Annoying phone calls regarding an accident (my fault)

[rolo0151]

Long story short

I'm a driving instructor. Was involved in an accident last year that was our fault (pupil driving)

My car cost £130 to fix. Car we bumped into cost £700. All done through my insurer. No injuries as we touched wheel arches at aprox 10mph!
Ever since I've received at least 1 phone call (sometimes 4) each week.

I really dislike the claim culture but out of curiosity I went through the whole BS via the phone with an accident claims company. They had all my personal details, reg number, email etc

They are adamant I can claim as I was a passenger & due to the cost of the repairs.
I'm not even contemplating following it through.

Has anyone else had this happen & does anyone know how to stop them calling?

[_dobbo_]

Don't know if this helps, but whenever I get an unwanted call of any nature, I had the phone to my 3 year old son and let him talk to them for a bit.

They tend to give up after a couple of tries.

[LoonR1]

Block the number. Hang up if they ring back on a different number. Not a lot you can do as someone somewhere has sold your details on which could be anyone including the repairer, your insurer, your professional body and so on.

They'll stop eventually.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Just ask them to hold the line for a moment, and go away and do what you were doing before they rang.

[Drumroll]

What really bugs me is it is often the insurance company that pass on the details to the claims companies. Then you wonder why our premiums are so high.

Several years I got tail-ended at a R/bout in a company van. Informed my company insurers, went for a check up at hospital by the time I got home I had a call from a claims company. Who said they could get back my loss of earnings etc. Even when I said I would get full pay whilst I was off, they said they could still get me loss of earnings. When I pointed out that could be classed as fraud, he still wanted me to do it.

[LoonR1]

Drumroll said:

What really bugs me is it is often the insurance company that pass on the details to the claims companies. Then you wonder why our premiums are so high.

Several years I got tail-ended at a R/bout in a company van. Informed my company insurers, went for a check up at hospital by the time I got home I had a call from a claims company. Who said they could get back my loss of earnings etc. Even when I said I would get full pay whilst I was off, they said they could still get me loss of earnings. When I pointed out that could be classed as fraud, he still wanted me to do it.

Simple challenge and one to think about.

An insurer used to get a referral fee. The fee was used to offset the cost of other claims. If they didn't refer and didn't get the fee then claims would cost more and premiums wold be higher.

Ah, you say, but if nobody referred them

Sadly that won't happen. Look at the TV adverts, the newspaper adverts, the Internet adverts, the taxi drivers and all the other people referring.

Maybe they should just ban referral fees and see if that reduces the volume

[dacouch]

Would be interesting for the salesman calling you to try and pass you onto a claims company as a confirmed customer to make a claim under your own policy as an injured passenger.

Would be interesting to see what part of the policy they imagine covers it unless you have some new weird new policy covering first party, fire and theft

[LoonR1]

I considered starting that discussion, but not sure that many would understand it.

[rolo0151]

dacouch said:

Would be interesting for the salesman calling you to try and pass you onto a claims company as a confirmed customer to make a claim under your own policy as an injured passenger.

Would be interesting to see what part of the policy they imagine covers it unless you have some new weird new policy covering first party, fire and theft

I'll use that line next time one of them call!

[Countdown]

Ask them if they've ever considered experimenting, sexually.......

[BertBert]

LoonR1 said:

An insurer used to get a referral fee. The fee was used to offset the cost of other claims. If they didn't refer and didn't get the fee then claims would cost more and premiums wold be higher.

I don't understand that as the maths doesnt work. It's like trying to cool the kitchen by opening the fridge door.
Bert

[LoonR1]

BertBert said:

LoonR1 said:

An insurer used to get a referral fee. The fee was used to offset the cost of other claims. If they didn't refer and didn't get the fee then claims would cost more and premiums wold be higher.

I don't understand that as the maths doesnt work. It's like trying to cool the kitchen by opening the fridge door.
Bert

Putting aside that referral fees are now outlawed, let's act as if they still exist as there are many simple ways around it then the maths does work.

I am an insurer. I have received two claims. One is fault and has an injury which will cost me £2000 to settle. One is non fault and will cost me £0 to settle. So I've incurred an average claims cost of £1000

Or I can refer the non fault claim to a solicitor who will help my innocent driver claim their injury payment from the other insurer. For that I get £500. That reduces my average claims cost to £750.

I've saved 25% of my claims cost and therefore have a lower need for premiums to build up my claims pot

[Countdown]

LoonR1 said:

Putting aside that referral fees are now outlawed, let's act as if they still exist as there are many simple ways around it then the maths does work.

I am an insurer. I have received two claims. One is fault and has an injury which will cost me £2000 to settle. One is non fault and will cost me £0 to settle. So I've incurred an average claims cost of £1000

Or I can refer the non fault claim to a solicitor who will help my innocent driver claim their injury payment from the other insurer. For that I get £500. That reduces my average claims cost to £750.

I've saved 25% of my claims cost and therefore have a lower need for premiums to build up my claims pot

But the other insurance company will need to pay the £500 on top of whatever the claim costs them (resulting in a zero net sum). However one of the InsCos will have to pay the CMC's costs so overall the Insurance industry loses a certain amount of money.

To try to put it another way - two claims, each of £1000.

InsCo 1 pays £1000
InsCo 2 pays £1000
Total cost to InsCos = £2000

OR

Insco 1 pays £1000 and recovers £500 from referral fee
Insco 2 pays £1000, plus £500 referral fee, plus £500 CMC's costs
Total cost to InsCos = £2,500

[LoonR1]

Countdown said:

But the other insurance company will need to pay the £500 on top of whatever the claim costs them (resulting in a zero net sum). However one of the InsCos will have to pay the CMC's costs so overall the Insurance industry loses a certain amount of money.

To try to put it another way - two claims, each of £1000.

InsCo 1 pays £1000
InsCo 2 pays £1000
Total cost to InsCos = £2000

OR

Insco 1 pays £1000 and recovers £500 from referral fee
Insco 2 pays £1000, plus £500 referral fee, plus £500 CMC's costs
Total cost to InsCos = £2,500

And you've just added and double counted stuff randomly. I was deliberately keeping it simple. The £500 fee would have been paid by insurer 1 in their cost of settlement.

If you're suggesting that only insurers refer injury claims then you're miles wide of the mark. The key point is that they can refer and generate income, or they can not refer and generate no income. However, the claim will always be their and someone else will be referring and generating the income.

Cost can, does and will exist without the income.

I'm sure you all think you're cleverer than the whole industry, but you're not and the people who do these calculations are much, much cleverer than you or I. If they see value in it, either as cost reductiono To profit then they will do it. If neither of those exists then they won't.

[Countdown]

To be honest I thought I HAD kept it simple. (I used your figures)

The profits made by claims management companies HAVE to come from somewhere. They come from insurance companies who pass them on to customers via premiums.

[LoonR1]

Countdown said:

To be honest I thought I HAD kept it simple. (I used your figures)

The profits made by claims management companies HAVE to come from somewhere. They come from insurance companies who pass them on to customers via premiums.

And there you go. I didn't mention CMCs all insurers used to refer to (and now part own) forms of solicitors. You brought them into the discussion.

[Countdown]

LoonR1 said:

And there you go. I didn't mention CMCs all insurers used to refer to (and now part own) forms of solicitors. You brought them into the discussion.

Fine. So where do the Solicitors' profits come from?

[LoonR1]

Countdown said:

Fine. So where do the Solicitors' profits come from?

I picked some simple maths and chose £2000 as an arbitrary figure. The idea being that the figure included all costs of settlement. If you'd rather it was £5000, or £500,000 then feel free to work it through that way. All costs of settlement means compensation, legal fees, medical read or expert report costs, CRU and amything else that might exist.

It really does amaze me how a simple theoretical conversation has to be precise for people on here to accept the high level point being made.

[ooo000ooo]

I had an at fault accident last year in the car and got a couple of these calls which i expected, got a call yesterday from one of them about an accident i had on my motor bike on a different date, haven't had an accident on the bike yet they were able to quote my reg number, how did they get that?

[LoonR1]

ooo000ooo said:

I had an at fault accident last year in the car and got a couple of these calls which i expected, got a call yesterday from one of them about an accident i had on my motor bike on a different date, haven't had an accident on the bike yet they were able to quote my reg number, how did they get that?

Did you get a quote for your bike insurance through the bike insurer or another price comparison website? If so they sell details on. You should've declared your car accident on your motorbike proposal (I bet you didn't though and we're about to have a tangential NCD vs claims discussion now).

They will have sold your details on. If you declared the claim then they will have assumed it was on the bike. If you didn't then it's simply a fishing exercise.