In October 2006 before i got my golf, i ran in the back of someone in the rain at some lights. Totally my fault, going too fast for the conditions, wheels locked up and BANG.

At the time i was named driver on mums policy as i didnt have my own car

The guy wouldnt let me pay for the damage myself, as it was a lease car so it went through insurance.

My (mums) car, although covered fully comp, wasnt worth much, so to avoid the excess, i didnt claim for my car, and repaired it myself.

I contacted his insurer and asked them to invoice me direct, not my insurance company.

The invoice came, and i paid it, so there was no cost at all to my insurance company.

When my renewal arrived i was swapping to the golf, but it listed the claim. but did also say there were 2years NCB (not my NCB as mums policy)

When i got the golf, i got insurance in my own name, with 0 NCB (as never had own policy before)... and i declared the bump... did i need to do this? considering i had paid 100% for the damage?

Just wondering? i have paid the insurance this year, so its forgotten about, but come next year, am i legally able to remove the listed claim?

Regards

If the insurer who insured you had to pay out then its a claim, if they had no outlay then its not a claim that has been recorded aginst your name. Its the same principle as Buying a claim back form the insurance company, that would restore any NCD but as you are starting a new policy with 0 NCD that doesn't matter. No Outlay from insurer = no claim - technically just a fault accident with no outlay. I'd not bother declairing it myself, and i spent 3 years working in Motor claims.

Can't really add anymore to that... As there was never any outlay.... I wouldn't bother. Worst case scenario....somehow they find out... then they realise it was a claim for information puroposes only... I can't see it affecting premium.

Technically though.... it is your responsibility to report every incident, and notify your current insurers of past incidents.

 I'd say tell them because with previous experience of insurance companies they will do absolutely anything they can not to pay out, even though you pay them plenty. And it gives them an excuse to not pay out if you were to have another accident.

You need to tell them because if you make a claim and they find out, they will refuse to pay out. Whilst you settled the last time out of your own money, if you have an accident with a Ferrari or Bentley, it may be a little more expensive and you probably wouldn't want to pay for that out of your own money.

The fact that you paid for it out of your own money last time is irrelevant, you still had the accident.

Most insurance policies require you to disclose any pertinent information, for instance from Norwich union:

"Disclosure of Material Information

Failure to disclose all material information or any subsequent change in the information advised (i.e. information likely to influence the assessment of the risk) could invalidate the insurance. If you are in doubt whether any information is material it should be disclosed. It is an offence under the Road Traffic Acts to make any false statements or withhold any information to obtain a Certificate of Motor Insurance."

See also http://www.fool.co.uk/news/your-money/insurance/2006/10/09/how-insurance-firms-avoid-paying-out.aspx

See now that boils down to your definition of 'material'. Me personally... I wouldn't class a claim for information purposes only, with no payments as a material non disclosure, because even if declared it wouldn't affect the premium.

I wouldn't guarantee it, but I bet you could get away with it, even if you did get caught, with just a slap on the wrist, as I'd class that as non material non disclosure.

I'd still declare it though... I just love to play devils advocate.

Under UK insurance contract law you're meant to apply the principle of "utmost good faith" - disclose *anything* (even if it doesn't seem relevant to you) which might affect the assessment of risk.

You can google the term to find out more about it, quite a long article about case law here: http://www.bakernet.com/NR/rdonlyres/E5EE9100-5800-49EE-92F5-29D69F92A12C/34242/utmostgoodfaith.pdf

Ste2 said himself in the title that it upped his premium - Norwich Union say "Failure to disclose all material information or any subsequent change in the information advised (i.e. information likely to influence the assessment of the risk)". Given that his premium increased, they must have assessed that the risk was increased, therefore I'm fairly sure it's material.

You don't know why his premium increased though? So how can you say that? Premiums are going up as a matter of course...from what I can see it doesn't say the increased premium was as a result. the author suggests this, but in my eyes, unless you ring the insurer to ask, you cannot say that, and therefore can't comment if it's material or not.