Flipping Insurance Industry
 

Campaigned for ages saying high premiums were all the fault of ambulance chasing lawyers.Get rid of that and we will all save £50 per annum.

Got their way and changed all that (not that I was a fan of 'no win no fee'-brought in by the government in the first place! ) but now suddenly our premiums are at an all time high due to 'expensive car parts! ' brassed me off hearing it on the news this morning

Any excuse.And they are blooming hard work when it comes to getting money out of their padlocked wallets:mad:

Insurance is the biggest legal con ever, well, apart from the HMRC:lol1:

They keep telling us they make no money insuring us...yet look at who's doing all the advertising on TV?

lol , don't make any money !! had customer once , 50' trader ( yacht ) aston martin vantage etc etc

And then we have to pay "insurance Premium tax" which must be a con on the basis that car insurance is mandatory!!

PI claims are still as high as ever, ridiculous hire car charges, insurance premium tax increased again, higher parts costs, and an increase in thefts don't help at all.

Problem needs tackled at source - that is driving standards. I see horrendous displays of dangerous driving and risk taking on a daily basis, some of the worst is on the school runs; those imbeciles seem to think that buying a bigger car in some way will compensate for their total lack of car control, and improve their odds when the inevitable occurs.

Too much pointless technology in cars - isnt there some French heap which now has a camera built in behind the mirror that enables you to take still images? What is the point of that?

The problem is also improper control of the industry as a whole. If something is a legal requirement, there should be a governing body specifically controlling the pricing of it, instead of just investigating complaints relating to the sale of it. It's the same as making eating bread a legal requirement, then allowing the supermarkets to charge whatever they think is fair. Mental.

PI claims are still the biggest issue.

It's easy to blame the insurers, but in France (for example) the amount of people in accidents who claim PI is 3%, in the UK...... over 80%

Unfortunately we are very very much like America, almost everyone will claim for whatever they can.

That's what needs regulation IMO

FWIW if I was in charge of insurance I'd make everyone liable for the first £1000 of any fault claim (known as an all sections excess). See how carefully people will drive then, therefore claims will drop massively, and premiums will reduce.

Will never happen though. Everyone complains about the cost of insurance, yet 95% of people will CHOOSE to pay an extra 10-15% per year to protect their NCB.

Want to save money? Confident you'll never claim? Unprotected your NCB. Simple.

I had my car MOT'd a few days ago, the NI MOT is different to that in the UK, in that you go to a government ran test centre. The second part of the test drops the car down into a set of rollers for all 4 wheels, which tests brakes & suspension. You are asked to sit in the passenger seat for this phase of testing, and asked to wear a seat belt. Bear in mind the car is out of gear while this is going on, a vibration goes through the car as the suspension gets tested over different test patterns, and the test mechanic operates the brakes for testing. Sometimes, the car will move forward out of the rollers on the brake test, it feels no worse than a learner stalling.

I enquired about why seatbelts had to be worn when the car isnt actually in motion. He told me there have been claims made for whiplash, at at the point where the car drops on the rollers (akin to going down a kerb) and where the car is pushed out of the rollers in the brake test, described above as like a learner stalling or pulling away abruptly on their first driving lesson.

There is not a cat in hells chance of it giving you whiplash even with the neck muscles of a new born kid! If you were holding a full cup of tea, I doubt it would cause you to spill a drop, but someone at some point has tried it on successfully in the past, and the lawyers have had their fee.

Long story short, agree with ya Moley, the culture is just plain wrong, and we are all paying for it.

that's the thing though, insurers don't want us to stop making PI claims as insurers make soo much money out of them, they're happy to let them run. same as hire charges, and parts bills. you claim its down to the consumer but in reality its not, you claim loads in parts bills your end but when it comes to giving the green light for any repair work at the insurance approved repair center you try and cut the bill cost and save as much as possible, I know this 100% as I work in one and also have to deal with PI claims on occasion. Its greedy insurers making a mint, I know first hand that most of the money made from PI's and accidents goes between insurers and claim accident management companies, the body shop at best gets the referral fee and a bit of storage, the rest is split between the above. :mad:

NCB means fook all now anyway, so I no longer worry about gaining them or protecting them.

So you have a bump and someone calls you and offers you 2k for you "sore neck" unless you're well off it's very difficult to say no... in my case I actually hurt my lower back and for me to claim for medical bills, which came to £350 I had no choice but to claim for all the trimmings, unless I wanted to go it alone.

Big picture and it causes the whole industry to go to **** ...

Someone
 

ran into the back of my wifes car when I was driving, just damage to cars no injuries to us. She contacted her insurance and they took the details and said they would wait for the other drivers insurance to get in touch. 20 mins later the wife gets another call who she thought was her insurer gave them some details then they ring me asking about injuries. I say no injuries just damaged cars and they say the wife is claiming which is complete bull**** and I tell them to jog on.

I then spend the next 3 weeks getting pestered and tell them they have mislead the wife and she isn't claiming only for her to receive a letter stating if she does not attend the 'specialist' appointment they will charge her directly. I tried to cancel it and ended up getting shirty with the ambulance chasing idiot only to be told the wife needs to call as I cannot cancel on her behalf even though I was the driver at the time of the incident.

So whilst PI can be blamed its down to the fact these idiots seem to know when you have had an accident an start chasing so its not just the insurance industry that needs regulating its these ass holes as well.

That's alright until what happened to me.

Young guy on a motorcycle up the back side of a van and no high visibility clothing. It was a busy junction where you have to pull out quick if there is a gap. So, I proceed to pull out and I hit the rider side on. First accident in 17 years of driving so I was highly pissed off. Luckily he was absolutely fine, apart from some bruising. Waited for an hour in sub zero temperatures for the ambulance to arrive but then his Dad decided to take him to hospital (against the advise of the Police).
It was no more then a 2mph shunt but have heard that he has put in for personal injury.

Wonder how much my insurance will go up by even though I have 9 years protected no claims!

it's a matter of principle at the end of the day, some people are happy to lie through there teeth for the sake of a couple of grand and some aren't.

Problem is it's really difficult to prove/disprove whiplash claims and it's far cheaper to settle a claim than to fight it. If it was economically viable to fight a PI claim then the industry would shrink considerably rather rapidly.

Thats because insurance companies inform the accident management companies so the insurance company get paid a referal fee. Most insurance companies now have their own accident management companies in house, i wonder why:wonder:

I have zero respect for the industry; After having a legitimate claim rejected under false (unproven) accusations via a vague and incorrect loss-adjuster's report and a policy small print change mid-renewal that was put in force without proper notification to myself.

All sorted eventually after 10months of battling, ending with the ombudsman ruling in my favour...only to be appealed.

They then cancelled my policy saying my claims limit was exceeded. No it wasn't. No worries, I thought, it doesn't affect the existing claim and I'll get insured elsewhere.

Nope, due to the cancelled policy marker on my record I find myself effectively black-balled by the home insurance industry and can now only get insured via specialist insurers for exorbitant fees.

I've taken the financial hit this time just for a quiet life. But if I find my fees are still sky high next renewal. Its ombudsman time again as the grounds for initial cancellation were false.

And today I clocked two iffy looking east-europeans sauntering around the bridle paths with a A-Z in the one guy's hand. Yes, I stood and stared them out. Its obvious they're finding out which houses back onto the bridle paths and checking out the frontage from the street side.....if you guys think that "oh they are insured its fine" they can feck off. I have razor-wire on the boundary fencing for a reason; I'd rather shoot the robbing bastids than have to go through the torture of another insurance claim!

Yeah...its a fuzzy pic...but I was on the drive and saw their faces and I've now memorised them...as they say on crimewatch...names please ;) ......

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.sco...eb0c06e62e.jpg

Having spent some time working at various insurance company head quarters... I can confirm the industry is doing very well indeed.... as are pension providers.

It's money for nothing in that 90% of us never receive anything in return year on year (you don't even get documents anymore) and it shows... when you consider the difference between how many people HAVE to buy insurance and how many make a claim... it's a business I'd like to be in.

I've paid for at least one policy a year since the age of 17... and for many of those years several policies on different cars and bikes... only the bikes came in at under £500 and that's over a period of 33yrs... I've made 2 claims in that time that total about £6/7k one bike and one car.... I think they're well ahead of the game... and I'm sure there are many, many more like me.

Harsh to tar the whole industry with the same brush, we're not all bad guys.

We were involved in someone else's accident last year. A nasty 3 car pile up on the M6. We weren't directly involved in the collisions but unfortunately ran over the battery ejected from the main culprit's car. Damage sustained to our car (not my scooby) was front nearside suspension and respray required due to acid damage to paintwork, but luckily no injuries to me or my wife. A year later I am still getting calls from ambulance chasers insisting I was injured and promising me £5k if I make a claim! It's no wonder the price of insurance is increasing due to PI claims.
The question I would ask is this - where did the ambulance chasers get my contact details from?
The insurers :lol1:

Furthemore, and this is really aggravating, when I came to renew my scooby policy I was informed by Moley that there is a mark against my insurance record because the car that caused the accident was stolen so my insurers (not Moley on this car) were having trouble recouping the money they paid out on my claim. That mark apparently declares that it was my fault until such time as the insurers get there money back. Talk about insurance scams!
This is as I understand it, but I'm sure Moley will correct/confirm this situation.

Any how did you arrive at that conclusion?

Not necessarily, although it probably depends what insurer you were with. You'd be amazed where the ambulance chasers get your details from.

If your insurer at the time hadn't got a recovery of their costs it works against you, as you have technically claim off your own policy.
You would have been better claiming directly off the other persons policy, although due to the circumstances this may have not been possible.

Thanks Gary :thumb:

Because the guy i spoke to told me that when i asked why my policy was increasing even though i had another years no claims to add.:mad:

Not good. Did you have any claims?

I've not tried getting a quote with and then without NCB. But maybe the insurance lads on here might care to comment.

Seems insurance companies go through a lot of effort if it really means nothing. I switched insurers last year, and my old insurer send me a letter confirming my NCB entitlement - I never asked for it either.

Its just what you say goes against anything I've ever read, or understood

I have no claims whatsoever and now have maximum trade no claims bonus. The first year i paid £1600, the last couple of years ive been paying £2370 and £2600 respectively. Complete and utter p1ss take tbh. Fook insurance companies imo:hjtwofing

Traders policy?

Yeah with maximum no claims.