Introduction - having a motor accident can be a very traumatic experience; things can happen very quickly and at the time in may be difficult to concentrate. Try to keep calm.  It is a good idea to keep a pen and paper in your car with you to note down and exchange details. Also, a cheap disposable camera kept in the glove box will enable you to take photographs of the accident.  After a loss it is important that you obtain as much details as possible for your insurance company and remember not to admit liability. It is a sad fact that after an accident some people are happy to admit responsibility but later when they are back home or perhaps they have discovered the amount of no claims bonus that will be lost, change their minds.  If you have any reason to suspect that a Third Party is not being entirely honest with you, always call the police and ask them to take details.  Some key points are:-

• Stop as soon as possible and in a safe place. Remember other vehicles may be continuing to drive near you. If anyone has been injured call the police or ambulance services.

• Try to make any injured person as comfortable as possible but only move them if it is necessary to safeguard them from traffic or further damage such as a fire. If you have a warning triangle in your car place it well before any obstruction.

• Keep calm, write down the name address and vehicle registration number of the other driver. Use your pen and paper to make a quick sketch of the incident or take pictures if you have a camera.

• You should exchange insurance details with the Third Party and any other person who has reasonable grounds to request your details. Remember, obtaining full details now will help expedite a quicker settlement of your claim

• Do not admit responsibility or make any offer of payment. Even if you feel sorry for the other driver.

• You have 24 hours to report the incident to the police if anyone was injured

When completing your accident report form or telephoning a claim call centre, your insurers will want as much information as possible, amount the things they will ask are:-

1) The date and time of the accident
2) The purpose of your journey
3) Where there any passengers in your vehicle
4) Full details of any other parties involved
5) The class of road you were driving on
6) The condition of the road
7) The weather conditions
8) What lights were displayed on your vehicle
9) Did you attempt to avert the accident by giving a warning
10) At what speed where you travelling at the time of the incident
11) Your position in the road
12) How far where you from the nearside kerb
13) The width of the road that you were travelling.
 

These are fairly comprehensive questions so make a note of them before you leave the scene of the accident. Most delays relating to motor claims relate to insufficient information being taken at the time of the accident.  Remember to report your incident to your insurers a quickly as possible, they will tell you what to do next and if you have a Comprehensive motor Insurance policy, they should be able to recommend a repairer for you and will possibly to able to provide you with a hire car.

Before making you claim, it may be wise to consider the effect on your no claims bonus entitlement. See if you can find out how much bonus you will loose and compare this to the cost of the claim. You will usually have to pay an excess so don’t forget to include this in your calculation. In may take you a number of years to build your no claims bonus back up to its previous level so you may have to live with increased premiums fpor a number of years. You may find with a small claim that it is simply not worth claiming at all.  With regard to no claims bonus it is also worth remembering that it is a no claim bonus not a no blame bonus, if your insurers have paid a claim on your behalf, they will reduce your no claims bonus unless they are able to make a full recovery of their losses from the
other side.

You will only recover your bonus if the incident is settled 100% in your favour, slit liability cases of whatever proportion will still result in a loss of no claims bonus.  Of course all of this can be avoided by taking out a protected bonus policy. Ask you insurers how much this additional cover would cost. To be eligible for consideration, you must normally have to be already earning maximum discount and be claim free for a certain period of time.  A fairly typical protected bonus policy will allow you to have 2 fault claims within a 5 year period; any subsequent claim will result in a loss of bonus.