Arborbridge wrote:Just on the point of being hit by a third party in a car park not being your fault..... the insurance industry rationale on this is that having been hit once demonstrates an increased probability of another accident and potentially a claim - even if you haven't claim on this first one.
They would argue that it might relate to the way you park or where you park or the carelessness of the driver population using that particular car park and that this increase in risk should be reflected in the premium. They had an unknown known which has become slightly more known.
It's tricky though. I would generally take the view that in any accident, if one vehicle is moving and the other vehicle is not moving, then the fault has to lie with the driver of the vehicle that was moving. In much the same way as if you drive into a tree then it has to be your fault. A fortiori if the driver of the non-moving vehicle was not even present at the time.
There might be a partial exception there if you were parked illegally or causing an obstruction.
Of course location might be a factor. If you regularly park on the street in a "bad" part of town then the risk might be perceived as higher. I am not sure how much more an insurance company can charge because of where you live or drive, without being accused of redlining. But I suspect most Lemons do not live in such areas.
I would like to think that insurance companies make no inference based on an isolated incident, but take notice more if there is a pattern of such incidents. But I am not sure I trust them to do that and so non-reporting and paying for the repair yourself, where plausible, seems prudent.