Insurance Companies..

On Holiday · 24 Jun 2013 at 14:13

So it's renewal time, been quoted £720 by Hastings which I'm happy with, but after the insurer ran a claim check they've found something from the 09/02/2012* registered by Groupama (bike insurer)

* Basically I came off my bike on a wet/icy road and rang to see if I had recovery included on the policy to have the bike taken back to my home and I'd fix/pay for it myself. I did not claim, they did not send me a recovery vehicle (wasn't included), they did not pay for anything.

Anyway, this has pushed up the quote to £820. So I rang up my bike insurers who have told me its not registered as a non fault claim and it was just a notification of an accident and shouldn't raise premiums.

So I call back Hastings and tell them what Groupama have said, but Hastings still say it's still registered as a non fault claim.

So my situation is that the 2 companies are clearly just bouncing back off each other.
How would I go about getting this non-fault claim removed? Or is it rightly on there? If so, are my bike insurers (Groupama) telling the truth when it shouldn't raise premiums?

EDIT: I still have my 2 years non claims bonus. A letter from the bike insurer that even says "Subject to no new claim being advised to us, you have 1 years no claims bonus on this vehicle"

Philz0r · 24 Jun 2013 at 14:20

If hastings is being like this before you have even taken out a policy, think what they would be like if you ever needed them, my opinion is pay abit more for a company thats at least is willing to listen to whats happened.

Did you not read your insurance documents when you recived/bought them to see if you purchased recovery aid?

On Holiday · 24 Jun 2013 at 15:39

To be fair on Hastings side, all they've done is search the database and seen that it's registered against me.

I was just wondering whether it should have been registered in the first place as an accident? And if it should have actually effected the premium price or not?

The only reason I rang my Bike Insurer at the time was to check if I could get the bike recovered for free (which they wouldn't have been able to do the same day).

DogsBody · 24 Jun 2013 at 15:53

get quotes from other insurers, if they are cheaper go with them, if not pay hastings £820.

Dis86 · 24 Jun 2013 at 17:44

It always makes me wonder why insurers ask if you've "had an accident, whether your fault or not in the last five years".

If it's not your fault then wtf has it got to do with them?

Hxc · 24 Jun 2013 at 18:34

Dis86 said:
It always makes me wonder why insurers ask if you've "had an accident, whether your fault or not in the last five years".

If it's not your fault then wtf has it got to do with them?

Because a lot of accidents, even when declared as non fault, have an element of fault with both parties. Stats show that people who are in non fault accidents are likely to be in more accidents... thus they cahrge you more, simple.

[TW]Fox · 24 Jun 2013 at 19:08

Of course it will raise premiums - they now know you've had an accident.

Hxc · 24 Jun 2013 at 19:34

I have an interesting situation with my insurance at the moment. I was involved in an accident in November. I told my insurance company and instructed them to take no action; they still took my no claims away. The other party never responded to his insurers requests for clarification on the accident and thus settled with me without admitting fault.... my insurers gave me my no claims back on the basis that if they happened to claim off me, it oculd be taken away. How on earth can they do this now I'm with another company?

Confusing.

SGWills · 24 Jun 2013 at 21:20

HXC, if someone has a claim, they have a couple of years to register the claim before its declared null void. The insurance company want to close the file if possible to save it being left open for no apparent reason.

They will normally close it if they haven't received a third party claim in a couple of months after the accident, the third party details are incomplete or the circumstances show as non fault (i.e) third party hit you in the rear).

The reason they advise it can affect you at a later stage is when they receive a claim from the third party involved stating that instead of them hitting you in the rear, you reversed in to them. The insurance company re-open the claim and affect your NCB.

It is tricky for them to enforce the NCB side of things however there are things such as CUE checks, The data that insurance companies share between each other and general NCB checks your new insurance company may or may not do that can update them should your NCB be affected at a later date

but overall its difficult for them to update the new insurance company. This would come down to the usual " you should disclose everything to your insurance company" sort of statements. Although they cant make you tell your new insurance company, should you have a claim and they look at your claim history, the old insurance company can inform them of the outcome of previous claims, that affects your latest claim, the world ends because they charge you more money or dont deal with the claim

bainbridge · 24 Jun 2013 at 22:22

[TW]Fox;24509624 said:
Of course it will raise premiums - they now know you've had an accident.

This. Some insurers load for a reported accident and some don't but whoever you put your car with this year make sure they've been notified of this incident, you'll have to keep disclosing it until its over 3/5 years old, depending on their criteria.

Hxc · 24 Jun 2013 at 22:49

SGWills said:
HXC, if someone has a claim, they have a couple of years to register the claim before its declared null void. The insurance company want to close the file if possible to save it being left open for no apparent reason.

They will normally close it if they haven't received a third party claim in a couple of months after the accident, the third party details are incomplete or the circumstances show as non fault (i.e) third party hit you in the rear).

The reason they advise it can affect you at a later stage is when they receive a claim from the third party involved stating that instead of them hitting you in the rear, you reversed in to them. The insurance company re-open the claim and affect your NCB.

It is tricky for them to enforce the NCB side of things however there are things such as CUE checks, The data that insurance companies share between each other and general NCB checks your new insurance company may or may not do that can update them should your NCB be affected at a later date

but overall its difficult for them to update the new insurance company. This would come down to the usual " you should disclose everything to your insurance company" sort of statements. Although they cant make you tell your new insurance company, should you have a claim and they look at your claim history, the old insurance company can inform them of the outcome of previous claims, that affects your latest claim, the world ends because they charge you more money or dont deal with the claim

Ah, thank you very much! The case was very clear cut but as he never responded to admit fault they never got anywhere with it.... We'll see what happens when they actually pay out, mind.

Phantom Shadow · 24 Jun 2013 at 22:58

If you claim an accident is not your fault and the other person does not respond to say it wasn't theirs do they not just proceed on it being the other person's fualt (if the evidence shows to the insurance companies it wasn't your fault)?

When I had an accident I just got a letter a few weeks later from my insurance company saying they are assuming it is my fault and will proceed as such unless I tell them otherwise.

Jonny ///M · 25 Jun 2013 at 00:36

I renewed my dads last year and didn't list any claims but as I had just notified the previous insurer of the bump they wanted an extra £80 or so.

Hxc · 25 Jun 2013 at 01:54

Phantom Shadow said:
If you claim an accident is not your fault and the other person does not respond to say it wasn't theirs do they not just proceed on it being the other person's fualt (if the evidence shows to the insurance companies it wasn't your fault)?

When I had an accident I just got a letter a few weeks later from my insurance company saying they are assuming it is my fault and will proceed as such unless I tell them otherwise.

Depends on the incident I assume. I repeatedly told my insurance company to take zero action and had a solicitor work on my behalf. They advised the other insurer was settling 'without prejudice' after being unable to contact their client in the allotted time period.

I utterly refused to allow Bell to do anything for me despite them constantly offering.

Colbaker · 25 Jun 2013 at 16:51

Never phone your insurance company unless you absolutely need to, I have heard this sort of thing many, many times, People calling up after an accident asking things like "I have had an accident, do i have recovery with my policy" which is then logged and works against your renewal, Even if you have a none fault accident and call you insurance company most will still log it and you will need to declare it on renewal.

Im not sure how it works but if you ever have an accident and it is not your fault then can you just go through the at fault insurers without involving your own?

Completely unfair but then again insurance company's usually are!