Anyone had accident?

Hi all. I’m a relatively new driver looking to change my career from the boring office and been working for Agencies. I turned a corner and pranged a parked car, truck undamaged. There was just no space to park and just unfortunate, you live and learn, I will be ensuring it doesn’t happen again.

My question is, if its my fault, will my personal insurance be affected? I am very anxious of outcome and how it will affect my applications to employers going forward. I shouldn’t let it bother me as no-one was hurt and its just a bit of damage to a chunk of metal, but I’m looking at the potential damage to my short/long term trucking career.
I had plans for this year and I’m hoping they are still on track, but don’t think employers will look at applications with an accident, or are we allowed a 2nd chance?

Anyone had a similar accident and how did it affect them?

I have never come across a LGV driver who had a bump where it was their fault and the company insurance paid out then had it affect their personal car insurance

Thanks for info ROG. So do you think if you are Agency worker, would it be the company that they sent you to that pay out of their insurance, or would it be agency?

I just wish I knew more about what happens after. I now know how to complete an accident form (hopefully my last), so I’m trying to take the positive from it haha.

Bit of a grey area really with insurance because even though we don’t mention it to our car insurance if you had one in a truck, when you renew insurance it does say have you had ANY accidents in last 12months or whatever.

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Cheers rearaxle, will be calling for quotes rather than online to explain when due in May

If you have an insurance claim on your private car then I have never known an insurer contact all the employers you drove LGVs for over the past X period to find out if you had any LGV insurance claims
That does not happen

The only thing linked for LGV driving and private car driving is your licence

When it says any accidents over the past X time on the form then they are referring to your private car not work vehicles

ROG:
If you have an insurance claim on your private car then I have never known an insurer contact all the employers you drove LGVs for over the past X period to find out if you had any LGV insurance claims
That does not happen

The only thing linked for LGV driving and private car driving is your licence

When it says any accidents over the past X time on the form then they are referring to your private car not work vehicles

Unless it’s specifically states that in the question (which it doesn’t in my experience) the question is exactly as stated, ie. includes ANY vehicle you have driven.

Also, any claimed accidents in non-personal vehicles are recorded against your name in the central MID, so whether you want to take your chances by lying at renewal time and hope you don’t take someone out afterwards, that’s entirely your prerogative. If you are happy to be personally sued for thousands when you ■■■■■■■ someone and your insurer voids your insurance because you lied on the renewal form about your accident history, go ahead. Most of the time you’ll get away with it… right up until the point where you need to claim or someone claims against you, then they go over the info you gave to them with a fine tooth comb looking for the slightest reason to void your insurance and not pay out. :bulb:

Interesting, seems like its not worth losing savings/house for the sake of some extra premium. The small percent of that scenario happening Mick is still a chance, could be devastating!

Mick Bracewell:

ROG:
If you have an insurance claim on your private car then I have never known an insurer contact all the employers you drove LGVs for over the past X period to find out if you had any LGV insurance claims
That does not happen

The only thing linked for LGV driving and private car driving is your licence

When it says any accidents over the past X time on the form then they are referring to your private car not work vehicles

Unless it’s specifically states that in the question (which it doesn’t in my experience) the question is exactly as stated, ie. includes ANY vehicle you have driven.

Also, any claimed accidents in non-personal vehicles are recorded against your name in the central MID, so whether you want to take your chances by lying at renewal time and hope you don’t take someone out afterwards, that’s entirely your prerogative. If you are happy to be personally sued for thousands when you ■■■■■■■ someone and your insurer voids your insurance because you lied on the renewal form about your accident history, go ahead. Most of the time you’ll get away with it… right up until the point where you need to claim or someone claims against you, then they go over the info you gave to them with a fine tooth comb looking for the slightest reason to void your insurance and not pay out. :bulb:

Just to set peoples mind at ease a bit.
When a company takes out HGV insurance most have an extremely high excess on their policy. e.g. sometimes over £10,000
Sometimes more sometimes less it depends on the firm.

The excess is that high to bring premiums down. Just like excess with a car.
A company will almost never claim on insurance for small incidents. They much rather just settle it themselves to avoid paying the excess.
Thats why some firms you work for give you a number to call if you get in an accident. It’s not their insurance company. It is a firm thats sole purpose is to settle without dealing with insurance.

So lets say you work for Tesco or ASDA and you ding a parked vehicle. The insurance company will never know about it because Tesco will just pay up themselves to avoid paying the excess on their insurance.
Now, maybe if you hit a Bugatti Veyron they may take it through the insurance company.

But like I said, it is quite rare. For a firm to use their insurance coverage the damages have to be above their excess and they balance it with how much it may result in a premium increase.

Yes I’m well aware of that. It’s called self-insuring. But if a claim goes through an insurance company then it will get recorded on the MID against your name and licence details. That may come back to bite you on the arse in the event of a claim in the future if you said “no” to “have you had any motor accidents in the past 5 years?”. You could argue with them over the exact meaning of the words, but unless stated otherwise the question should be taken as an absolute where “any” is exactly as stated and answering anything over than the truth might not end well for you. :bulb:

In case any of us are not correct then this email might be useful
enquiries@mib.org.uk

I have asked them the question on this issue and will update when I get a reply

Where people make the mistake of not telling insurance companies about accidents in company vehicles is they think its separate from their own car insurance.

As has been said any car insurance will ask for ANY accidents in x y z years and any non disclosure could result in void payout when you need it. You will be surprise how many people had accidents in rented and company cars and never disclosure it to they own car insurance, its just naivety on people that’s all.

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The first thing London bus drivers are told is that you will have accidents and it won’t affect your car insurance.

I don’t think it’s possible to never clip your rear view mirror if you spend all day driving a big red London double decker bus on roads that were made for the horse and cart.

That’s probably why London red buses have such small rear view mirrors. It makes them cheap to replace.

ROG:
In case any of us are not correct then this email might be useful
enquiries@mib.org.uk

I have asked them the question on this issue and will update when I get a reply

Thanks for this, I will get something sent today myself and update from reply also.

Camtruck:
Hi all. I’m a relatively new driver looking to change my career from the boring office and been working for Agencies. I turned a corner and pranged a parked car, truck undamaged. There was just no space to park and just unfortunate, you live and learn, I will be ensuring it doesn’t happen again.

My question is, if its my fault, will my personal insurance be affected? I am very anxious of outcome and how it will affect my applications to employers going forward. I shouldn’t let it bother me as no-one was hurt and its just a bit of damage to a chunk of metal, but I’m looking at the potential damage to my short/long term trucking career.
I had plans for this year and I’m hoping they are still on track, but don’t think employers will look at applications with an accident, or are we allowed a 2nd chance?

Anyone had a similar accident and how did it affect them?

“Anyone had an accident?”

Answer. Is the Pope a Catholic? Do bears ■■■■ in the woods? etc etc

Truckerian99:
“Anyone had an accident?”

Answer. Is the Pope a Catholic? Do bears [zb] in the woods? etc etc

That made me smile, been needing cheering up

Mick Bracewell:
Yes I’m well aware of that. It’s called self-insuring. But if a claim goes through an insurance company then it will get recorded on the MID against your name and licence details. That may come back to bite you on the arse in the event of a claim in the future if you said “no” to “have you had any motor accidents in the past 5 years?”. You could argue with them over the exact meaning of the words, but unless stated otherwise the question should be taken as an absolute where “any” is exactly as stated and answering anything over than the truth might not end well for you. :bulb:

They preasumably use the theory that an accident in a works vehicle = more chance of an accident in a private vehicle. The fact that your job may be in a bin wagon squeezing through housing estates is a little more accident prone than reverse parking your Fiesta outside the local shops.

So work driving should be accounted for in your private vehicle insurance price? Ok, pretend I didn’t own a car for the next 5 years but I’ve been driving trucks all day everyday at work. Then I buy a car - does this mean I can put down 5 years no claims as I’ve got 5 years accident free driving at work? No, thought not.

KarlM:

Mick Bracewell:
Yes I’m well aware of that. It’s called self-insuring. But if a claim goes through an insurance company then it will get recorded on the MID against your name and licence details. That may come back to bite you on the arse in the event of a claim in the future if you said “no” to “have you had any motor accidents in the past 5 years?”. You could argue with them over the exact meaning of the words, but unless stated otherwise the question should be taken as an absolute where “any” is exactly as stated and answering anything over than the truth might not end well for you. :bulb:

Then I buy a car - does this mean I can put down 5 years no claims as I’ve got 5 years accident free driving at work? No, thought not.

No you wouldn’t because its not your insurance it’s somebody else’s, and basically you are just a named driver , now if it was your own insurance for your lorry then maybe yes.

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rearaxle:

KarlM:

Mick Bracewell:
Yes I’m well aware of that. It’s called self-insuring. But if a claim goes through an insurance company then it will get recorded on the MID against your name and licence details. That may come back to bite you on the arse in the event of a claim in the future if you said “no” to “have you had any motor accidents in the past 5 years?”. You could argue with them over the exact meaning of the words, but unless stated otherwise the question should be taken as an absolute where “any” is exactly as stated and answering anything over than the truth might not end well for you. :bulb:

Then I buy a car - does this mean I can put down 5 years no claims as I’ve got 5 years accident free driving at work? No, thought not.

No you wouldn’t because its not your insurance it’s somebody else’s, and basically you are just a named driver , now if it was your own insurance for your lorry then maybe yes.

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That’s the issue, another stitch up by the insurance industry. Take your driving elsewhere into account, but only if its to their benefit!

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Did anyone get their reply from MID? I’d be curious to know the official answer because I had my motorcycle insurance cancelled after a non disclosure after two minor incidents in a HGV, in very similar circumstances to this as it was inexperience (first 6 weeks of driving after passing test) rather than outright carelessness. I did discuss it on this forum but was met with mostly rolling eye emojis and people calling ■■■■■■■■. I’ve always loved trucks from a young age and my love of driving meant it felt natural to follow into a career as a HGV driver, but my car and bike insurance fees after the cancellation was so ridiculous, that I was forced to make a career change, unlike points/convictions, a cancellation has no expiry date, although there are a few companies who consider it to be spent after 5 years, so you have to pick carefully.

Camtruck:
Hi all. I’m a relatively new driver looking to change my career from the boring office and been working for Agencies. I turned a corner and pranged a parked car, truck undamaged. There was just no space to park and just unfortunate, you live and learn, I will be ensuring it doesn’t happen again.

My question is, if its my fault, will my personal insurance be affected? I am very anxious of outcome and how it will affect my applications to employers going forward. I shouldn’t let it bother me as no-one was hurt and its just a bit of damage to a chunk of metal, but I’m looking at the potential damage to my short/long term trucking career.
I had plans for this year and I’m hoping they are still on track, but don’t think employers will look at applications with an accident, or are we allowed a 2nd chance?

Anyone had a similar accident and how did it affect them?

Just to break down your two points here, hopefully this will reassure you, it will absolutely not affect your HGV driving career, companies generally look for no points/convictions, companies typically have their own incident/accident clause written into a contract of employment but this varies from company to company, typically if you have X amount of incidents within a certain time frame or if you do something serious like hit a bridge it would be considered gross misconduct and amount to instant dismissal.

Your second point about telling your car insurance, if I had told mine at the time it would’ve been roughly £50 added at renewal, some insurance companies want claim info for 3 years, some are for 5 years (again pick wisely) this would’ve been significantly cheaper than my insurance which doubled after the cancellation (across all my policies) Having been on the rough end I would advise emailing your insurance company, they may choose not to load your premium and you’ll at least have the email as proof of informing them.

A few of the questions I asked at the time, the answers aren’t exact but are roughly what happened :

Q. Why does an accident in a HGV affect my own personal car/bike policy?

A. Upon your renewal it states ‘Have you had an accident in ANY vehicle within the last 5 years, this includes a work/company vehicle, your policy is calculated on risk and likelihood of having an accident, if you’ve had a number of accidents within a set period of time we consider you to be an increased risk, regardless of what the vehicle was.

Q. Why has my own employer told me it shouldn’t make a difference, why have my colleagues never had this issue?

A. All claims are now on a shared database called CUE, you can request any information held about you, your policy information was checked upon renewal against this database, this is typically done to prevent insurance fraud, you policy was cancelled at inception due to non disclosure.

Q. That didn’t answer my question, why don’t more people know about this? Why do I feel like I’m being punished when I’ve got other drivers telling me it’s all ■■■■■■■■ and they’ve never had this issue?

A. Not every policy is checked at renewal against the database, perhaps 1 in 50 might be checked thoroughly, it’s upto the individual to read the small print and ensure all information given is correct, in the event of a serious incident occurring it’s highly likely the policy would have been cancelled from date of inception, effectively making you uninsured, we’ve actually done you a favour by highlighting this.

Q. I still don’t understand it, I don’t own the truck, I don’t decide where I’m delivering to, half the time I don’t even pick the route, I frequently deliver down narrow streets with badly parked cars, half the time the loading areas are unsuitable, I don’t know what’s going to happen until I actually try to deliver there? I frequently struggle getting in/out of side roads at these sites, sometimes with inches to spare, I have had less incidents than other drivers, infact my company regards me as a decent driver, they have absolutely no hesitation in getting rid of bad drivers, so why do I still feel like I’m being punished? They just say that having a few minor bumps are to be expected and are part of the job?

A. Simply put, as the driver you are in charge of the vehicle, if you can’t do your job safely that is an issue for your employer, but it is down to you to manage that risk, we calculate our insurance premiums based on that risk, we’d rather insure someone that’s had no accidents than one who thinks ‘it’s just one of those things’

Q. I’ve now refused to deliver to all the places that I consider carry a higher risk of me having an accident, my colleagues now hate me, my stress levels are now through the roof and my employer is telling me that I’m being unreasonable and that they deem what is an acceptable risk and what isn’t, it’s making my job absolutely unbearable?

A. We are pleased to hear your taking less risks, we feel you’ll be a much safer driver as a result and your premiums should reflect this in a few years time.

Q. I’m being given zero overtime as a result, effectively being pushed out the door, I either accept the job for what it is or I have to find something else.

A. We have a list of occupations that typically carry a lower premium, anything else I can help you with?