Will a Non-Fault Claim Affect My Insurance Premium?
The honest answer is more nuanced than either "no" or "yes". Here is what actually affects your renewal, and how to keep the impact as small as possible.
A genuine non-fault claim should not cost you your no-claims discount, and if it is handled entirely against the other driver’s insurer, your own insurer pays out nothing at all.
Being straight with you though: insurers price on accident history, not just fault. You must declare any accident, and some will still adjust for it.
Why a non-fault accident can still move your premium
This surprises people, and it is worth explaining rather than glossing over.
Insurers price on risk. Their data says that a driver who has been in one accident - on any basis - is statistically more likely to be in another. So the accident itself carries some weight, separately from whose fault it was.
What you should keep is your no-claims discount, provided your own insurer ends up paying nothing, or recovers everything from the other side.
How to keep the impact smallest
Do not claim on your own policy
If your insurer pays nothing, there is nothing for them to recover and no fault claim recorded.
Get it recorded as non-fault
Make sure liability is properly established and logged, not left open on the record.
Declare it accurately
You must disclose accidents even where you were not at fault. Not doing so can void a policy.
Shop around at renewal
Insurers weight accident history very differently. The same accident can produce widely different quotes.
Worried about your renewal?
The surest way to protect your policy is not to claim on it. We run the claim against the driver who caused it.
Always declare an accident, even a non-fault one where you claimed nothing. Almost every insurer asks about incidents rather than claims. An undisclosed accident can invalidate cover at exactly the moment you need it.
What makes it worse
Claiming on your own policy unnecessarily
Your insurer pays out, and until they recover it from the other side it can sit against you as an open claim.
Liability left unresolved
An accident with no agreed outcome is treated more cautiously than one clearly recorded as non-fault.
Auto-renewing without checking
Renewal quotes after an accident are frequently well above what the same insurer would offer a new customer.
Common questions
You should not on a genuine non-fault claim, provided your own insurer does not end up out of pocket. Claiming on your own policy can affect it until they recover their costs.
Yes. Policies require you to notify them of accidents regardless. Failing to disclose can invalidate your cover.
Insurers typically ask about the last three to five years, and it drops out of pricing after that.
Ask your insurer to confirm the claim is recorded as non-fault and closed. Then get quotes elsewhere - weighting varies enormously between insurers.
It should not. If anything, keeping the claim off your own policy is what protects your no-claims discount.
Terms and conditions apply to all services described on this page. Free recovery, storage and replacement vehicles are provided on the basis that the charges are recovered from the at-fault party’s insurer. We will explain the terms in plain English before anything is arranged.
Before we act for you we are required to verify your identity and to carry out fraud and anti-money laundering checks. This may include checks with credit reference and fraud prevention agencies, which will leave a record on your file.
Where fraud is suspected, information may be shared with fraud prevention agencies, insurers and law enforcement. Providing false or misleading information in support of a claim may mean your claim is refused, and can be a criminal offence.