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If one has a claim against the Amex platinum hire car insurance, for some scratch/dent/mark allegedly achieved during the period of hire – does this become a “claim” one must declare to one’s own car insurer, with consequent loading of future premiums?
It’s a slightly tricky one and different insurers or brokers will give you different answers. A car hire excess policy isn’t insuring a car, but the risk of you having to pay money to a car rental company under your contract with them so there would anyway be no NCB reduction if you advised your normal car insurer. The problem comes with the question asked at renewal (and sometimes after any incident) as to whether you have had any accident or claim in the last x years and clearly you are required to answer that question truthfully, even if the incident involved a hire car.
It may depend on the terms and conditions of the individual insurer? But here is some thinking, not advice:
If you have a car with a no claims discount on the insurance policy then buy another car, you cannot use your good behaviour (no claims discount) on the new car, you start from scratch. The no claims discount you may have can only be applied against the one car on the policy. Under the same logic, is an accident to a car unlinked to the policy relevant to it?It may depend on the terms and conditions of the individual insurer? But here is some thinking, not advice:
If you have a car with a no claims discount on the insurance policy then buy another car, you cannot use your good behaviour (no claims discount) on the new car, you start from scratch. The no claims discount you may have can only be applied against the one car on the policy. Under the same logic, is an accident to a car unlinked to the policy relevant to it?The no claims bonus, as you correctly state, attaches to a car not a person but that is a different issue to the questions that are asked about the insured person(s). If you have more than one car on a policy and have a claim, your answers at next renewal may affect the pricing of all the cars on the policy, even if they each have a NCB. Also you go to a different insurer to cover a second car, you still have to disclose your claims and accident history plus correctly answer the other questions re refusal of insurance, bankruptcy etc.
Most insurance contracts operate on the basis of ‘uberrima fides’ such that a failure to disclose anything relevant can invalidate the policy. The regulator won’t allow this to create unfairness, so some of the previous behaviour on travel insurance health disclosure isn’t allowed. However, car insurance is very much priced on claims so a failure to disclose an accident or claim when specifically asked a question does technically represent a breach of contract and could invalidate your cover or automatically reduce it to the statutory minimum.
The issue is a truth and honesty one not necessarily a question of how risky a driver you are and should the premium be increased to reflect your risks of making a claim.
If they ask “have you made any claims on any policy” and you don’t answer honestly and they find out that could invalidate the policy in its entirety.
Another example might be a pre existing medical condition and travel insurance. Having one does not automatically bump up the premium but bet you bottom dollar and you make a claim for medical expenses and haven’t told them and it’s related to the claim they will use that to reject it or pay out less.
“Utmost good faith” no longer applies to consumer insurance contracts in the UK. One is, however, obliged to fully and completely answer all questions asked – but one is no longer required to volunteer information which might be relevant regardless of whether asked.
Thank you for the responses. They seem obvious in retrospect, but did not when I posed the question…
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