurate, for this reason your Insurance company will advise you not to discuss liability with the other driver at the scene of an accident as you could possibly prejudice your own position and that of your Insurance company. Ie. You could accept fault for something that is not actually your fault in the eyes of the law, and now you have done it will be difficult to retract it further down the line.

Examples of liability:

ACCIDENTS WITH PARKED VEHICLES

Any accident involving a parked vehicle will find the moving vehicle at fault, regardless of the parked vehicles whereabouts.

Eg. Car A reverses off their drive and bumps into a Car B parked illegally on double yellow lines. Car A feels they are not at fault because Car B should not have been parked there.

Car B was parked illegally however it was parked and not moving, therefore it could not have caused the accident. Car A has the Duty of  Care (the responsibility) to make sure they do not hit anything whilst reversing – Car B was there to be seen. If Car A did not see Car B then they could not have been looking behind them properly – Car A is 100% at fault for this accident.  Nobody has the right to drive into a car just because it is parked illegally!!


You’ve had an accident involving another vehicle

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Ok  so you’ve had an accident and there is another vehicle involved. In insurance terms the owner of the other vehicle is known as the Third Party. Depending on how the accident occurred, either yourself or the Third Party will be seen to have caused the accident or in some cases you could both be at fault.

There are two main types of Insurance cover and you’ll be covered by one of these policies:

  • Fully Comprehensive – this means that in the event of an accident you are covered for damage to your own vehicle, Third Party Cover (damage you may cause to a Third Party vehicle), fire & theft.
  • Third Party, Fire & theft – This means you are covered for damage you cause to a Third Party vehicle, fire & theft. This does not cover repairs to your own vehicle if you have an accident. Third Party cover is the minimum legal requirement of cover to able to drive in the UK.

If you are at fault and you have Comprehensive cover

Your insurance company will pay for the damages to your vehicle and they will also pay for the damages to the Third Party vehicle. You will pay your policy excess – the excess is the amount that you agree to pay towards the cost of your repairs in the event of an accident.

If you are at fault and you have Third Party cover

Your Insurance company will pay for the damages to the other vehicle only.