Insurance

Phelim21 · Post by **Phelim21** » 04 Feb 2020, 16:45

Hi I just have query about having to let your car insurance company know that you had an at fault accident in a rm van.
My policy is up this week and i received a quote from my insurance company which has gone up by £150 because I scraped a customer's door while leaving their premises. I was told at the time that I had to report this to my insurer's. In hindsight I wish I'd not done this and would be advising other colleagues not to as well. It's a disgrace that rm is making employees do this. Rant over

Ali831 · Post by **Ali831** » 04 Feb 2020, 17:04

Get onto one of the comparison sites like moneysupermarket etc, I bet you can get a better price with identical cover then what your renewal quote is

Phelim21 · Post by **Phelim21** » 04 Feb 2020, 17:34

Ali381 its not really about the cost more about the that we are being forced to inform our insurers when these prangs happen.

Ali831 · Post by **Ali831** » 04 Feb 2020, 18:13

I think your insurance company would want to know as much as RM making you tell them, it would be a requirement. I think there is something in small print about ANY accidents whether or not it was in your own vehicle or someones else's and regardless of who was at fault. The risk is if you dont tell them and they find out they could cancel your policy stating you withheld information/fraud which then opens up a whole other can of worms when you try and get another company to insure you when it shows a previous policy was cancelled.

yellowbelly · Post by **yellowbelly** » 04 Feb 2020, 18:59

Ali is correct, it's more your insurance company wanting to know, rather than RM making
you tell them, quote from the copy of the RM Drivers Manual I've got, 'Accidents', p108:

Important Note: Many private Insurance Companies insist that you report any
accident you have been involved in as soon as possible after the event. Failure to
do so may invalidate your private insurance and jeopardise any future claims you
may make. It is therefore worth reporting any accidents whether in your own car
or while driving for Royal Mail, just in case.

Phelim21 · Post by **Phelim21** » 04 Feb 2020, 22:28

Yellow belly I can understand that. But my h&s manager got me to sign a form to confirm that I'd reported the incident to my insurer's and the union said I had to report it where in the past it was upto the employee to decide themselves whether to report any accidents.

NorthernPostman · Post by **NorthernPostman** » 04 Feb 2020, 22:39

It's not Royal Mail's fault. It's a legal obligation to tell your insurer if you were involved in an incident as a driver, in any vehicle, regardless of fault.

If you didn't tell your insurer, and they found out, you'd have your insurance canceled. You also have to tell any insurer if you've ever had insurance canceled so that would cause even more problems

Ali831 · Post by **Ali831** » 05 Feb 2020, 05:02

Insurance companies use a central data base for details of claims & cancelled policies etc. If you were to have an accident in your own vehicle & made a claim & the data base showed RM had logged a claim in your name there would be questions to answer as to why you hadn't already informed them. You have done the right thing informing them regardless of the fact you didn't want to. Insurance companies are far more savvy these days to weed out all the fraudulent claims & people lying in applications to get lower premiums.

Janet Brum · Post by **Janet Brum** » 05 Feb 2020, 08:43

Never wait for your current insurrer`s quote, always do a comparison a month before it`s due to expire and choose a better provider if your current one quotes you a higher price.
This is valid for energy, broadband, anything really, it`s how I saved hundreds of pounds over the years..

Grumpyoldmailman · Post by **Grumpyoldmailman** » 05 Feb 2020, 16:48

Ali831 wrote:Insurance companies use a central data base for details of claims & cancelled policies etc. If you were to have an accident in your own vehicle & made a claim & the data base showed RM had logged a claim in your name there would be questions to answer as to why you hadn't already informed them. You have done the right thing informing them regardless of the fact you didn't want to. Insurance companies are far more savvy these days to weed out all the fraudulent claims & people lying in applications to get lower premiums.

Don’t RM self insure though, doubt there would be much of a database.

Post by **fb1969** » 05 Feb 2020, 18:13

Grumpyoldmailman wrote:Don’t RM self insure though, doubt there would be much of a database.

It is the Claims Underwriting Exchange (CUE) and holds records of all claims. If another company claims off of Royal Mail it would be recorded on the database. And even if someone claimed directly off of Royal Mail without going through their own insurance, they would have to report it to their company and the database would be updated that way. But in order to self insure, RM would have to update it anyway.

philsdeals19 · Post by **philsdeals19** » 16 Feb 2020, 17:29

You have no right advising other posties not to declare an accident. How foolish as I know first hand. I had a non fault accident involving a pedestrian. Not my fault witnessed by a police officer directing traffic. Several witnesses on my side too. Unfortunately the courts always favour the pedestrian I was told and off to court it went . They wanted compensation. My insurance has doubled and an investigator came to my house and went through every little piece of information I had declared when taking out my policy. Also checking if I’d ever had a crash in a works vehicle.

I was so glad I had been honest or my insurance would of been void. Do you know travelling to only one place of work , the same place daily is allowed but not to different places of work.
Never be dishonest with your insurance just to save a few quid. If you need to claim you will be up the creek without a paddle.