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Accident

Ian91

Ready to race!
Location
UK
Well after purchasing my new Golf 12 months ago and 14k miles of motoring my Golf has been damaged.
Waiting at traffic lights on the slip road of a Motorway, in a queue of traffic, when a young lad in a Skoda Citigo decided to use me instead of his brakes. The car also pushed me in to the car in front so damage to front and rear.
The damage to front is minimal (new front bumper, number plate) the rear requires new bumper, rear metal cross member behind the bumper, few other bits and tailgate may require replacing, total cost @ £4400.
It was quite a shock to myself and my wife as it was really unexpected as weather was fine, thankfully there are no injuries, other than to my lovely motor and all the hassle with booking in to main dealer for repair as apparently MK 7.5 front bumpers are on back order.
The rear car driver has accepted liability for the accident, no option really.
My insurance policy has also increased, due to the "risk" factor which is also annoying, I usually shop around at renewal time but the annual policy is due now, so with a claim not settled (car awaiting repair) this also raises the annual premium.
I was going to keep the car for three years or so but now I'm considering changing earlier, after having owned five Golfs I may buy a used SUV next time rather than purchase from new as drivers in UK are pretty poor these days.
 

TheWombat

Go Kart Champion
Location
Vermont
Pretty unfortunate that the insurer would raise rates on a not-at-fault accident for a policy holder. Glad everyone is ok, though.
 

SRGTD

Autocross Newbie
Location
UK
Pretty normal practice in the UK if there’s an outstanding accident damage claim on your policy at policy renewal time, even if the other party causing the damage is at fault.

Once the claim has been settled in the OP’s favour, they should hopefully see their premium reduce.

OP; good to hear that neither you nor your wife were injured, and hopefully your car will soon be repaired and back to it’s pre-accident condition.
 

DAS_STIG

Banned
Location
Chicago
Pretty normal practice in the UK if there’s an outstanding accident damage claim on your policy at policy renewal time, even if the other party causing the damage is at fault.

Once the claim has been settled in the OP’s favour, they should hopefully see their premium reduce.

OP; good to hear that neither you nor your wife were injured, and hopefully your car will soon be repaired and back to it’s pre-accident condition.

I think it's the same in the US. If you have a claim, your premium goes up. That's why you should go through the at-fault party's insurance if possible.
 

Genegenie

Drag Race Newbie
Location
North Yorkshire
Car(s)
VW Golf
Sorry to hear that, OP. As I always say, make sure you are 100% with your happy following the repairs. And defo shop around for you insurance. 4 1/2 years ago, 2 years into PCP rental deal, my previous Golf (Mk7 1.4SE) took £4,000ish of damage when my garage roof (at the time) fell on it, wiping out 15+ years No Claims Bonus. At renewal time I phoned different insurance companies and many would only recognise the NCB on my current Golf, i.e. 2 years, not the 2 years remaining on previous Golf, 4 years in total. I ended up with, Axa, they were cheapest, accepted 4 years NCB and included free recovery with home start....
 

The Fed

Old Guys Rule
Location
Florida
I think it's the same in the US. If you have a claim, your premium goes up. That's why you should go through the at-fault party's insurance if possible.

It depends on the state where you live. Also the company's policies if it's not regulated by the state.

At least a UK member mentioned the rate should go back down. It's not right, though, as soon as the police report is filed the insurance company should do their own investigation, THEN charge you extra if you're at fault. In the U.S. that doesn't take much time for something as simple as this type of accident.
 

cb1111

Newbie
Location
Virginia, USA
I think it's the same in the US. If you have a claim, your premium goes up. That's why you should go through the at-fault party's insurance if possible.
This is one of those urban myths that refuses to go away.

Going through the at fault insurance has only one advantage - that you don't have to front your deductible.

If you go through your insurance, then you'll pay your deductible and get it back once the other insurance pays.

Regardless of who you file with, both insurance companies will be notified and will be involved.

In the US, your collision premium only increases if you were at fault (may be different if you live in one of those funky "no fault" states).
 

Ian91

Ready to race!
Location
UK
I was surprised the main dealer said the front bumper is on back order, VW probably tooling up for the Mk8 Golf. Just want to get it fixed and move on, the underwriter on my insurance has queried whether the rear tailgate requires replacing or repairing but the estimator said if the repair was not satisfactory they would request a new one. Until then I'll wait until the front bumper becomes available as I don't want to go back twice to the main dealer.
Insurance increase is a bummer but next year I'll shop around.
 

Ian91

Ready to race!
Location
UK
The other drivers insurance company have now accepted fault for the incident, but as mentioned the insurance premium has still increased, I have increased my voluntary excess to reduce the premium and was thinking about trying to get the extra cost recovered from the third party insurer through my legal cover but this would be pointless as I'm told the increase in premium is due to the "risk factor" of another bump.
Still no ETA on the new front bumper (Apparently there are none in the UK and it would have to come from Germany) so can't book the car in for the repair.
 

The Fed

Old Guys Rule
Location
Florida
The other drivers insurance company have now accepted fault for the incident, but as mentioned the insurance premium has still increased, I have increased my voluntary excess to reduce the premium and was thinking about trying to get the extra cost recovered from the third party insurer through my legal cover but this would be pointless as I'm told the increase in premium is due to the "risk factor" of another bump.
Still no ETA on the new front bumper (Apparently there are none in the UK and it would have to come from Germany) so can't book the car in for the repair.

I would query other insurance companies to see if their policies are the same.
 

The Fed

Old Guys Rule
Location
Florida
This is one of those urban myths that refuses to go away.

Going through the at fault insurance has only one advantage - that you don't have to front your deductible.

If you go through your insurance, then you'll pay your deductible and get it back once the other insurance pays.

Regardless of who you file with, both insurance companies will be notified and will be involved.

In the US, your collision premium only increases if you were at fault (may be different if you live in one of those funky "no fault" states).

One thing about subrogation - it could take some time to get your deductible back.

I had a small claim when I hit from behind at a light. I called my insurance company and told them the other guy's company is going to pay for everything. I asked if they needed any information. They told me no, they won't be involved unless I was claiming bodily injury. My state is one of those dumb "no fault" ones that makes you buy personal bodily injury insurance. It makes no sense. I can't even self insure even though I have zero-deductible, zero-copay health insurance I currently pay over $9,900 per year for.
 

JC_451

Autocross Champion
Location
NJ, one of the nice parts.
Car(s)
2017 GTI Sport
Slightly off-topic, indulge at your own risk.

I work with so many people that the second they get into an accident they're working on cooking up a fraudulent claim. For them it's like a dream to get rear-ended instead of a huge hassle like it is for most people

This is the real reason rates are constantly going up for the rest of us. Insurance Fraud is extremely common. A lot of people don't think anything of trying to get a little pain and suffering cash from an accident where no one was actually injured.

As an aside, accident claims without personal injury components attached are also resolved -much- faster.
 

Ian91

Ready to race!
Location
UK
Insurance claims

Slightly off-topic, indulge at your own risk.

I work with so many people that the second they get into an accident they're working on cooking up a fraudulent claim. For them it's like a dream to get rear-ended instead of a huge hassle like it is for most people

This is the real reason rates are constantly going up for the rest of us. Insurance Fraud is extremely common. A lot of people don't think anything of trying to get a little pain and suffering cash from an accident where no one was actually injured.

As an aside, accident claims without personal injury components attached are also resolved -much- faster.


I'm old school, unless I had bone fractures in a rear end shunt, I would not claim against a third party. My dash cam showed a hefty jolt when the car hit us from behind and there could have been injuries, perhaps if everyone had front and rear dash cams there would be less scam insurance claims and premiums would be more stable.
One consequence of my accident is I now tend to leave a bigger gap to the car in front in stationary traffic, just in case another car rear ends my car!
 
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