GlesgaKiss

Hi all,

Just wanted to make you aware of something that seems crazy to me.

Last month, about one o'clock on a Sunday morning, a taxi (which ended up at the wrong house) hit my car when it was parked in my drive. It then left the scene and went to my neighbour's, and then again drove past me when I tried to flag it down on the road!

Anyway, I got their registration (being sure to report it to the police at the time so it was on record) and gave it to my insurance company to deal with.

Long story short, I got a quote from someone I know to put it right and he was only wanting £120 to fix it. Since the 3rd party insurer in this case will only take correspondence from other insurers by post, I began to think I might as well drop the claim, get the car perfect again asap, and save the hassle of waiting months, etc.

Now, while this is all going on, they (my insurer) temporarily took my no claims off their record, as it is, at this point, down as a claim I've made from them (before liability has been confirmed with the third party).

My insurance is due for renewal tomorrow, so I got the letter in a few weeks ago with my new premium. Up from around £500 to £840! As I said though, since I lost my no claims I was expecting a big hike.

Then I decided to do what I'd thought earlier and retract the claim. That way I'd also have my no claims reinstated before my renewal. I phoned my insurer to make sure that they would reinstate them and, yes, that would all be done without a problem. "Great," I thought, "it's going to be down at least a few hundred quid."

It actually ended up taking a pathetic £30 off the £840 odd.

I did get it down further in the end to £707, but it turns out that this is still counted on the record for insurers as a claim made - even though I retracted it, costing no one other than myself anything but tiny admin costs, and it wasn't even my fault in the first place: my vehicle being hit in my drive while stationary.

It seems that it's counted as an incident regardless of whether it's cost them anything or not. It's the fact that you've had an 'incident'. Which seems mad to me considering they'd never be any the wiser if you just had minor things fixed privately.

And you can't get round it either (if you want to answer their questions truthfully, which you obviously need to in order to have valid insurance!) because, where they ask you: "have you made a claim in the last *however many years* regardless of fault, etc, etc" - at this point you have to answer 'yes', as you did technically 'make a claim', even if you later retracted it. It's still an incident that happened and, consequently, seems to raise your risk profile. If you answer 'no', they will see on their records that you're lying, as they can see that you have 'made a claim', so to speak.

Basically, that 'claim', which wasn't even really a claim (as it was retracted and cost the insurance industry nothing - and also wasn't even my fault) is the difference between me getting quotes of, say, £550, and me getting quotes of £700!

Maybe this is normal?? But it struck me as a bit mad!

Apart from anything else, the repair at the end of it all is costing £30 less than the difference in this year's premium. That's even before taking into account all of the above.

So is this all something to be expected and I'm just being stupid, or do you reckon they're taking the p*ss?

Just a heads up for other people and looking for some opinions - I've already resigned myself to pay the money. If it's the way it is, it's the way it is.

kingofturds

iTrader: (1)

Another thing to be wary of is changing jobs, or even moving to a different position in the same company. I moved to a job in the work labs, same work place slightly different title. It was only when I rang to cancel my insurance to move to another company that I found out that if I had an accident I was technically uninsured.

DYK

Every and anyway to get a few more quid out of you.When my scoob got broke iNto they took 3 yrs no claims off me.WTF Hello i was in bed,car parked on pvt drive and gets busted into and you take my no claims...: :

Its gone from rip off Britain to Scam you Britain...

Pjamie

I've noticed a change in some of the online insurance quote for cars. They no longer ask about an accidents you've had but about "incidents" (as you've found out). That's a bit sneaky.

I'd say everyone was pretty much aware of what an accident is, but I'm not sure the word "incident" is well known or understood, and is too broad a term for it to be fair. A scratch you repaired yourself wouldn't have been an "accident", but it might be an "incident" and an excuse to up the premium even if a claim wasn't made....and if you don't declare your "incident" you could invalidate your insurance. They've got you every way you turn now.

GlesgaKiss

Exactly mate. That's what I'm talking about.

How would an insurance company ever know if you had a dent in a door or something redone? They would never know, and hence would never be able to use the fact you didn't declare it as a get-out clause in future claims. Yet in this case I'd already made the claim, and so they knew about the 'incident'.

Whether it's right or wrong is for you lot to decide for yourselves, but the fact is: if you had minor damage and fixed it privately, how would anyone ever know apart from you? It's a lose lose situation if you go out of your way to make your insurance company aware that it happened.

In my case it has added almost 30% to the premium I pay.

GC8

Claim. Damage and the increase in premium for the next five years.

Gavtheripper

Same thing when my car got stolen and burnt out. I didn't claim but my premium was still affected. It's an absolute joke. U have to have insurance so they've got u by the ***** before u even discuss ur policy

Gavtheripper

Saying that tho, I'm with sky insurance and they were really good with it. I know I'm plugging an insurance company but they have been good to me the whole time I've been with them

jef

iTrader: (13)

sky do mine also,, and very good they were also.

speedking

Why would you even think of claiming for something that is surely much less than your excess? And if it isn't, then increase your voluntary excess to reduce your premium.

SRSport

Surely it's the job you have when you take out the policy? I dread to think how many uninsured drivers there are out there that have taken out policies blissfully unaware that the companies can wriggle out of a claim just because they got a promotion...or the previous owner fitted a non OEM ARB just to save a few quid.

Ive had this out with a few on here in the insurance section and apparently its your job to know...utter nonsense. 90% of drivers dont have a clue about these things. I have just bought a sporty Mercedes from an independent with 18" AMG alloys, side skirts, lowered sports suspension etc that are apparently all factory fit...oh but the very subtle rear spoiler isnt. How on earth was I supposed to know whether every single thing on the car is original factory fit or not? It was only by sheer coincidence that I drove behind another one that didnt have a spoiler that I realised that mine was a factory 'extra'. So declaring it thats an additional, disproportionate £50 then! What for exactly???

Insurance companies need to get a realistic grip on things to be honest. I very nearly paid £1200 this year for what would have been absolutely nothing. What would have been the point? As far as I know I am fully covered, but what if the previous owner has fitted something non standard like drop links to save a few £££ over the high dealer prices that I don't know about?

DYK

Yes some things are not worth making a claim if its a cheap fix.In my case they caused over £1000 worth of damage and i was already paying £600.00 excess.Then they have the cheek to take 3yrs no claims on top of that,which is what p1ssed me off.27 year old male with an imported STI wasn't cheap .

marcevs72

iTrader: (5)

most companies class even a call for advice about an incident as a claim.was on watchdog few months back,glad got old scoonb thats easy to get bits for.

alcazar

iTrader: (2)

Maybe, just maybe, if drivers claimed off OTHER drivers' insurers for THEIR increase in premiums over 5 years, then took the insurers to county court for it, the insurers MIGHT stop this crazy method of hiking premiums. Since they would simply be paying each other all the time, costing them money.

They STILL claim not to be making money, yet every other advert is insurers touting for car business. Never mind Go Compare, go figure!

ScoobySteve69

iTrader: (13)

This is why insurance companies p1ss me off. No wonder so many people don`t bother. It`s cheaper to pick up the odd fine than pay the robbing tw@ts for what may be nothing.