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Hopefully, you’ll never need to make a claim on your car insurance – but if you do, this guide will tell you everything you need to know.
You might need to make a claim on your car insurance policy if your car has been involved in an accident, stolen, damaged or destroyed. It’s best to speak to your insurance company as soon as possible, explain what happened and get your claim underway.
If you’re involved in an accident, the key is not to panic. Stay calm and work through the following steps.
Your insurer will ask you for the following information. You might provide this online or over the phone.
Most insurers request that you contact them within 24 or 48 hours after an accident. However, there may be some leeway on this, for example, if you’re injured and in hospital.
Personal injury claims can be made up to three years after an accident.
Car insurance claims can take a week to several months. How quickly the claim will be settled depends on the following factors:
Your car insurance claim could be rejected or declined for various reasons, including the following:
If your claim has been rejected and you think this was unfair, you should:
You don’t have to make an insurance claim if you have a car accident. With low-value claims, you might be better off paying for repairs yourself.
However, you should still tell your insurer about any accident you’re involved in.
You should report every accident to your insurer, even if you’re not making a claim. When you contact your insurer, make it clear that this is for information only and you don’t wish to claim. You do this in case the other driver makes a claim without your knowledge.
Failure to report an accident can lead to your policy being declared void. This could result in you being uninsured in the event of a later accident, which is against the law.
Immediately after the accident, your insurer will need information about the time and date of the incident, what happened and the other driver’s details. You should also pass on details of any witnesses.
You might later pass on other information regarding:
Yes, making a claim will affect the cost of your car insurance in the future.
At-fault claims will have a more significant impact than a non-fault accident, but both will mean higher insurance costs in the future, as your insurer will view you as a higher risk after you’ve had an accident.
A no-claims discount (NCD) is built up each year that you don’t make a claim on your car insurance. If you make a claim, your NCD will be reduced, although you won’t necessarily lose it all. If you’ve paid for NCD protection, you might not see your premium increase much, if at all.
If you have fully comprehensive cover, you can claim for the following:
If you have third-party fire and theft, you can claim for the following:
If you have third-party only, you can claim for the following:
If you’re claiming on the other driver’s insurance, you’ll be able to claim for damage to your car and your injuries. If your policy includes legal expenses, you may be able to claim for uninsured losses. These might include the following:
If you have comprehensive insurance, you can make a claim if you’re hit by an uninsured or unidentified driver. However, this usually means losing your no-claims discount, even if the accident wasn’t your fault.
If you have third-party fire and theft or third-party-only insurance, you’ll need to claim compensation via the Motor Insurers’ Bureau. This is a non-profit organisation that helps road users with claims against uninsured or untraced drivers.
All car insurance claims and non-claim incidents are recorded on the Claims and Underwriting Exchange (CUE) database.
Details of claims are stored by CUE for six years. Insurers can check this database when setting insurance premiums, so they’re likely to find out if you lied about past claims to keep insurance costs down.
