[alcooker]

Hi,

I recently hired a car ( well, a Dacia Duster) from Europcar in France and purchased separate damage excess waiver thru Questor because it was way cheaper. I got invoiced £170 for a 1cm scuff that I'd not seen when collecting or was done while I was parked up.

Would anyone know if I made a claim thru Questor via White Horse insurance if that would be something that I'd need to declare when applying for insurance for the GT and 156? I don't want to claim £170 to screw my future premiums even tho I've protected no claims.

In future I'll just pay more for the excess directly with the hire company. I've never returned a car and had it checked over, but this Dacia, the Europcar rep was all over it.:rant:

Cheers

 

[PR]

I wouldn't have thought so. After all, you aren't making a claim on your motor policy are you? You are making a claim against an excess....?

 

[alcooker]

That's kind of what I was thinking, but when you read parts of the claim form below (like point F), it gets a bit dicey.

Post Code ____________________________ Tel No _______________________________________________

c) Licence Number of the driver? -------

______________________________________________________________

d) Date passed driving test? -------

_______________________________________________________________

e) Is a current driving licence held? YES / NO

f) Number of motor accidents/claims in past 3 years. Please give details_______________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

g) Any past convictions (including fixed penalty offences) or any charges pending? YES/NO

If YES, please give details__________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

h) Any physical defects or infirmity (including eyesight, hearing, diabetes, fits or heart complaint)? YES/NO

If yes, please give details____________________________________________________________________

___________________________________________________________________________________________

i) Was the hire vehicle being used accordingly to the terms of the Rental Agreement? YES / NO

j) Incident Date? _______________________ Time? _____________________________ (please be precise).

k) Where did it happen (City / State)? ___________________________________________________________

l) How did the incident occur? Please pay particular attention to mentioning the following; weather / road

conditions, road topography, speed just prior to the incident, traffic signal indication, position of vehicles

following the accident. ____________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________

m) Has a third party claim been made against you (If so, please forward all particulars including letters received

from claimants or their legal advisers)?

______________________________________________________________________________________

4.Other Party Involved / Responsible for Accident / Damage / Loss:*

a) Drivers full name? ________________________________________________________________________

b) Driver full address? _______________________________________________________________________

* 2

 

[PR]

Hmmm I see what you mean. Never seen that type of question before....

Id be tempted to write that it was there when you picked it up but didn't notice, so it wasn't your fault so there was no incident.....!

 

[Sono Veloce]

That's actually an interesting question (can you tell I work in insurance?!) it will all depend on whether or not White Horse record the claim on the claims and underwriting exchange (CUE) which is administrated by Experian and is the database that all UK insurers make reference to for your claims history.

My gut instinct would be that, because White Horse is registered in Southern Ireland, it will not be member of CUE an therefore UK insurance companies will have no record of the claim if you did make it.

Gotta say that claim form is way over the top and looks like it's sole purpose is to scare you into not claiming in the first place!

PR's approach seems wise (although I'd say "I did not notice it but am certain I did not do the damage myself" as this will seem more plausible).

 

[michaelb]

Sadly the answer is 'yes'.

The question your insurer asks you is 'have you, or anyone else on the policy, been the subject of any incident which may have resulted in a claim, in the last year?' and the answer here is yes.

Even if you didn't invoke your Questor policy, if you just stumped up the readies to Europcar, you would still technically be liable to answer 'yes' because it is an incident which may have resulted in a claim.

Whether they share information is another question. I doubt they do.

It's really up to your conscience. I know what I would do, or rather, wouldn't do.




Bl00dy rental companies. I now take a slow careful walk around video of the car when I collect it, and another when I drop it off. In the first instance I would tell Europcar to get lost, the mark was always there, and see what happens.

 

[alcooker]

Gotta say that claim form is way over the top and looks like it's sole purpose is to scare you into not claiming in the first place!
.

Thanks for this, I appreciate your thoughts. Your above statement is exactly what I was thinking.

Unfortunately I think I'll just stomach the £170ish bill, not worth messing any future quotes up.

For sure any future hiring I do, I'll just pay a bit more and get the waiver thru the Rental company, any little scuffs will probably be ignored then. I think I saved about £30 going thru Questor- long run, not worth it.

 

[Sono Veloce]

That's understandable and no problem alcooker.

 

[KrisW]

because White Horse is registered in Southern Ireland, it will not be member of CUE an therefore UK insurance companies will have no record of the claim if you did make it.

I wouldn't count on that. Ireland is home to a lot of international financial services companies that don't do business in the country. The majority of their policies seem to be sold through UK travel agencies, so it'd be in their interest to share information there.

... and as they're based in Dublin, "Eastern Ireland" would be a more accurate description