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[tickmike]

Last Ester we had a minor accident when we were coming back from Norfolk and the main road was shut due to forest fires and the traffic was at a stand still, so we decided to go down some country lanes.
Going along one lane the lady coming the other way was going too fast for the lane and we think she cut the corner  just enough for our door mirrors to hit, The impact knocked her door mirror off and ours into the side window and that exploded covering all the inside of the car with glass and my daughter got some in her eye and my wife and I got some small cuts.
The claims are still ongoing, there was no witnesses's .
It would be MORE THAN my jobs worth to tell you which insurance company is but they have put our renewal policy up by over £250+ , it was a protected NCB, fully comp, They said it's to recover the cost of the repairs !.
Can your change insurance company as we seem to get a lot cheaper quotes or do you have to wait until the claim is sorted ?.
As we have not had any accidents for a very long time any help or advice would be welcome.

[roseway]

You have my sympathy, and I hope you're all OK now.

Don't take this as legal advice, but simply my opinion: you were insured by your present insurance company at the time of the accident, so they are obliged to handle your claim. Changing to a different insurance company when the renewal is due shouldn't change that in any way (except that it removes their incentive to handle the claim promptly). Your legal position in respect of the accident would be unchanged.

By the way, it's outrageous that they should try to charge back the costs to you in this way, especially as you have been paying them for a protected NCB.

[chrissie]

Hi Mike, sorry to hear of the problems you're having with your car ins co and the time they are taking to sort out the claim.  I would go along with what Eric has said and perhaps speaking to your company first to say you can get insurance cheaper with another co even though you've had a claim with them and they are asking £250+ more for renewal.  I wondered if they would maybe give you a better quote if you say you've had cheaper ones.  I had an own fault claim in 2009 my company were brilliant in that they paid out within 2 weeks (car not viable to repair) no one else involved.  However when they sent the renewal the wanted a couple of hundred more even though, like you I had the PNC.  I found someone cheaper for renewal but unlike you at least my claim wasn't ongoing at the time of renewal.  Perhaps talking to your present company...might get them to reduce the premium...  

Chrissie

[camallison]

At the moment, insurance companies are in a state of disarray, with renewals prices at (to my mind) stupid levels.    One of my friends had a renewal notice for insurance for his motorhome quoting over £2,000, whereas his premiums up to that point had been around the £300 level.  He had no accidents, nothing, but they obviously didn't want his business.  We both belong to a motorhoming online forum that has negotiated better insurance terms for its members, and so I suggested he ask them for a quote.  On exactly the same terms, apart from a lower excess, he was quoted £186 - naturally, he gave them the business.

Now, here comes the funny bit ....... he was previously insured by Aviva, who quoted him the £2,000+.  The new policy is underwritten by .....

........

.......

.......

......

......

AVIVA!!!!

Now, can anybody tell me where the logic is in that?

Colin

[roseway]

Now, can anybody tell me where the logic is in that?

The only thing I can think of is that he was treated as a new customer and given a low price to get his business. I wonder what will happen at the next renewal.

There seems to be no alternative to shopping around every year.

[camallison]

>> There seems to be no alternative to shopping around every year.

Which, indeed, I now do every year.  The insurers must think customers are stupid!

Colin

[renluop]

May be some cos are worse than others, and, of course underwriting criteria can change. In groups containing a number of brands, each brand is a profit centre, that competes with the others, whilst it also has to perform to the group board's standards as a minimum. That's how it was in banking and insurers are not dissimilar in their ways.

Anyway, I have always seemed to have little trouble with massive increases, insured with one that specialises in staff or large bodies.

[BritBrat]

You will have to notify them of your claim and I guess at the moment is in not a no fault claim.

Ask for proof of no claims discount.

[kitz]

Ive been with morethan for many many years but actually moved from them last month because of the NCB and PCB (the 2 are 2 different types).  But basically when I asked more than why my premiums had gone up so much and was more than £25 pm than what other companies were quoting me, I moved elsewhere.

Despite me never having made any claims, their NCB carried a hefty additional premium.  When I asked why they said it was something to do with 'normal' PNCB will preserve your NCB..  BUT if you do have a claim, they WILL increase your premium to offset their costs.
I cant understand what use a protected NCB is, if it still gives them the right to increase your premium anyhow.

I moved to get some Love, for about half the cost of what MoreThan wanted, which has a far better Protected No Claims protection which only cost an additional £12 per annum.  Im now paying about £25pm compared to the ridiculous and extortionate amount of about £54 that MoreThan wanted.  I could not understand why my premiums had morethan doubled in just over a year.

[sevenlayermuddle]

BUT if you do have a claim, they WILL increase your premium to offset their costs.
I cant understand what use a protected NCB is, if it still gives them the right to increase your premium anyhow.

I had the misfortune a few years back to suffer major vandalism to a car, but it was all sorted under insurance and I had a protected discount.  But come renewal, they ( the AA) hugely increased my premium, citing my 'malicious damage' claim as the underlying cause.

I'm not defending the Insurers, but I think their argument is that once you've had a claim, it becomes statistically more likely you'll have another claim.  In my case, they'd argue that if there's vandals on the streets, they might strike again.   And on that basis, having claimed, you become a worse risk and so they they see fit to increase the basic premium based on that increased risk.

It's a very weak and somewhat immoral argument in my opinion (if imposed after a 'protected' NCD) , but I do believe that's how they rationalise it.

As an aside, I initiated a formal complaint with the AA on my own occasion and they did relent, reducing my premium back to a reasonable figure again.  Complaints are always worth a try when it comes to insurers, in fact I almost suspect that they regard people who never complain as 'suckers' to be taken advantage of.

- 7LM

[BritBrat]

I had the misfortune a few years back to suffer major vandalism to a car, but it was all sorted under insurance and I had a protected discount.  But come renewal, they ( the AA) hugely increased my premium, citing my 'malicious damage' claim as the underlying cause.

- 7LM

What a stupid argument,

You could drive and end up parking in the most vunerable area in England and so could everyone else.

I can see insurance firms going to the wall soon, as if you cant retain customers your customer base is going to fall and the new customers may be more costly in claims.

[renluop]

This is revealing http://www.honestjohn.co.uk/news/tax-insurance-and-warranties/2011-01/aa-blames/

Honest John speculates that this
 might all be part of a complex but legal fraud perpetrated on the UK motoring public.
Many Insurers are now owned by Private Equity Firms. If those Private Equity Firms also own the brokers who sell car insurance (via online brokerages, high street offices or price comparison sites), and if they also own the 'accident management specialists' which many brokers push policyholders into when they have a claim, then the Investors get three bites of the COMPULSORY car insurance cherry.