Accident help!

[xr8 007]

Hey all.

i'm gona be off my p's soon and i have never been in an acident (Thank GOD). Just wondering what happens when you smash regardless if its your fault or not, when do the assesors of you insruance company out to look at your car?

Why i ask!!?? Cause i wanna lower my car without telling my insurance and if something happens i dont want it to be void.

[RavenLS1]

Originally Posted by xr6007

Hey all.

i'm gona be off my p's soon and i have never been in an acident (Thank GOD). Just wondering what happens when you smash regardless if its your fault or not, when do the assesors of you insruance company out to look at your car?

Why i ask!!?? Cause i wanna lower my car without telling my insurance and if something happens i dont want it to be void.

if you want them to pay out ,they will have to asses them damage.

[Stav]

Dont lower the car.It sux over speed humps.Ring your insurance and ask what they do allow.I was surprised to discover that exhaust ,extractors unichip are all ok for me by nrma.Maybe if you ask first youll be sweet.Otherwise just get third party and a big bank account in case of accident.They will not indemnify you if you do not disclose all relevant information.Its called duty of disclosure.

[xr8 007]

but will that happen straight after the smash or does it take a while.

[Stav]

If you have a bad smash they will tow the car toNRMA (insurance) holding yard of smash repairer for assessment.Dont risk it little mate.Get the allclear before you do it...or they wont pay.

[RavenLS1]

depends if the car goes to your place or a holding yard.

[xr8 007]

(USELESS, what car have you got man, how come you suggest not to lower it?? It looks so much better, and can handle better)

[LUXO_8]

i think he meant dont be dodgy and lower it without telling them.
most insurers will let you lower a couple of inches.. RACV are fine with my NC lowered...
they may not like the engine mods im doing however.........yes sir its a stock AU XR8 engine lol

[phoon]

If you lower it or do any mod's without telling them, they will not pay up. By the way, they will also cancel your insurance for the future and stuff you up if you try to get insurance elsewhere. I know the cost to insure for young fellas is bloody expensive, but it could be alot more expensive if you have a bingle. In years to come, when you are an older bugger like me, you'll be glad you did it right.

[XAGSV8]

I lowered my old EA and I can tell you now it sucks. Speed bumps and driveways become an issue, for me even filling the petrol tank was an issue. As for handling it certainly handled better but braking suffered. If you plan on doing it defently tell the insurance company or else one day you may be declairing bankruptcy.

[Stav]

Originally Posted by xr6007

(USELESS, what car have you got man, how come you suggest not to lower it?? It looks so much better, and can handle better)

Mate i am getting old thats why...Also whe my bro had a 351 clevo falcon it was sniff the bitumen.It was a pain in the butt too.

[Rodp]

Originally Posted by xr6007

Hey all.

i'm gona be off my p's soon and i have never been in an acident (Thank GOD). Just wondering what happens when you smash regardless if its your fault or not, when do the assesors of you insruance company out to look at your car?

Why i ask!!?? Cause i wanna lower my car without telling my insurance and if something happens i dont want it to be void.

If it's towed, and your insurer is picky about mods (not many like cars being lowered) you're screwed. If you want to make a claim and you have the car, you have to raise it before making the claim. Insurance companies will look for whatever they can to void your insurance. I'd contact them to see if they were a happy to lower company or not.

When I had my XWGT, I had a respray so I wanted to raise my agreed value. Took it to my insurer and they noted that the rear tyres were apparently 1" wider than allowable (according to the handbook they were the factory rated tyres) and wouldn't insure it with them on. I asked what would have happened if I attempted to make a claim, they told me it would have been rejected. Insured it with Shannons that afternoon.

[Penelope Pitstop]

One Word – Disclosure

When you took out your policy the lovely broker would have read you a duty of disclosure and asked if you agreed. In order to take out the policy you would have said Yes, I agree – you can find a copy of the duty of disclosure within your PDS – Product Disclosure Statement.

The duty of disclosure clearly states that you have a duty of law to be honest with your insurer and disclosure information regarding claims, accidents, modifications, vehicle location, regular drivers, criminal history etc etc

Failure to meet your agreed duty of disclosure could and may result in your claim being refused or rejected, your policy cancelled and if deliberate fraud is discovered then the policy may disappear – like it never existed.

Eeww I sound like a text book! But honestly don’t be a cheapskate when it comes to insurance – pay whatever it takes to get you the peace of mind you require and do it ethically and legally because at the end of the day the Insurer is always the one who laughs longest!

Cheers, Tori

By the way you can lower cars you just need to keep it with certain guidelines and ensure that the car is the same height all the way round. Just check with your insurer first and if they say NO then shop around.

[Yaw]

Like PirtekGirl said,
But to answer your question, it is not always that an assesor will look at your car. (depending upon your insurer). But the guys that will see your car will be the smash repairers that quote and repair the car!!!!. Now just before you say to yourself : Phew...... please remeber that the smash repairers are paid by the insurance company, not you. They know what side thier bread is buttered and will be on the look out for that kind of thing, especially if it in anyway contributes to the acciedent or costs more in repairs because of it.
You could wind up with a hefty bill. The assessors and the insurance company are not the ones at fault if you blatanty lie to them regarding your car, you may jump up and down and whinge and that they won't pay you out at claim time, but it is you that has in fact tried to commit an illegal act called insurance fraud.

[pauljh74]

As was said, it can stuff you up in the future. One of the standard questions asked when you start up a policy is "have you been refused insurance?" Why risk voiding a policy that costs younger drivers an arm and a leg for anyway? You'll be screwed over twice then - you pay for the policy and risk getting nothing in return. Better to possibly pay a little more and disclose mods.

[xrdreaming]

It's not just if you damage your own car mate, whatever you hit you will also have to pay for out of your own pocket if they don't cover you.

[xxxc]

whats the lowest they say you can have before its uninsurable ,is it 30mm off the ground i may be wrong?

[M14A-Mclaren]

My mum was recently in a accident, I can't remember the specifics because I wasn't there but she had to stop on the side of the road because a truck was being escorted by the police or something and the lady behind her with 2 toddlers in the car wasn't paying attention and didn't have enough braking room so rear ended my mums car, damage was pretty bad. Anyway the insurance company or crash repair people said their would be $400 excess, which was pretty unfair since she wasn't at fault at all why should she pay anything. Eventually the insurance companys sorted it out and she didn't have to pay anything which is the way it should be really.

[Yaw]

Sometimes the excess is charged and then refunded at a later stage once one insurance company talks to the other. There may have been some dispute regarding liability between the companies. Being "at fault" and being liable are not always the same thing. "at fault" gets taken the wrong way so many times by people. The term "at fault" as opposed to "not at fault" is merley an insurance term. you are one or the other, there is no inbetween.
An "at fault" claim simply means any claim where you are unable to name the third party "at fault".
For example a stolen car is an "at fault" claim. The insurance people are not blaming you for having it stolen, it just means you have been unable to identify the thief.
Obviously in this case there must have been some point of liabilty in question between the companies as often there is. Could be conflicting stories, remember an insurance company first point of call is the customers story and as they represent the customer they go by what thier customer has said as you would expect your company to do. Therefore you would have to know exactly what the third party has said to thier insurer to work out why there was some kind of problem that made your mums company ask for the excess until it was sorted out.