Accident due to slippery road

[Strudul]

Hi

I had an incident last week where I lost all control of my car on a roundabout after hitting a slippery patch, presumably an oil / diesel spill. There were no other cars involved and no personal injury.

Several other people reported they experienced similar problems that day and I know of at least one other person who span out and went off the road.

The damage done to my car is "relatively" minimal and I believe it will only cost ~£1k for me to personally replace the mechanical parts and cover the towing fee. There will still be some cosmetic damage to the bodywork, but I can live with that.

If done professionally, especially if the bodywork was restored, I'm guessing the bill would be at least £4k. As such, I'm reluctant to make a claim as it would probably result in a Cat D/C write off, a large increase in premiums and I have to stump up a £500 excess.

Questions:
- Is the accident 100% my fault?
- If not, can any blame be placed on the council
- Does any claim for the council to cover costs still have to go through my insurance?
- Is it worth claiming even if it's decided to be non-fault?

Thanks

[des8]

Re: Accident due to slippery road

Firstly the accident was probably not your fault.

What you need to do is report it to the local council as they may not know about it.
They need to get out and clear the spillage properly. It is not just a surface problem as diesel will be absorbed by the tarmac and can resurface when it rains.

If you can show the council were aware of the spillage and had not dealt with it appropriately you might have a claim against them
You do not have to process the claim through your insurers.

Please note though, that even if you do not make a claim against your own policy, you do need to notify your insurers of the accident.

If you make a claim, and the insurers deem it uneconomical to repair the vehicle, you might be able to negotiate to buy the car back and have it repaired
Why do you think here will be a large increase in premiums? If your NCB is not protected you'll probably lose a couple of years NCB but that is going to be less than the money you are prepared to spend on repairing it yourself. I don't understand why, if a person carries insurance,they don't use it in the event of a loss!

[Strudul]

Re: Accident due to slippery road

Thanks for the response. I've notified the council, but don't know if they were already aware of it. If they didn't already know about it am I out of luck?

I don't have any NCB yet, and as a newer / younger driver a claim of £3k adds a significant increase (~£500) to my premium (from trying quotes on price comparison sites). As such, by the time I've paid the excess (£500), the increased premium, and my car has devalued from being a cat D/C, I've lost more than repairing it myself, and I still have the claim on my record for 5 years affecting my premiums.

If the damage was greater I'd go through insurance obviously, but at the moment it's looking less economical.

[Amethyst]

Re: Accident due to slippery road

It is often better just to deal with it, particularly when a new driver and isnurance is bonkers already. My daughters ex-BF ( 19 ) did similar, span out on a roundabout and caused about £1k worth of damage ( hit a lampost ) . It would have annihilated him to go through the insurance so he just fixed it from his own savings. We did have a go at finding out from the council if the spill had already been notified but got nowhere and really, had more important things to deal with at the time.

I've done same ( span out on roundabout) but thankfully no damage, just suprised faces from the kids as we faced the centre of the roundabout from the wrong side.... other half took the mickey for weeks blaming my driving .. until he did exactly the same on the same roundabout .... ha ( and I had informed the council - not sure if it was a spill or just a crap shiney bit of road )

Also, don't even enquire to the insurers - some people have reported back that after ringing to ask a question about a possible claim their premiums have gone up, even if they'd never made the claim.

[Kati]

Re: Accident due to slippery road

other half took the mickey for weeks blaming my driving .. until he did exactly the same on the same roundabout .... ha ( and I had informed the council - not sure if it was a spill or just a crap shiney bit of road )

MY fella would (has!!) do that too

[des8]

Re: Accident due to slippery road

ok so you've done your sums, and if you can't demonstrate the council knew about the problem and have been negligent, you won't succeed in a claim against them.

Regarding the advice about not notifying your insurers :
The doctrine of Utmost good Faith requires you are totally honest with your insurers
not to report the incident at renewal at least, is fraud,
Insurers rates depend on risk factors, which include past driving history.
If there is a subsequent claim following another (hope not) accident, and if your insurers discover you were involved in a non disclosed incident, they may withdraw cover and leave you out in the cold.

Your choice!!

[Amethyst]

Re: Accident due to slippery road

Sounds a bit harsh and I never knew that - I've always just dealt with stuff as it's only ever been minor prangs and vandalism and we've always just sorted it ourselves. We've involved the police in a couple incidents ( car park crash n run ( Broke the bumper) & a nob head with a bottle of paint stripper ) but never informed the insurance co. and never had any issues.

[des8]

Re: Accident due to slippery road

You won't have issues if they don't find out!

On the proposal form will be a question such as:
Have you or any other person whomay drive had any accidents, claims orlosses (whether to blame or not) inconnection with any motor vehicleduring the last so many years ?
The policyholder should receive a renewal notice a little in advance of which will set out the renewal premium subject to no changes in original proposal information.

I'm sure many people don't realise this and inadvertently don't report changes, but it can be disastrous (so I just like to be the harbinger of doom!!)

[Strudul]

Re: Accident due to slippery road

I know you have to declare any accidents or claims. Fortunately, from a few test quotes, there is no increase in premium when you declare an accident with a £0 claim.

However, that does raise another question: what constitutes an accident? Any time someone kerbs a wheel or finds a door ding, is that an accident you have to declare, or is there a minimum threshold?

[des8]

Re: Accident due to slippery road

I know you have to declare any accidents or claims. Fortunately, from a few test quotes, there is no increase in premium when you declare an accident with a £0 claim.

However, that does raise another question: what constitutes an accident? Any time someone kerbs a wheel or finds a door ding, is that an accident you have to declare, or is there a minimum threshold?

Just be sensible and make a judgement. If in doubt .. report it.
A "minor" incident can be a 5 mph bump with a wall ... no damage
A similar collision with a person.......