After 15 years of driving with no accidents I recently crashed a hire car.

I was charged with driving without due care (I believe unfairly as I wasn't doing anything illegal, I missed a junction because it was badly marked).

Do I tell my car insurance company about the accident? It happened in a hire car and was covered by their insurance.

If I do tell them, when do I do it? Do I also tell them about the DWDC? I am attending a course so I don't get points etc.

I want to make sure I don't invalidate my insurance but don't want to tell them anything I don't HAVE to.

Thanks!

not sure but I think you have to, other wise if you d need to claim they may well say tough cause you did not disclose this information

regardless of what car you have had an accident in:

"have you had any accidents,losses or claims in the last 3 years" is the usual scripted question.

it has to be disclosed,if added now to your policy it should not make any difference to your premium but will possibly at renewal.

If you have not been convicted then you do not need to disclose,if you have and you are attending a course to remove the points,again this has to be disclosed but should not increase your premium until renewal.

Well I came clean! Apparently because I received no points I don't need to tell them about my conviction. The accident has only added £20 to my premium for the next 4 months so not too bad. Wait and see how it affects my renewal now

if the claim was made during your current renewal period,they should not have charged? Have they charged you an amendment fee or something?

They told me that if it was points they wouldnt count it until renewal but with an accident they add it straight away. I questioned it but they insisted.

Were you fined for the incident?

I was charged with driving without due care (I believe unfairly as I wasn't doing anything illegal, I missed a junction because it was badly marked).

Off topic I know, but just to clarify, you don't need to be doing anything concretely illegal (e.g. exceeding speed limit, jumping red light etc.) to be charged and convicted with DVDC.

No but I will have to pay for the coursse. So technically yes?

I don't understand, if I wasnt doing anything illegal and had an accident, ho wis that different to any other accident that people don't get charged for DWDC?!

I don't understand, if I wasnt doing anything illegal and had an accident, ho wis that different to any other accident that people don't get charged for DWDC?!

Because not all accidents are caused by people driving without due care, (or doing careless driving, or dangerous driving). You can be doing something inarguably illegal, such as breaking the speed limit, but not doing anything that consitutes dangerous/careless driving or DWDC. On the other hand (and in your case), you can be doing nothing that is written in statute as illegal but still be driving in a general manner which constitutes one of these offences. Not all accidents are caused by actions that are serious enough to warrant a prosecution. But some are, and the police feel in this case that your actions warranted this charge. I can't say one way or the other if it's an unfair charge or not, but the guarantee you have is if you plead not guilty you will get a fair chance to put your point across and defend yourself Good luck.

Surely the majority of accidents are caused by someone making a mistake (not noticing something, misjudging something etc.) IMO that represents driving without enough due care and attention, my case is no different.

I made a mistake, surely 15 years of accident free driving should count in my favour? My eyes were on the road I just didn't notice something (due to me and a number of contributry factors), that is an ACCIDENT. No different to most others that happen every day. I guess I am an easy target, it is a lot harder to chase a boy racer with no insurance etc. You make more money out of me too.

I agree with what you're saying, it's just down to the police/CPS to decide which of these drivers they feel they have sufficient evidence to bring a charge against. I can't comment as I wasn't there but yes I would have thought 15 years of incident-free driving would imply to any reasonable person that you are a responsible driver who made a relatively small misjudgement that resulted in no injuries and no damage to any other car.

The problem comes when a driver with 15 years' exemplary record makes a identical small misjudgement but there happens to be a child standing by the road where you crashed, or a cyclist, or a car carrying a young family...this driver may have done nothing worse than you but by his bad luck he is facing death by dangerous/careless driving as opposed to DWDC, when it is not his fault that there was someone there at the time while in our parallel world there was luckily no-one there but the driving is identical. Driving charges are difficult because the courts have to do what they believe is in the public interest and send the message out that potentially dangerous driving is not acceptable. I'm sorry to hear of your situation and as I said before, you will have the chance to defend yourself and explain everything, good luck.

Paying for the course is not the same as a fine. Police offer the course as an alternative to a court conviction. If it wasn't taken to court then you cannot have received a conviction.

If you were not fined and you received no points then you do not have to declare it, as there was no conviction.

Being arrested is not the same as being charged, and being charged is not the same as being convicted.

Of course you still have to declare the accident.

They can not charge you £20 for having an accident mid-term.

It is your dutyto disclose this information at renewal so I would push them for a refund on this.

I reckon this may be admin fees.... it seems the right amount for most brokers?