Insurance problem

[rendelharris]

Can anyone advise me on a car insurance problem please? Not owning a car myself I don't know if this is kosher practice or not: last year a mate was in an accident, no injuries but both cars damaged. The other guy claimed it was his fault, he said the opposite. As he had legal cover with Admiral they encouraged him to fight the case in court, so he spent a long time on all the paperwork etc and the case was due to come up last week. A few days before the date he got a call from Admiral saying the other party's insurance company had pulled out of the case, admitted total liability, were refunding the excess he'd paid in having his car fixed and were paying all costs. All good.

This week he got a letter from Admiral saying that as he'd had a claim made against him his two car insurance policy was going to rise from ?850 to ?1500 a year. Is this a common thing? Obviously one would expect premiums to rise if one was found at fault, but to nearly double when the other side have admitted liability and paid for everything seems outrageous.

If anyone has any experience or advice it'd be most gratefully received.

Thanks,

Rendel

[KidKruger]

Does sound very predatory doesn't it !

Being punished for no even being liable. First action should be to call the insurer and ask why this increase is deemed applicable ?

What does the insurer say ?

[rendelharris]

Thus far all a call solicited was "Yes that's in line with our standard terms and conditions sir." He's been told to put his complaint in writing so I promised to run him up a letter, just wondering if this is indeed standard practice.

They (insurance companies) are buggers! Two years ago Mrs H had a very low speed bump, other driver's fault, no damage to her car, slight damage to the other guy's driver's door. Weeks later, he claimed he had whiplash (from a 3mph bump!). So we had to fill in a great long form with diagrams etc etc. In due course we got a notification from our insurers that they had ruled his claim was false, all good - then come renewal time we found her maximum no claims had been taken away, as they had paid for his car repairs, despite ruling that he was obviously making a fraudulent claim for whiplash! When questioned they said they decided (without asking us) it was easier to call the accident 50/50 and pay up than risk the expense of court proceedings. Eventually we got them to reinstate the no claims and refund the extra premium, but it took many hours of letter writing and telephone calls.

[Townleygreen]

The only way to deal with these insurers is to challenge them and if you don't get a reduced premium, go elsewhere. That's how their business model works I'm afraid.

[Lowlander]

Yes this is common practice, how they work and completely legal (morals and ethics aside).

Although usually I've only seen a 10-20% increase not double!

The figures show that if you are involved in an accident even when it's not your fault then you are more likely to have an accident in the near futures. So they use that to recalculate the premium.

You could try and get the increase back from the other insurer, although that will be hard work.

Lastly don't stay with the same insurer, I've changed every year for the past 20 using the comparison websites. I've always saved ?100 or so.

[rendelharris]

Thanks, that's interesting - though a bit depressing from a getting the premium reduced point of view!

[Phlox]

Good advice above. Tell your friend to also contact the insurance Ombudsman.

[JohnL]

Seems to be standard

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/insurance/12137793/My-parked-BMW-was-hit-my-car-insurance-premium-doubled.html

They offered that guy a cheaper quote .. but he 'went elsewhere'

[rendelharris]

Interesting...Admiral's claim that this is uncommon would seem to be rather economical with the truth!

[JohnL]

Mind, mine doubled last year and I made no claim of any sort.

I'll go compare this year (march) as I've been with Endsleigh brokers for years and I reckon they've taken me for granted .

[red devil]

Was that since your student days John?...

[JohnL]

red devil Wrote:

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> Was that since your student days John?...

Yes :) - and that was a long time ago.

They used to be OK and get me the best deal.

[red devil]

They cornered the student market for contents insurance, amazing how many student bikes got stolen :)...

[spoiltdog]

Recommend not to use Go Skippy insurance -Very bad experience ,had to get in touch with Insurance Ombudsman

[DaveR]

"The figures show that if you are involved in an accident even when it's not your fault then you are more likely to have an accident in the near futures. So they use that to recalculate the premium"

This is the key point, and they will have re-calculated the premium reflecting the fact that liability was initially disputed and that they won't recover all their costs. Plus some of the pricing factors not connected with the customer might have moved adversely since last time, and the company's overall pricing model might have changed a bit.

Generally, when you unexpectedly get a very high quote it's because the company has decided it doesn't want your business (not personally, but through risk modelling) and you will often get a much better quote somewhere else.

[rendelharris]

Many thanks for all the advice, which will be passed on and much appreciated. I've discovered that he can get the same cover elsewhere for ?830, so I suspect he'll go with that rather than having a long drawn out row with Admiral trying to get them to lower their prices.

[ruffers]

As a matter of routine it's always worth checking alternative quotes come insurance renewal time via confused, moneysupermarket etc. You'll often find your existing insurer coming up with a cheaper quote than your renewal quote for a start... Call and ask why the other quote is cheaper. Or just ring to renew and tell them you've been quoted cheaper, 30-40%, they'll cut the quote instantly.

Like many services ie gas leccy banks they hope you'll just renew without checking..

[Loz]

ruffers Wrote:

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> As a matter of routine it's always worth checking alternative quotes come insurance renewal time via

> confused, moneysupermarket etc. You'll often find your existing insurer coming up with a cheaper

> quote than your renewal quote for a start... Call and ask why the other quote is cheaper. Or just

> ring to renew and tell them you've been quoted cheaper, 30-40%, they'll cut the quote instantly.

I did this once - rang them and said it was cheaper on a comparison site. They sheepishly said they couldn't match it, as it was a different department. Advised me to buy it via the site and let the old one lapse.

So, they paid a comparison site commission to keep a customer who would have stuck with them anyway. Madness. Just madness.

[peckham_ryu]

rendelharris Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

>

> This week he got a letter from Admiral saying that

> as he'd had a claim made against him his two car

> insurance policy was going to rise from ?850 to

> ?1500 a year.

If they're saying that your friend has lost his no claims discount because of the 3rd party claim, it's worth insisting that the claim was withdrawn and therefore there have been no claims. Not totally clear whether that's what's happening, but worth a go.

I got the third degree from my insurer this year when I was comparing quotes. One of the (many) things they quizzed me about was a claim they thought might relate to me. In the end, we established it was someone else anyway, but the person on the phone said "The claim was withdrawn in the end so it wouldn't have counted". (Yeah I know - so why ask in the first place? Same applied to most of their questions!)

[rendelharris]

Yes, he's asked them to confirm that if he goes he'll still have his NCB, we shall see!

Thanks again for all the advice everyone.

[adonirum]

RH,had a neighbour in our village up here a few years ago whose car was hit by a drunk driver, duly arrested, charged and convicted. Luckily, the drunk driver's insurance actually paid out the neighbour, who had informed his own insurance company of the incident. This is the back of beyond where nothing ever happens, so is extremely unlikely to occur again. When he in turn went to renew, his premium had gone up because, he was informed upon asking, that he had been involved in an accident and statistics made it more likely that he would be involved again!! This neighbour had never made a claim in thirty years of driving.

There is of course nothing that can really be done about instances like this because, as we all know, you must have car insurance by law, and therefore companies can do what they like.

Another example of some of the nonsense surrounding car insurance happened to me. A few years back, I had completely forgotten to renew my insurance by about a week. I rang the company (L.V.), who informed me my renewal quote was now obsolete as I had not "continually insured". Clearly,I needed insurance immediately so asked for another quote, thinking it would go up by whatever percentage. All details were exactly the same (car make,occupation, etc) and the new quote came back at ?175 (as opposed to ?250 renewal), a saving of 30%. Just goes to show, doesn't it.

Meant to add, the reason given for this cheaper premium......because I was "a new customer" and entitled to an introductory discount.

[rendelharris]

Ridiculous, there seems no rhyme or reason to it - one would have thought in cases like that the court should make an order that the drunk driver should pay for any losses incurred by their victim in terms of increased premiums.

[Passiflora]

Just to say Sheilas wheels are another company that you put your faith in but they don't always support you in the end!

[JohnL]

rendelharris Wrote:

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> Ridiculous, there seems no rhyme or reason to it -

> one would have thought in cases like that the

> court should make an order that the drunk driver

> should pay for any losses incurred by their victim

> in terms of increased premiums.

It's not about an individual case in their view - it's

just stats and nothing else (unless they lie and there is

something else)