I wish I knew this before making an insurance claim!

[PP Bear]

At least Dick Turpin wore a mask!!!

 

[AG 2602]

I know someone who endured premium loading just for mentioning a small bump. It was nothing really and they wanted to know whether to claim or pay it themselves. Even though they did not put it through their insurers; the "Accident" was placed on some database that all insurers have access to.

That happened to me took ages and lierally hours on the phone to get the whole thing sorted! In my experince Insurance company customer service is pretty good when buying but if you have a problem they seem to drag their feet!
Even though all our vehicles are insured I don't feel like they are!!

 

[Yorick]

Stealaway

Late last year whilst driving onto levelling ramps, both ramps on the same side, front and rear, the front driving wheel skidded on wet grass and the van slid sideways and off the ramp. Damaged front bumper and quote to fix was / and is £1800. I claimed on the insurance.

So this turns out to be a fault claim. Come to renew my car insurance, despite more than 40years without a claim / accident, the van claim affects my car policy and its loaded as I made a fault claim. Renew my Mrs insurance, that too is loaded because I made a claim. My daughters car, as a named driver, that was also loaded.

I now wish I paid for the insurance claim! This carries on for the next 5 years.

Blimey. £1800 to fix a bumper. I'd be more upset about that than increased premiums.

 

[Odd-no-more]

last year Mrs. Ex had a shunt in a car park, I think it was a scam, but even so we only had about £35 added at renewal for a fault claim, and my bike insurer didn't want to know, even thought the car is in my name. I cannot understand how the insurance industry works.

 

[pyro]

Change insurers - I run my own broking business and what you have been told is wrong......simply wrong. There will be a supplementary question as to whether a claim was on the policy/vehicle that you are now quoting for. If it's not, it should not affect the premium. if you have already renewed, ask the insurers (other than the MH one) for a review. Tell them they are not treating the customer (you) fairly and you plan to go to the ombudsman

Superb post, most knowledgeable.

I have taken on quite a few insurers professionally in the past, and whilst I have been selective in only taking on those issues with reasonable prospects, I have nearly always been successful. Certain insurance companies invest a great deal in training their staff in claim avoidance and loss recovery, although others are increasingly concerned with customer retention they complain about the premiums for renewal.

The posts here are indicative of the gross dissatisfaction that the majority feel over insurers, and reinforce the importance of having a good broker to safeguard your best interests at the outset, a qualified independent loss adjustor (not an unqualified "claims adjustor" employed by the insurers) to handle any significant claims which may arise and a legal professional to pursue an outcome on standby.
.
And if all else fails, the Ombudsman offers a fair service, including case studies.

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[sedge]

Blimey. £1800 to fix a bumper. I'd be more upset about that than increased premiums.

ROFLMAO said the retired person employed for over 40 years in the insurance industry - whose first husband repaired cars scraping for a living - yet folk still wonder why insurance premiums are so high !

 

[Yorick]

ROFLMAO said the retired person employed for over 40 years in the insurance industry - whose first husband repaired cars scraping for a living - yet folk still wonder why insurance premiums are so high !

I'm not sure if you're agreeing with me or not ???

 

[Bucket]

I have posted on here before about my experience, first being damaged when parked in Germany and then a few years later having knocked off a mirror of a van that pulled out from a parking space in France. The latter was particularly annoying as I had no damage whatsoever and refused to give the driver my insurance details. Her insurers nevertheless extracted the details and made a claim that blamed me. I objected of course but it's still on my record and has to be declared for 5 years (3 to go).
That said, I haven't noticed any hit to our premiums, so a vote for AIB (who offer a discount to funsters)

 

[gus-lopez]

As retired "broker" I can sympathise with the comments but the insurance companies definition of a "fault" claim Is any claim where full costs can't be recovered from a third party,

But most make no attempt & take the easy "knock for knock" route so blaming both parties .

 

[pyro]

I haven't noticed any hit to our premiums, so a vote for AIB (who offer a discount to funsters)

I found them to be pretty fair, too

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[Steve and Denise]

If your going to have a claim make sure it’s a BIG one

 

[SpeedyDux]

If your going to have a claim make sure it’s a BIG one

On the other hand, as the saying goes, cheaper to kill someone in a RTA than injure them.

 

[Puddleduck]

I think the same penalty applies if your vehicle is parked when damaged by another.
A pal's car whilst parked briefly in the road one evening and was hit (written off in fact) by a tipsy neighbour's car whilst he had nipped back indoors having forgotten his debit card.
Initially his ins co argued that it should have been parked off the road at night and he had to pursue the fact that it was before the 10pm requirement and he had just got it out of his drive to go back indoors for his debit card before collecting a takeaway. They eventually accepted that but he still lost his NCB and his renewal premium was increased.

Small claims court to recover all the additional costs from the third party (or their insurers)

 

[Howard B]

I have a bike , camper and car. Dropped my bike a few years ago which affects the premium on all of them.

 

[Gary Molloy]

I had a blowout in Spain before covid.the damage cost £5,000 to repair.my insurance went up from £250 to £2000.i shopped around rather than pay it and found a company to insure me for £250.insurance is a big con.it always pays to shop around,you don't benefit from being loyal.

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[L' Hobo]

Another motorist, about 10yrs ago, falsely claimed I hit his car in a carpark, when I informed my insurance company, and I PROVED to them that I had not, (it was a scam) It still appeared on my renewals as an accident and it took me 3yrs AND a letter from the other drivers insurance company before it was removed.
Needless to say, I've not insured with them since!

 

[Gary Molloy]

I had a blowout in Spain before covid.the damage cost £5,000 to repair.my insurance went up from £250 to £2000.i shopped around rather than pay it and found a company to insure me for £250.insurance is a big con.it always pays to shop around,you don't benefit from being loyal.

 

[The Rum Runners]

I have had a slightly different experience with claiming. I had 2 claims in 1 year on our moho, 1 was no fault claim in Germany that was all sorted out in 24 hours (van was still drivable) and then a more serious claim later in the year in France. The insurance is with Aviva through Comfort and the premium went up about £80 the next year. The 2 claims were about £12000 together. My car insurer, Clegg Gifford, said they weren’t interested in a motorhome claim as it was totally different driving and my premiums stayed roughly the same for our 2 cars.

 

[Molly A]

I think the same penalty applies if your vehicle is parked when damaged by another.
A pal's car whilst parked briefly in the road one evening and was hit (written off in fact) by a tipsy neighbour's car whilst he had nipped back indoors having forgotten his debit card.
Initially his ins co argued that it should have been parked off the road at night and he had to pursue the fact that it was before the 10pm requirement and he had just got it out of his drive to go back indoors for his debit card before collecting a takeaway. They eventually accepted that but he still lost his NCB and his renewal premium was increased.

He would only have lost his no claims bonus if he had not paid to protect it. or if he had already claimed and put this claim above the limit of his no claims rules. His claim should not have counted as a fault claim anyway, as there was a guilty part to claim against and the claim would therefore not count against his protected no claims bonus. Speaking as an ex head of customer service for a large insurance company, this does not really make sense....

 

[Coolcats]

In the early hours of boxing morning 2019 we had a burglary and two vehicles stolen along with the keys to the MoHo, a few months later one vehicle was found when it was involved in an accident. The insurance companies paid out. When renewal time came around AIB wanted a £3500 premium to insure the MoHo up from £450 the year before. The agent tried selling the insurance saying it was the best out there ans anything else was inferior even wanting to look over another quote I had. Adrian flux quote was £1300 so I took that policy out. This year it’s down to £880.

Another policy for one of my performance cars went from £160 to £330 it dropped by £30 this year so I looked around the specialist market and a broker provided the same policy from the same underwriter for £210.

on top of this I have spent thousands improving the security of my home from changing the front door, improving locks alarms camera’s etc. the insurance companies ignore this.

it’s all weighted on the side of the insurance company don’t make a claim unless you really have to it’s just not worth it.

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[Coolcats]

He would only have lost his no claims bonus if he had not paid to protect it. or if he had already claimed and put this claim above the limit of his no claims rules. His claim should not have counted as a fault claim anyway, as there was a guilty part to claim against and the claim would therefore not count against his protected no claims bonus. Speaking as an ex head of customer service for a large insurance company, this does not really make sense....

As both my wife and I found If the insurance company cannot reclaim all their costs it is logged as a fault claim whether you are an innocent party or not that’s how it is.

In addition if that claim is on your partners insurance and you are a names driver it will still go against your record…..

 

[Lenny HB]

I shop around every year for car and van insurance. Strangely, I got a cheaper van insurance than I paid last year. However, I could not find a better deal on my car insurance due to the claim. On comparison sites, I put in no claim, then admitted to claim and found generally the fault claim added
£60.

Appears to be hit & miss I still have to declare the claim as it was less than 5 years ago. My renewal on the car came through it was £257 up from £197 it was with the Co-op & they said they were changing insurers to Zenith.
Went on a comparison side and got insurance for £106 with - Zenith.

 

[Molly A]

As both my wife and I found If the insurance company cannot reclaim all their costs it is logged as a fault claim whether you are an innocent party or not that’s how it is.

In addition if that claim is on your partners insurance and you are a names driver it will still go against your record…..

Which was the point I made in relation to the post to which I responded. Always one of the toughest things to explain to someone who has been hit in a car park and the miscreant has driven off( which happened to me last month). If as the OP stated, it was a tipsy neighbour, there would have been someone to claim against.

 

[Molly A]

Appears to be hit & miss I still have to declare the claim as it was less than 5 years ago. My renewal on the car came through it was £257 up from £197 it was with the Co-op & they said they were changing insurers to Zenith.
Went on a comparison side and got insurance for £106 with - Zenith.

Always shop around, is the lesson! Claims are normally declared for 5 years, which is a pain. When I was first in the business it was for 3 years, but that crept up over time.

 

[Molly A]

Superb post, most knowledgeable.

I have taken on quite a few insurers professionally in the past, and whilst I have been selective in only taking on those issues with reasonable prospects, I have nearly always been successful. Certain insurance companies invest a great deal in training their staff in claim avoidance and loss recovery, although others are increasingly concerned with customer retention they complain about the premiums for renewal.

The posts here are indicative of the gross dissatisfaction that the majority feel over insurers, and reinforce the importance of having a good broker to safeguard your best interests at the outset, a qualified independent loss adjustor (not an unqualified "claims adjustor" employed by the insurers) to handle any significant claims which may arise and a legal professional to pursue an outcome on standby.
.
And if all else fails, the Ombudsman offers a fair service, including case studies.

Indeed, if you feel that you have not been fairly dealt with, and you have exhausted the complaints process with your insurer then threaten them with the ombudsman. It costs an insurance company over £500 if they have to respond to a complaint raised through the Ombudsman, so if the claim is not substantial they will often settle.

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[The Wino]

I think the problem is a lot of people forget that insurance companies are businesses that run on profit. They have to get a profit having paid all their admin and sales costs including comission to brokers and having paid all the claims. It's always going to be way cheaper for an average person to take whatever risks they can afford to cover themselves. We always have the biggest excess that's worthwhile (if you go too big the premiums hardly reduce) don't bother with new for old on contents etc. You do need to insure things like a house that you couldn't afford to ditch but why people insure absolutely everything all risks with no excess despite never claiming for anything like my mil I can't understand.
I would not bother claiming anything less than a couple of thousand on vehicle insurance especially given I've generally got a high excess anyway.
It's like flying Ryanair the game is you try to get the cheapest deal you can they try to get the most money out of you they can.

 

[Garry - June]

Yep had this when my wife hit a deer in her 4 mth old car... she claimed obviously and it affected my van insurance upon renewal as she was a named driver.... it was as you say a fault claim by her... the insurance broker even admitted she would have been better off hitting another car instead of the deer as they could make a claim against the car but they cannot against the deer.... hence why it becomes a fault claim..... my van insurance went up so much i had to remove her from the policy for a number of years...

 

[Coolcats]

Yep had this when my wife hit a deer in her 4 mth old car... she claimed obviously and it affected my van insurance upon renewal as she was a named driver.... it was as you say a fault claim by her... the insurance broker even admitted she would have been better off hitting another car instead of the deer as they could make a claim against the car but they cannot against the deer.... hence why it becomes a fault claim..... my van insurance went up so much i had to remove her from the policy for a number of years...

It’s this type of sharp practice that needs reviewing we all need insurance but increases should be reasonable and not punitive

 

[GWAYGWAY]

Stealaway

Late last year whilst driving onto levelling ramps, both ramps on the same side, front and rear, the front driving wheel skidded on wet grass and the van slid sideways and off the ramp. Damaged front bumper and quote to fix was / and is £1800. I claimed on the insurance.

So this turns out to be a fault claim. Come to renew my car insurance, despite more than 40years without a claim / accident, the van claim affects my car policy and its loaded as I made a fault claim. Renew my Mrs insurance, that too is loaded because I made a claim. My daughters car, as a named driver, that was also loaded.

I now wish I paid for the insurance claim! This carries on for the next 5 years.

The NFU, a dear insurance company anyway, loaded me another £100+ after I removed my wife after her 70th birthday from my insurance. They said it made me a worse risk as I have to drive for more time now. She had NEVER actually driven it at all ever. I moved from them to Comfort.

 

[Spriddler]

Which was the point I made in relation to the post to which I responded. Always one of the toughest things to explain to someone who has been hit in a car park and the miscreant has driven off( which happened to me last month). If as the OP stated, it was a tipsy neighbour, there would have been someone to claim against.

It was the neighbour's tipsy 19yr old daughter who took his car without his permission (she didn't even have a driving licence) and also seriously damaged two adjacent cars in the narrow road. My pal did say that the father had trouble with his insurer for leaving the keys 'unsecure' on top of a fridge. It's a complex situation and I don't have every detail but the police did prosecute the daughter.

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