I bet they would find out, I don't think it's worth risking it. Any future claim you ever make could be put at risk for failure to disclose a material fact. The other factor is never ever trust anyone with whiplash injury, even your best friend.
But surely you have another option - inform the insurance company (in writing) of the accident, but say that you are not making a claim, and are settling any costs privately.
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But surely you have another option - inform the insurance company (in writing) of the accident, but say that you are not making a claim, and are settling any costs privately.
A friend did this when a pheasant smashed part of the fairing on his Honda Blackbird motorcycle.
Come next renewal, his premium was doubled so he called the insurer to ask why?
"Because you had an accident"
"But I didn't make a claim"
"That doesn't matter; you had an accident so we have reassessed your risk"
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Come next renewal, his premium was doubled
It's at that point he needs to take his no claims discount and find another insurance company! If you don't tell them, then you may end up regretting it. It's not worth the risk with Police and injured third parties involved.
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Mike Farrow
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I agree with not assuming a friend or family member wouldn't claim, but I don't see how the insurance company would find out if no claim is made. Even if you don't claim but tell them, a penny to a pound your premium will increase.
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You have to tell the insurance company about the accident. Another person was injured and they have up to three years where they can make a claim. Have you not seen all the adverts on TV "had an accident in the last three years - get rich quick and easy".
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If the friend hadn't got whiplash I would say keep quiet and settle things yourself, due to the friend having an injury I would say that you must inform the insurance company, it's not worth the risk.
If she decides to sue, which she very easily could, then you could be left seriously out of pocket, also, if a claim is subsequently denied by your insurance company then you will struggle with future insurance on the grounds that you were less than honest on this occasion. It's just not worth the risk and the sleepless nights, like I say, the only way that I would settle without insraunce would be if the friend hadn't been in the car.
Blue
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Yes, the injury is the worry in this case. Complications from something like whiplash can develop later so maybe reporting it is the option to give you best sleep at night. In the absence of any injuries, I certainly wouldn't report it. Turkeys don't vote for Christmas.
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my whiplash injury still gets me every now and then if i could wind the clock back 16/17 years i would have sued my own brothers insurance i certainly would if it happened again to me even if it was the wife thats what the insurance is for
i would take the insurance hit on the chin and tell them
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If you tell the insurance company, you may as well claim, as they will increase premiums as though you had, citing that those who have accidents are an increased risk.
Also, the person with whiplash, may claim, especially if encouraged by others to make a couple of grand out of it.
If it was me, the other person with whiplash would be the deciding factor. If they do claim, you may as well get your money's worth too.
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No other vehicle was involved but the police were called and one of the occupants of the car was taken to hospital with what is hopefully only minor whiplash.
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brings to mind richard hammond's accident. (health and safety executive will be out next checking whether the bollard was placed correctly, or whether you daughter was not paying regard to health and safety of her passenger).
as martin123 has said: injury = tell your insurance company.
also, be prepared for possibility of your daughter to receive a summons for careless driving or similar charge.
if this incident involves possibility of legal action by the police or the injured passenger, you may wish to consider asking the moderators to lock the thread.
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Actually, I seem to recall, that under the NHS chargeback scheme, you may get a charge for ambulance callout and A&E treatment sent to you with a letter saying you should forward it to your insurer, can anyone else elaborate on this?
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under the NHS chargeback scheme
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The Road Traffic (NHS Charges) Act 1999 and its regulations1 enables a
hospital or trust which provides NHS treatment for a victim of a road accident to
reclaim its costs from a compensator who pays damages to the person injured.
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i concur with the above about coming clean and informing the insurance company...... there's nothing to stop you telling them and then asking for advice about whether or not it is worth claiming i.e. would they load your policy if you didn't claim.
don't forget if you change insurers in the next 3 - 5 years, you'd have to inform them as well & they might think differently.
for your own peace of mind i.e. not doing something underhand or dodgy it's got to be easier.
a few years back someone hit my car when it was parked unattended in a car park at work. The little chap who washed the work cars spotted it and stopped the lady before she drove off.... i claimed and her insurer paid the lot...... 8 months later on my m/c renewal i renewed it on autopilot and did not tell them about the car accident claim... mainly because in my mind i didn't consider it down to me so i'd forgotten about it........ the m/c insurer cancelled the policy 3 months into it, because i'd failed to inform them fully of the facts, despite the fact i'd been with them for nearly 3 years.... and they were nothing to do with my car insurer.
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Thanks everyone for your very helpful (though somewhat depressing!) comments so far. The friend with the possible whiplash was discharged from A&E pretty quickly and is happily pain free today - but I take on board the dire warnings about the potential for claims in the future (even though all my gut instincts tell me that knowing the family involved, this wouldn't happen).
On balance I think we will definitely have to come squeaky clean in order to sleep at nights - at least we'll have clear consciences, albeit unfortunately at great expense!
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There really is no balance about it. Someone was injured, something not belong to you was hit (bollard) police were called, ambulances and casualty were involved. All in all too much happening to even think about not reporting it.
Bear in mind, even if the insurance comany dont have to pay out a bean to anyone (because no ones makes a financial claim) there is an accident reported, the risk has gone up and the premium will increase.
On another thread, I was fully expcting to get a claim from the air ambulance/ambulance service/ local PCT casualty/firebriagde for my crash. NOt seen a sniff of it some 10 months later.
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TourVanMan TM < Ex RF >
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Be prepared if police involved and because someone taken to hospital that the police may want to look into this further. Your daughter might also be asked to give a statement under caution at the station. Not sure if it makes a difference that the injured party was a passenger in the vehicle.
When I had an accident on a roundabout about 4-5 years ago (involving my car and theirs), because I called an ambulance and the police, and the injured party was taken off on a stretcher because of pain to her lower back: (1) got breathalised, (2) gave a brief statement, (3) a few days later asked to come into station to give a statement under caution, (4) weeks/months later police decide to proceed with possibly careless driving etc. (5) after I had chased them for months as to what had been going on and find the original officer retired, was offered a driver improvement course instead of being taken to court. And I still to this day know I was not to blame but the outcome at least was not a prosecution.
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