Hi All,
Simply put my car insurance was renewed 7th Jan 2010 (have been with the same company many yrs, up till now i had been happy), im 28 yr old with 7 yrs no claims, and no points, until now...
On Dec 29th 2009, I was caught speeding by a fixed camera, and only found out mid Jan that I was to be fined, when I got the letter in the post. They offered me a Speed awareness course or 3 pts, the course was far away from me, would have involved taking a day off work, etc. so I called the company up to ask how either would affect my premium, I was told that in this yrs premium there will be no change, but next yrs there may be some impact, and it would work out the same whether I attended the course or took the points, so I chose the points.
I called up today, and was told that my premium would be increased for this yr by £115 because of these points, when I had already done a few online searches of the scenarios of having 3 pts vs not having, and my premium was up just £45.
Am I now stuck with them for this full yr? and have to pay this additional £115, cos obviously at the time of renewal I didnt know I was getting points, and would have accounted for the points when I shopped around.
Any help would be greatly welcomed.
Thanks
IAXGLS
Edited by rtj70 on 12/02/2010 at 09:43
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I'd guess you are stuck with them. You could find out what the cancellation fees are, but usually they are quite steep early on in a policy.
I also don't believe going on a speed awareness course would affect your premium as there are no points and it is not required to be notified to the insurer.
BTW my old 3 points have never had any effect on the various car and bike policies I have had.
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I think you're pretty stuck now. Some insurers do not worry too much about 3 points like this.
It is a share you could not have switched to a course nearer home. I had to do one once and instead of going to Chester (not too far) I went to one managed by Oldham and actually run about 2 miles from home.
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I'm very surprised at this and sorry you were misled. I got 3 pts for motorway speeding, and this made no difference to my insurance whatsoever.
I am over 45 and have 6+ years no claims also.
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I was told that in this yrs premium there will be no change but next yrs there may be some impact
Did you note who you spoke to or have you got the date and approx time of the call so they could review the tapes?
If so I would be minded to complain about the extra charge on the basis that they gave you false information.
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5 yrs ago I knew of £50/yr being added to the premium but lately many Ins companies seem to accept that 3 points, once in a blue moon means little, as more and more people get caught by the cash cameras.
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It's easy to find out after the event, but I think the OP has been a bit unlucky in their choice of insurer.
My only points - so far - were 3 for exceeding 30mph, caught from a camera in the back of a van about 10 years ago. My insurers at the time (I think it was RAC) didn't make any increase in my next premium.
At the time I had maximum no claims, and I was quite a bit over 40 yrs old
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Thanks for your help, fortunately my phone call to them was recorded, by my office, (as well as theirs) and they relistened to the tape of the call and acknowledged they made the error, although they only offered to reduce the premium increase by half!
I didnt stand for it and they spoke to a manager who waved the full amount.
Consumer 1 - Faceless insurance 0
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It may vary from insurer to insurer, but mine (Co-op) only takes in to account actual prosecutions and not NIPs where the driver has chosen to avoid prosecution by attending a course.
Also, I hope you noted the date & time you spoke to your insurer as you should definitely write to them to examine their recordings. If it is exactly as you have written then surely you were misled. Best of luck.
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will the increase on the premium also carry over for the next 2 years also? the points stay on your licence for three years dont they?
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will the increase on the premium also carry over for the next 2 years also? the points stay on your licence for three years dont they?
They stay on for four years (but only tot-up for three).
You have to check the insurers questions - many ask for details of convictions in the last five years - rather than "have you got points".
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Ye they asked me for 5 yrs, but I accept that next yr I will have to take a premium hit and for the proceeding few yrs too.
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It may vary from insurer to insurer but mine (Co-op) only takes in to account actual prosecutions and not NIPs where the driver has chosen to avoid prosecution by attending a course.
If you accept a course then as far as the insurance company is concerned nothing happened - you have no endorsement on your licence.
If you accept a fixed penalty, then there's no prosection and you do not have a conviction - only a court can convict you. Some *policies* don't require notification of fixed penalties and some do. It's not in any way obvious, but Liverpool Victoria, for example, runs 2 motor polices. One requires notification and the other doesn't.
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A couple of months ago I was playing around with a insurance comparison site, looking to see the effect of points.
From what I recall 3 and 6 points over the past 5 years put the premium up from a base of £700 to about £1,000 and £1,200 respectively, 9 points put it up much higher and with 12 I couldn't get a quote.
Note that is 12 points in 5 years rather than 3, so you could amass those points without a ban.
Made me wonder just how difficult it would be and how much you would pay if you found yourself in that situation. Also made me wonder if a lot of drivers that don't have insurance are in that situation (went a bit wild when they first got their car, racked up a few points quickly and then found themselves priced out of insurance).
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Its a shame, because I think you are stuck with this extra cost now. The driving safety course would have meant you get no penalty, so there would have been nothing to declare to the insurance company. Meaning no change to your premium.
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The driving safety course would have meant you get no penalty so there would have been nothing to declare to the insurance company.
I think you may find the usual insurance company gotcha, that the course is something relevant you need to declare to them
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Using the regular comparison websites included in endorsements/penalties there are 2 options, one for attendance on a drivers awareness course, and one for speeding points, both have the same effect on the end policy quote.
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