Car Accidents and Insurance Companies!

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   Nathanvilleposted 2 years ago

   1:  Back in the mid-1990s my wife learnt to drive so that she could get to university as a mature student.  It was then that we started to have annual two-week holidays (vacations) in southern France.  In 2003, on our last day of the holiday in southern France, while in our 2nd hand Rover on the motorway making our way back to the fairy port in Calais that the steering failed.  We ended up in a ditch, with the car being a complete right-off; fortunately no other vehicle was involved, and no one was hurt. 
   
   Both the ambulance and police arrived on the scene within two-minutes; we were still in the process of getting out of the car when they arrived.  On seeing that no-one was hurt the police, before driving off, arranged for a local garage to come out with a breakdown lorry, to take it and us back to their garage.  The ambulance crew quickly checked us over, and seeing that no one was hurt went on their way.
   
   Arriving at the garage the owner phoned our insurance company in Britain, and arranged for them to provide ‘free’ overnight hotel accommodation for us, a curtesy car the following morning, and foot-passenger tickets on the ferry for not extra cost.
   
   When we got to the port at Calais, France the following afternoon, we handed over the curtesy car and picked up the tickets waiting for us.  When we got off the ferry in Dover, England another curtesy car was waiting for us; albeit my wife was rather nervous in driving it the 200 miles back to Bristol because it was a brand new car, straight from the showroom, with less than 5 miles on clock.
   
   A few days later our Insurance Company agreed a settlement with us, which was enough to buy a new car, and also covered the replacement costs of luggage that we couldn’t bring back with us e.g. there was too much luggage for us to carry as foot passengers on the ferry, so we had to priorities on what to bring back.  And within the month our Insurance Company paid-up, so with the money my wife bought a second hand Daihatsu Terios.
   
   2:  About 2006 our son passed his driving test so that he could follow in his mother’s footsteps, and go to university.  On passing his driving test my wife give him her Daihatsu Terios, and she bought herself a newer Daihatsu Terios. 
   
   Then about a year later, while on a steep hill driving to university on a wintery morning in icy conditions his car slide on a patch of ice, and he slid into the back of another car, at slow speed.  No one was hurt, but his car was classified as a right-off by the Insurance Company e.g. more expensive to repair than its worth.  Therefore, the Insurance Company quickly settled up for the value of the car, and he sold the old car for scrap value.  With the Insurance Money he promptly bought another Daihatsu Terios (our favourite car).
   
   3:  In 2019, after spending a day at the Christmas Market in Exeter, and having driven all the way back from Exeter to Bristol we popped into our local supermarket (less than a mile from home) to buy some milk. 
   
   While leaving the supermarket’s carpark at 3 mph another driver reversed into us at full speed.  The other car bounced off the bumper of our car, spun around and hit a metal gate post.  The other car, brand new, out of the showroom that very day, was a write-off; while there was just minor damage to the front bumper of our car that didn’t cost much to repair.
   
   However, although the other driver admitted liability, their Insurance Company took over two years to settle with our Insurance Company, and ended up being taken to court where the court awarded us about £10,000, mainly for the stress caused, with the other Insurance Company paying all the legal fees and court costs.
   
   We don’t have any photos of the previous two incidences, but the last prang was captured on our car-cam and the CCTV in the carpark:-
   
   Car Park Accident:  https://youtu.be/88PkRUcLbmw
   
   Do you have any experiences of your own that you wish to share with us?

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      wildernessposted 2 years agoin reply to this

      Holy cow!  What kind of idiot comes out of a parking space like that!?
      
      We bought a used RAV4 Prime last April.  They are very scarce, not sold in our state at all, and finding one was nearly impossible.  Pricing was well above MSRP, but we after searching for 6 months got the used one for a decent price.
      
      Fast forward to November, and we were rear ended while sitting still waiting for traffic to clear so we could turn left.  3 months later the insurance company totaled it, but by then pricing for USED models was thousands over MSRP and often more than new ones (they are still hard to find at all, and are all pre-sold before they even get to the country).
      
      I didn't think we would be able to replace the used one, but we got enough to buy a new 2022 car out of it - $17,000 more than we paid for the used one.  Had a rental (paid for by insurance) for about 2 months while they made up their mind.  The bank even refunded the payments I had made between the accident and payoff from the insurance, including the interest on the loan.  The biggest problem was the delay - both insurance company and repair shop didn't seem to want to move.  Personally I think the repair shop was afraid of the hybrid system and didn't want to work on it.
      
      Now we're buying another one clear across the country and looking forward to a 2400 mile drive to get it home.  Could have had it shipped, but this way we get to stop and visit my wife's parents and brother, and we'll make a mini vacation out of it all, stopping to see some of the sights we've always wanted to visit.

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      1. 91

         Nathanvilleposted 2 years agoin reply to this

         Yeah, she accidently put her foot full down on the accelerator instead of the break; an easy mistake – A friend of ours made a similar mistake when he was pulling into his drive, the car shot right into his house, wrecking the car; it didn’t do the house much good either, minor crack in the brickwork that had to be repaired, but at least he wasn’t hurt.
         
         Wow, an impressive car you’ve got.  Car’s isn’t my forte so I had to look it up on the web, and I can see the appeal; and lots of storage space in the boot I see.  Yep, it sounds a good idea making a holiday (vacation) trip out of picking up your new car – I hope you get the weather for it.

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         1. 61

            CHRIS57posted 2 years agoin reply to this

            Actually i cannot contribute any insurance issues coming from accidents with our cars. There never were any accidents.
            
            But i want to share my experience with insurance policy discounts/ bonuses. In G. we have a very dominant discount system. Some newbe with close to no driving experience will pay lets say 175 apples per year. Someone like me with almost half a century of driving without accident will pay 25 apples.
            
            But here comes the issue. This discount system is based on years of driving without accident. And it starts all over again if you have a second or third car registered on your name.
            
            I ran a company and had my personal insurance rating transfered into the company, as the company payed for my car and all expenses. Then i sold the company but kept the company car privilege. So for many years i used a company car, my wife had her own private car with her own insurance.
            
            Then i bought an RV and i had to start with 100 apples almost from scratch. But some light at the end of the tunnel. I inherited the insurance bonus from my 99 and 100 year old mother and father after they had sold their cars. By now in my family we kind of "deal" with insurance bonuses among me, my wife and our children.
            
            Do you have something alike this experience discount system in other countries as well?

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            1. 91

               Nathanvilleposted 2 years agoin reply to this

               Yes we have a very similar system in the UK:  Called a ‘no-claims’ bonus.
               
               For each consecutive year that you don’t make any claims, the discount increases. Typically increasing to about 60% discount after 5 years of no claims, and can be as high as 80% discount after 15 years of no claims.
               
               Real Figure example, based on fully comprehensive policies of data collected by MoneySuperMarket between January and June 2021:-
               
               Number of years with no claims = Average annual premiums:
               0 years with no claims = £1,342.99 ($1,827) car insurance premium.
               1 year = £977.10 ($1,329) premium.
               2 years = £781.76 ($1,063) premium
               3 years = £658.55 ($896) premium
               4 years = 601.44 ($818) premium
               5 years = £364.58 ($496) premium
               
               In the UK, if you switch car Insurance providers you can take your no claims bonus with you.
               
               If you have to make a claim, and the accident wasn’t your fault, then you don’t generally lose your ‘no claims bonus’; however, if it was your fault, but it’s your first claim the Insurance Company doesn’t usually wipe the slate clean, they’ll just knock a few years off your ‘no claims’ bonus e.g. reduce a ‘5 year’ no claim bonus to a ‘3 year no claim bonus’.
               
               In the UK the ‘no claims bonus’ is only applicable to the person’s own car insurance policy, and is not transferable to anyone else including named drivers.
               
               In the UK no claims bonus don’t apply to Companies Cars.
               
               In the UK, if you want to protect against losing your no claims bonus you can insure against it; typically the ‘No claim bonus protection’ insurance is around £60 ($81) per annum, and will protect you from losing your no claims bonus for up to 2 or 3 claims in any three year period.
               
               In the UK, if you’re uninsured for more than two years e.g. you stop driving for a while, then you’ll lose your ‘no-claims’ bonus.
               
               Another big factor in how much you pay on your car insurance in the UK is age:-
               
               In the UK, assuming you have no ‘no-claim’ bonus, then typically the insurance companies will set your car insurance based on various other factors, with your age being the prime factor, as follows:-
               
               •    Teenage Drivers and drivers in their early 20’s = up to £2,000 ($2,721) car insurance.
               •    From the age of 25 = typically around £720 ($979) car insurance.
               •    From your 30’s to 50’s = typically around £639 ($869) car insurance.
               •    From age of 65 and above, your car insurance can increase by as much as 50% e.g. to around £900 ($1,224) per year, less any ‘no-claims’ bonus of course.

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                  wildernessposted 2 years agoin reply to this

                  Wow!  Your insurance rates are high!  You must either have a lot of accidents or the insurance companies are getting rich.
                  
                  At 72 years old, I pay $800 per year...for a brand new car, an older one and a huge motorhome.
                  
                  Of course it also depends on where you live, and what the accident rate is there.  Places with lots of accidents will have higher insurance rates.

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                  1. 91

                     Nathanvilleposted 2 years agoin reply to this

                     Yeah, if you have no 'no-claims' bonus then yes, the car insurance is expensive in the UK.  But if you're over 70 and still have years of 'no-claim' bonus then rather than costing you something like $1,200 per year it's will be more like $400 or $500.
                     
                     And as you said, the exact amount of your insurance premium will depend on many factors, including your age, sex, type of car and where you live etc.
                     
                     For example my wife, in her 60's, has car insurance for two cars e.g. her car and her sons car.  And that insurance per year is currently:-
                     
                     •    £342.79 ($466) for her car,
                     •    £329.35 ($448) for her son’s car, and
                     •    £3.36 ($4.50) insurance per year to protect her ‘no claims’ bonus.
                     
                     Total = $918.50
                     
                     Which is $146.50 cheaper than last year because she's earnt another year's worth of 'no claims' bonus.  And the reason both cars are insured in her name is because she has built up a lot of 'no-claims' bonus it's a lot cheaper than if our son paid his own car insurance e.g. he's the 'named driver on both cars' - and naturally, he pays her back for the insurance on his car.
                     
                     Does your $800 per year include 'no-claims' bonus, or don't you have such a system in the USA?

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                        CHRIS57posted 2 years agoin reply to this

                        I have the impression that insurances in G. are similar to the UK.
                        However i am not totally sure because our insurance is always a mixture of
                        - liability coverage (mandatory)
                        - partial or full comprehensive coverage (optional and opens a huge range of polices depending on how much your self contribution is and what you want covered).
                        
                        I just checked for my Volvo XC90: It is 265,- Euro/year for liability only.  As this SUV is in the high pricing segment, the liability insurance doesn´t seem to be high to me. My wife has a VW Sharan and she pays slightly more, even though i would not consider this van to be high priced.
                        
                        This whole insurance police cost is a calculus that includes:
                        - area you live with accidents per 100.000 km
                        - your own average driving per year
                        - your personal no accident period
                        - who else is using the car occasionally (if you put an inexperienced child or grandchild in the application then the insurance goes up).
                        - how often this type of car is involved in accidents
                        - how high cost to restore after accident of the car type 
                        probably forgot some, but car insurance is more than having individual driving experience.
                        
                        Insurance for a Porsche or a BMW coupe are likely much higher than for an S-Class Mercedes or a car type not known to be driven by young, more aggressive drivers.

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                           Nathanvilleposted 2 years agoin reply to this

                           Yes it does sound as if the car insurance in the UK and Germany are vary similar.
                           
                           Yep, likewise in the UK you can choose just liability coverage, which is mandatory, and which is called ‘third party, fire and theft’, or full comprehensive.  All the prices I’ve quoted above are ‘full comprehensive’.  Most people, if not everyone, I know have fully comprehensive – it would be a little foolish to skimp on fully comprehensive and just take out the mandatory ‘third party, fire and theft’ – although I’m sure many teenagers getting their first car will take out just the mandatory ‘third party, fire and theft’ because that’s all they can afford!
                           
                           Checking on the ‘confused.com’ website, they list some of the factors car insurers look at when calculating your car insurance premiums, as follows:-
                           
                           •    Age
                           •    Occupation
                           •    The type, make and model of the car you drive
                           •    Where you live
                           •    How secure your car is
                           •    How you use your car
                           •    Your claims history and no claims bonus
                           •    Your excess
                           •    What type of policy you choose

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         2. 96

            wildernessposted 2 years agoin reply to this

            Me too (weather)!  Originally it was tentatively planned for Feb. 8, but the car didn't make it to the docks in time, so put it off until Mar 3, just after our trip to Mexico.  Will fly directly there rather than home, which worked out very well, and the weather should be much better.

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            1. 91

               Nathanvilleposted 2 years agoin reply to this

               Cool, wishing you all the best on your journey.

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