Rant time...... 
On the 7th August we bought a one year old, 2014 plated, Audi A4 Sline, with just under 7k on the clock. Paid a slight increase to change my insurance for the remainder of the year as it is due for renewal on the 11th Sept. (made a total of about £480). Already had renewal note saying it was going to be about £650ish for the coming year, which I said could go in the bin as I had already had cheaper quotes, about £500.
On the 18th August someone decided to rear end it slightly on the drivers rear quarter, behind petrol tank flap/rear of wheel (damage to wing/bumper), attempting to overtake the wife as his lane of the 40mph dual carriageway merged into hers (white chevrons on his lane) and became a 30mph zone. She was doing 29mph, as verified by the GPS in our forward facing camera and already in the narrowing zone of chevrons. Obviously he denies it and says she pulled into him and his witness in the bus stop backs him up....
Except my camera clearly shows bus stop (exactly where accident happened) was empty, as was the adjacent one opposite
, anyway all this has been submitted and we shall see how it pans out.
Car went to be repaired and had a call to say that I could pick it up Tuesday 2nd Sept....except in the early hours of the same Tuesday morning, a great big faffing HGV came down my narrow street (signs clearly saying no wagons at all) driven by a Belgian guy trying to get to the DPD depot behind my house and attempted a tight right hand turn outside my house (I live on the corner) and yep, you guessed it.....went straight across the front bumper/wing of my courtesy car
(heard all of this from my bedroom window)
So next morning I get up and ring the bodyshop to inform them in advance of me picking my motor up. I had to pay £100 excess for my Audi and also £100 excess for the courtesy car too (in the process of claiming back through legal cover but not holding breath on the courtesy car money)
Had a chat with the wife and we decided because of now having two accidents to sort out, we may as well stay with the current insurers inflated price and take it on the chin so to speak, as it would probably be smoother going, due to them having all the details. So the wife decides to ring up our current insurers to take out the £650 ish quote.........
This is when the girl on phone informed us that as we now have two "FAULT" claims, it had gone up to £827 !!! As they are treated as fault claims apparently, as they in the sorting out process, although they had already informed us that they are both being treated as "non fault". No matter what the wife said the girl wouldn't budge on price (only giving us the info in front of her I suppose tbh). I told her to forget it and I would go online to get insurance. I went through all the usual web places and they all were in the same ball park as my "new" figure......so we were screwed, so eventually the wife phoned our current insurance and begrudgingly we paid it, having being told that once the claims are settled, "IF" they come back in our favour, we can claim the difference back.
I was told by the legal guy who called the other day that apparently, renewal time is the worst time to have any sort of accident.
To cap things off, in 29 years driving, I have never had an "at fault" claim and have always had full NCB, which I always protect, although I am beginning to wonder if it is worth it, as when the wife questioned the girl on phone about the increased price against us having full NCB, the girl said "oh it would have gone up by three times the difference had we not had full NCB"
I also now have two strikes out of three against my NCB, which obviously will be reduced if claims are settled in my favour but how long will it take until they are reduced naturally, ie if claims go against me somehow ? Is it yearly, three, five years..I just don't know.
Word to the wise......try to avoid any incidents especially at renewal time, as I could have spent that £1k + elsewhere !!!
On the 7th August we bought a one year old, 2014 plated, Audi A4 Sline, with just under 7k on the clock. Paid a slight increase to change my insurance for the remainder of the year as it is due for renewal on the 11th Sept. (made a total of about £480). Already had renewal note saying it was going to be about £650ish for the coming year, which I said could go in the bin as I had already had cheaper quotes, about £500.
On the 18th August someone decided to rear end it slightly on the drivers rear quarter, behind petrol tank flap/rear of wheel (damage to wing/bumper), attempting to overtake the wife as his lane of the 40mph dual carriageway merged into hers (white chevrons on his lane) and became a 30mph zone. She was doing 29mph, as verified by the GPS in our forward facing camera and already in the narrowing zone of chevrons. Obviously he denies it and says she pulled into him and his witness in the bus stop backs him up....
Except my camera clearly shows bus stop (exactly where accident happened) was empty, as was the adjacent one opposite
, anyway all this has been submitted and we shall see how it pans out.Car went to be repaired and had a call to say that I could pick it up Tuesday 2nd Sept....except in the early hours of the same Tuesday morning, a great big faffing HGV came down my narrow street (signs clearly saying no wagons at all) driven by a Belgian guy trying to get to the DPD depot behind my house and attempted a tight right hand turn outside my house (I live on the corner) and yep, you guessed it.....went straight across the front bumper/wing of my courtesy car
(heard all of this from my bedroom window)So next morning I get up and ring the bodyshop to inform them in advance of me picking my motor up. I had to pay £100 excess for my Audi and also £100 excess for the courtesy car too (in the process of claiming back through legal cover but not holding breath on the courtesy car money)
Had a chat with the wife and we decided because of now having two accidents to sort out, we may as well stay with the current insurers inflated price and take it on the chin so to speak, as it would probably be smoother going, due to them having all the details. So the wife decides to ring up our current insurers to take out the £650 ish quote.........
This is when the girl on phone informed us that as we now have two "FAULT" claims, it had gone up to £827 !!! As they are treated as fault claims apparently, as they in the sorting out process, although they had already informed us that they are both being treated as "non fault". No matter what the wife said the girl wouldn't budge on price (only giving us the info in front of her I suppose tbh). I told her to forget it and I would go online to get insurance. I went through all the usual web places and they all were in the same ball park as my "new" figure......so we were screwed, so eventually the wife phoned our current insurance and begrudgingly we paid it, having being told that once the claims are settled, "IF" they come back in our favour, we can claim the difference back.
I was told by the legal guy who called the other day that apparently, renewal time is the worst time to have any sort of accident.
To cap things off, in 29 years driving, I have never had an "at fault" claim and have always had full NCB, which I always protect, although I am beginning to wonder if it is worth it, as when the wife questioned the girl on phone about the increased price against us having full NCB, the girl said "oh it would have gone up by three times the difference had we not had full NCB"
I also now have two strikes out of three against my NCB, which obviously will be reduced if claims are settled in my favour but how long will it take until they are reduced naturally, ie if claims go against me somehow ? Is it yearly, three, five years..I just don't know.
Word to the wise......try to avoid any incidents especially at renewal time, as I could have spent that £1k + elsewhere !!!
