Motoring Discussion > Toyota Yaris - Insurance reporting. Tax / Insurance / Warranties
Thread Author: Oldgit Replies: 31

 Toyota Yaris - Insurance reporting. - Oldgit
A neighbour of mine arriving at her destination, recently, after a tiring 5 hour's drive, misjudged the entry into her son's driveway (bordered by narrow concrete structures either side) and as a result scraped the lower part of the car's front on one side. This upset her and she phoned her insurance company but was she obliged to do this, as it was on private land and no one else was involved?
Presumably you would only inform them in this case if you wanted to make a claim for the damage, estimated at about £500 of which she has a £200 excess.
In any case they wanted to write off this old 'X' registration car and so she told them not to bother and disregard the phone call as she would go back home and have it repaired locally and pay for it herself which is currently in progress.
So, again my question is does one always have to inform one's Insurance company of any scrape on or entering private land if you are paying for your own repairs?
 Toyota Yaris - Insurance reporting. - movilogo
>> does one always have to inform one's Insurance company of any scrape on or entering private land if you are paying for your own repairs

Sensible answer is "No".

 Toyota Yaris - Insurance reporting. - -
Agree with Movi, in the real world if we did something daft and were putting it right ourselves, then we'd be a bit silly to give ammo to the enemy to shoot us with.

Care needed these days though as ClaimsRus might text themselves a response from a willing spineless sponger who wants a few quid instead of doing a days work 3 years later.
 Toyota Yaris - Insurance reporting. - CGNorwich
But the legal answer is "yes" . You are obliged to tell your insurers of any accidents to your car at renewal whether or not you made a claim. An accident is a material fact and needs to be disclosed. Failure to disclose could result in the policy being void.



 Toyota Yaris - Insurance reporting. - Oldgit
>> But the legal answer is "yes" . You are obliged to tell your insurers of
>> any accidents to your car at renewal whether or not you made a claim. An
>> accident is a material fact and needs to be disclosed. Failure to disclose could result
>> in the policy being void.
>>
Are you really telling me that if I hit my wing, say, accidentallly when using a mallet nearby then a subsequent repair by myself using plastic padding and spray paint or whatever would require me to tell my Insurance company. I think not - surely.
 Toyota Yaris - Insurance reporting. - CGNorwich
Your policy will contain a clause similar to this

The policyholder must take reasonable care to provide complete and accurate answers to
the questions we ask when you take out, make changes to, and renew your policy.

If the information provided by you is not complete and accurate:
we may cancel your policy and refuse to pay any claim, or
we may not pay any claim in full, or
we may revise the premium and/or change the compulsory excess, or
the extent of the cover may be affected.

One of the questions asked at inception and renewal will have been something like this:


Have you or any driver had any accidents, losses or claims, regardless of blame within the last 3 years?

I would say driving into a wall clearly comes within the scope of information needing to be advised. I was not answering a hypothetical question about plastic padding. You need to make up your own mind

As always with these questions as to whether you should tell your insurer, the answer is if you are in doubt then you probably should
 Toyota Yaris - Insurance reporting. - Oldgit
The annoying fact would be for me, had I done this, was that the Insurers wanted to write off a very useful and sound car because of the cost of repairs. What could you buy for £500 that would be as reliable as your old faithful with full Toyota service history etc.
 Toyota Yaris - Insurance reporting. - -
Thats fair comment OG, hmm it does concern me in a similar vein and i'm going to pilfer your thread for a mo if you don't mind.

Righto lads, as some of you know i've been spending (investing i hope) some money in my old MB in order to keep her in as good condition as possible as my daily driver for the next 10 years at least...well unless someone makes me a fair offer to buy.

Its a 1996 E320 coupe (last of the 124's '86 to '96, facelift models 92 to 96) and has now covered abut 93k from new, we are the second owner and had her over 10 years.

Later models like mine can be found from about £2.5k in ropey or high mileage condition and up to about £7k (and now rising) for exceptional or lower mileage examples, mine should be worth around 6 to 7 now IMO, its had serious care indeed lovingly overmaintained over its life and as we all know that shows.

As its 17 years old it doesn't yet qualify for classic insurance i don't think, but i am a little worried that in the event of an accident i shall struggle to get more than about £1k from the typical insurer (esp third party) who wouldn't have a clue of the differene between a saloon (now banger money) and the coupes and convertibles...good ones depreciation levelled off and appreciating it would appear as they are fast disappearing.

Indeed the slightest bump could easily see a £1k bill and immediately trigger automatic write off.


What are my insurance options to get an agreed value, who should i approach do you reckon?

If i should be involved in an accident how do i play the system to ensure it doesn't get take to a DR bodyshop for example where somene used to putting wings on Corsas will take one look at it and write it off as uneconomic?

How do i ensure my car is repaired if they are not prepared to pay a reasonable write off figure, say £5k.


As i said hope you don't mind OG, its a similar case to your neighbour.
 Toyota Yaris - Insurance reporting. - Alanovich
Try Sureterm. They insured my Volvo 360 to an agreed value way above the zero pounds and no pence other insurers would have covered, supported by photographic evidence.
 Toyota Yaris - Insurance reporting. - -
>> Try Sureterm.

Noted thanks AV.
 Toyota Yaris - Insurance reporting. - Zero
her premium will be going up, because she phoned up wanting to make a claim. Even tho she didnt.
 Toyota Yaris - Insurance reporting. - Bill Payer
>> her premium will be going up, because she phoned up wanting to make a claim.
>> Even tho she didnt.
>>
It might do, but it doesn't always.

I think the real danger in the case the OP detailed is that the insurance company might get it into their heads that the car is a write off and many companies won't insure write-offs.
 Toyota Yaris - Insurance reporting. - Mike H
As I pointed out to a recent poster, my Saab 9000 was insured under a classic policy from 10 years old. Can't remember who the insurers were. Your starting point is to be a member of a recognised club and get a proper valuation. The club will probably also be able to give you a lead to companies who will sell you a classic policy with agreed value.
 Toyota Yaris - Insurance reporting. - Zero
I think the Yaris club is called SAGA
 Toyota Yaris - Insurance reporting. - Oldgit
>> I think the Yaris club is called SAGA
>>

Ha, ha that was very perceptive of you. Bang on in this example
 Toyota Yaris - Insurance reporting. - Roger.
>> I think the Yaris club is called SAGA
>>

So is the Jazz ! (but I don't care - I like ours)
 Toyota Yaris - Insurance reporting. - Oldgit
What about my sister, then. She has on several occasions scraped the front flared wings of her Fiesta on the metal verticals of our up-and-over garage door when entering the garage. Should this be reported even though no repairs, resprays have been done. Purely cosmetic damage.
 Toyota Yaris - Insurance reporting. - CGNorwich
>> What about my sister, then. She has on several occasions scraped the front flared wings
>> of her Fiesta on the metal verticals of our up-and-over garage door when entering the
>> garage. Should this be reported even though no repairs, resprays have been done. Purely cosmetic
>> damage.
>>

Well she will have been asked the question. "have you had any accidents in the last 3 years". which she is obliged to answer truthfully. How do you think she should answer?

Bear in mind that should she ever has a more serious accident and need to claim it will be apparent to the assessors that the car has been damaged previously.

 Toyota Yaris - Insurance reporting. - ....
>> Well she will have been asked the question. "have you had any accidents in the
>> last 3 years". which she is obliged to answer truthfully. How do you think she
>> should answer?
>>
Is that still a valid question in 2013 as some quarters no longer believe in accidents and where there is an incident there is blame and a cow to be milked.

On a serious note if you damage your own property, for example a garage door, is there any point in claiming from your insurance as you cannot claim off your own policy as the third party ?
The insurance company will repair the vehicle but not the property.
 Toyota Yaris - Insurance reporting. - swiss tony
>> On a serious note if you damage your own property, for example a garage door,
>> is there any point in claiming from your insurance as you cannot claim off your
>> own policy as the third party ?
>> The insurance company will repair the vehicle but not the property.
>>

The issue isn't so much the claim/payment, so much as the insurance companies ask to be informed of accidents.
This is so they can get an accurate idea of risk.
It can also be used as a get out clause should you wish to make a claim, but they discover you didn't inform them of other incidents...
 Toyota Yaris - Insurance reporting. - Bromptonaut
>> What about my sister, then. She has on several occasions scraped the front flared wings
>> of her Fiesta on the metal verticals of our up-and-over garage door when entering the
>> garage. Should this be reported even though no repairs, resprays have been done. Purely cosmetic
>> damage.

Strictly speaking it should be reported but of course there's a 'de-minimis' level below which you'd rub damage out with T-cut or get the dentmaster guy around.
 Toyota Yaris - Insurance reporting. - -
I find this eagerness to report such trivial things to a collective mummy rather disturbing, the idea of reporting a scratch on your own garage door is so achingly funny.

Think carefully, if the comrade babooshka reports a misdemeanor that you haven't then you vill suffer the consequences.
 Toyota Yaris - Insurance reporting. - CGNorwich
Depends on your approach to honesty I suppose.

 Toyota Yaris - Insurance reporting. - Runfer D'Hills
It does give pause for thought that there are people, presumably most of them with valid driving licences, who have insufficient spacial awareness to park a small car. If you bear in mind they are also legally entitled to drive those same cars or indeed any car at 60/70mph where permitted.

Just reinforces my basic premis that you have regard all other road users as potential hazards at all times.
 Toyota Yaris - Insurance reporting. - Oldgit
Well again, this is getting ridiculous. From my point of view we only report 'proper' accidents which happen in public places and roads where other people and vehicles are involved and not minor scrapes that occur because of a misjudment on or in private property. I woiuld also assume that when Insurance companies ask that question, they mean precisely that.
Yes, if a chimney pot or similar should fall on my parked car then of course it would be reported to the appropriate insurance company.
Again would I report a small stone chip to my car's paintwork, resulting from loose stones that fly around on our busy roads - of course not.
 Toyota Yaris - Insurance reporting. - CGNorwich
"I would also assume that when Insurance companies ask that question, they mean precisely that. "

Only way to find out for sure - ask them.
 Toyota Yaris - Insurance reporting. - Manatee
CG is right of course, the only fireproof way to deal with the question of what to tell your insurers is to tell them everything and leave the decision to them as to whether it is relevant.

But it's the old problem of there being three different versions of every procedure, and none of them being ideal - the three versions being the official version, what people think they should do, and what they actually do.

I am sure as hell not going to report the parking scrape somebody else just put on the Civic's bumper, the mark on the corner of the MX5 from where I got too close to the house with the disappearing bonnet (there are 30 worse marks on the car that were there when I got it - do I report those?) and the stone chip on the Outlander's lunatic lacquered wheel spoke.
 Toyota Yaris - Insurance reporting. - Robin O'Reliant
Q/ Are you obliged to report every little scrape?
A/ Yes.

Q/ Should you do so?
A/ You'd have to be mad.
 Toyota Yaris - Insurance reporting. - CGNorwich
Sounds like little scrapes are a regular feature of your motoring life ;-)
 Toyota Yaris - Insurance reporting. - Oldgit
>> Sounds like little scrapes are a regular feature of your motoring life ;-)
>>
>>

To whom are your addressing those remarks?
 Toyota Yaris - Insurance reporting. - VxFan
>> To whom are your addressing those remarks?

Providing he's replied to the person he was addressing, if you hover your mouse over the arrow at the start of the subject header then it will tell you.
Last edited by: VxFan on Sat 5 Oct 13 at 12:56
 Toyota Yaris - Insurance reporting. - Oldgit
>> >> To whom are your addressing those remarks?
>>
>> Providing he's replied to the person he was addressing, if you hover your mouse over
>> the arrow at the start of the subject header then it will tell you.
>>

In that case, I'm none the wiser but thanks.
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