Hello all,
In May this year, I had an accident on the motorway. I was not to blame as someone drove into the back of me. This was confirmed when the third party admitted liability.
I am now in the process of renewing my car insurance and to my shock horror, my insurance premium had gone up by £120. I originally received a quote for £400 and when I tried to pay I was told that the quote was incorrect as they did not realise that I had an accident (even though they sorted it out!)
Insurance premium is now £520.
I phoned them up to ask why it had gone up and they informed me that as I had been involved in an accident, I am more likely to be involved in another accident. Just for comparison purposes, I asked them what the premium would be if I were to blame for the accident and I was told it would be £540.
Therefore for merely being involved in an accident that was not my fault I am being charged an extra £120.
If I was to blame for the accident it would be an extra £140.
I have full no claims (protected).
I am contacting my solicitor who dealt with the accident to make an extra claim for 3 years of insurance premium increases (as the accident will stay on my record for 3 years) but I do not know how it will turn out.
Has anyone else experienced this? What did you do?
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My first course of action would be to move to another insurer.
Did you (or the insurance company) recover your uninsured losses - i.e. your excess? If you did, this is proof that you weren't to blame. If not, then the situation is more tenuous and whether they admit it or not, they are loading you for being partially to blame.
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BB,
I am sure Mark (RLBS) will be along later to give detail, but the NCB is a no claims bonus....this is all you have protected. Despite the fact that you have full NCB the base level premium has gone up as you are perceived to be a higher risk than before. You then get the same full NCB discount. The final cost may end up being higher despite keeping your NCB.
Ian L.
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Indeed. The gross premium is calculated on your risk. The NCD discount is given after that.
Accidents, even no fault ones, can indicate a higher risk. An insurance company would typically rather insure someone with 1 fault accident rather than someone with 5 no fault accidents.
This is why I say, time and time again, ignore the discounts and look at the bottom line,
I'd rather have 10% NCD on a gross premium of £100 than 80% NCD on a gross premium of £1,000.
Having said that, different companies have different thresholds and weightings. Let us assume that you have been hit with a 20% loading on gross premium. You should be able find a company who, whilst they might have a higher gross, will not hit you with such a high loading.
There is also the different track which was mentioned earlier;
- Did you have an excess ?
- Did you claim it back from the TP ? (if not, do so even if its £10)
- If you claimed it back, have you forwarded proof of your recovery to the insurance company ?
- Do they still require a loading ?
- If you have not finished the uninsured loss claim, will they refund the loading if you prove that the claim is successfully complete in x months time ?
(If the answer to the last is yes, then do make sure that you only claim stuff that you'll definitely get back. A partial recovery is not sufficient).
For further information;
Using pretend figures, this is what happens;
No protection of NCD
Gross Premium £1000
60% NCD.......£600
Net Premium...£400
then accident without uninsured loss recovery;
Bonus reduced to 40%
Net premium becomes £600
Additional cost of £200
With Protected NCD
Gross Premium £1000
60% NCD.......£600
Net Premium...£400
then accident without uninsured loss recovery;
Gross premium increased to 30% loading (£1300)
60% NCD protected
Net premium £520
Additional cost of £120
Now, those figures are not real. Not all insurance companies load for one accident. Those that do, may not load and increase the cost by as much as loss of NCD would have cost.
However, the principle is true. Ignore the discounts - only look at the bottom line and the benefits - I get bored of saying it.
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You should also factor in the cost of protecting the NCD when getting quotes. I always choose not to protect as I perceive the cost (currently an extra £100 on top of my £650 for Group 17) to be too much.
Example (ignoring any loadings on base premium which may be applied regardless of NCD protection):
Year 1: Net (of 60% NCD) premium £650. At fault accident.
Year 2: Net (of 40% NCD) premium £975.
Year 3: Net (of 50% NCD) premium £810.
Total additional premiums £485.
Therefore if I have accidents less than once every 5 years, I'm better off not protecting.
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All this makes me wonder what the point of protecting your no claims bonus actually is. Somewhat naively I thought that in protecting it, my premium would not go up even if I had an accident. I now understand from Mark's answer why this is not the case. It seems almost underhand to me that an insurer can take your money for no-claims protection, but then increase your effective premium after a no-fault accident by "the back door" as it were. I would drop this insurer if there was any possibility of getting a better deal elsewhere, you don't owe them any loyalty at all!
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Well, this is a nice surprise. I have been unfortunate enough to have two bumps this year, one my fault (hit a kerb but, fortunately, no-one else) and one that wasn't (someone ran into the back of me). Even though I've now got a car 4 groups cheaper than the one with which I started the year, I'm now wondering how much my premium will go up!
Cheers for the warning, anyway.............
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Someone drove into the back of my last car but my premium didn't go up at all as the accident was not my fault.
The only problem I had was when Ford Insure waited until my new car was registered and sitting in the dealers before telling me that they wouldn't insure me! :O A quick chat with the underwriters seemed to sort it though and the girl came back and said that they would cover me.
Blue
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Paulb,
don't forget this bit...
"Not all insurance companies load for one accident. Those that do, may not load and increase the cost by as much as loss of NCD would have cost."
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Must have missed that part, Mark - thanks! Will have to wait and see how my lot (What Car?, who have been very good) choose to play it.
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