Minimising impact of non-fault claims
Discussion
Hi All, after some advice about making non-fault insurance claims...
So 3 months ago, my wife's Merc (65 plate c350e on a contract hire FWIW) was hit from behind whilst stationary and I was driving. Fairly minor damage. Other party accepted liability, I reported it to my insurer, claim got processed, car got repaired and I thought that was the end of it. 2 weeks ago I had to renew my insurance policies and to my surprise, the addition of a non fault claim has added nearly £200 additional premium across my 3 policies.. Barely more than the repair would have been. Certainly after you factor in 2 or 3 years' worth of increased premiums it would work out cheaper just to have paid for the repair myself, even though it wasn't remotely my fault.
So unfortunately, today the car has been hit whilst parked by one of our neighbours. The offender's car is a company car so he is not remotely interested in paying for the repair out of pocket and keeping it off the insurance. There is a deep dent to the front wing, so probably looking at £300-£500 all in for the repair at a guess, maybe more if the wing has to be replaced.
Is there any way of proceeding with a claim and minimising the affect on my policies? It is a ridiculous situation that a second non-fault accident might render my other policies unaffordable.....
Any advice appreciated.
So 3 months ago, my wife's Merc (65 plate c350e on a contract hire FWIW) was hit from behind whilst stationary and I was driving. Fairly minor damage. Other party accepted liability, I reported it to my insurer, claim got processed, car got repaired and I thought that was the end of it. 2 weeks ago I had to renew my insurance policies and to my surprise, the addition of a non fault claim has added nearly £200 additional premium across my 3 policies.. Barely more than the repair would have been. Certainly after you factor in 2 or 3 years' worth of increased premiums it would work out cheaper just to have paid for the repair myself, even though it wasn't remotely my fault.
So unfortunately, today the car has been hit whilst parked by one of our neighbours. The offender's car is a company car so he is not remotely interested in paying for the repair out of pocket and keeping it off the insurance. There is a deep dent to the front wing, so probably looking at £300-£500 all in for the repair at a guess, maybe more if the wing has to be replaced.
Is there any way of proceeding with a claim and minimising the affect on my policies? It is a ridiculous situation that a second non-fault accident might render my other policies unaffordable.....
Any advice appreciated.
This is the way the market is heading and it is ridiculous. To be fair when they bumped your premiums up did you shop around and manage to get it dropped again? This is what happened with mine - did the usual price comparison then used that to get the current company to match, not just discount.
Tried to explain this to the other half before (about non fault claims having a huge impact) and she refuses to believe it, stubbornly telling me the only thing that matters is no-claims.
Tried to explain this to the other half before (about non fault claims having a huge impact) and she refuses to believe it, stubbornly telling me the only thing that matters is no-claims.
stanglish said:
This is the way the market is heading and it is ridiculous. To be fair when they bumped your premiums up did you shop around and manage to get it dropped again? This is what happened with mine - did the usual price comparison then used that to get the current company to match, not just discount.
Tried to explain this to the other half before (about non fault claims having a huge impact) and she refuses to believe it, stubbornly telling me the only thing that matters is no-claims.
Yeah I did, adding the non-fault claim to my record had basically the same affect with every insurer I tried, so my renewal was still cheaper than I could get elsewhere. (Which is actually the first time that's happened, normally I switch around every year.) Insurer is Esure at the moment.Tried to explain this to the other half before (about non fault claims having a huge impact) and she refuses to believe it, stubbornly telling me the only thing that matters is no-claims.
Edited by fourspoons on Saturday 28th May 16:53
The insurers say that having a non fault claim increase your risk, and that you have a higher chance of making a further claim in the future, as opposed to somebody who does not have any claims history. Hence the increase in premiums for non fault claims.
It looks like you have just proven the insurer's predictions correct.
It looks like you have just proven the insurer's predictions correct.
Bristol spark said:
To be fair the the insurance statistic of, if involved in 1 non fault claim your likely to be involved in another.
Is obviously correct in your instance.
That, and the fact that whilst someone who is involved in a non-fault claim did not cause the accident, there often is something that they could have done to prevent it.Is obviously correct in your instance.
Thanks all. To be honest, I understand the reasons for my previous increase in premium so I wasn't really questioning or complaining about that. I also know better than to expect any sympathy from this forum lol...
My question was if there was a better or different way to go about pursuing a claim or if anyone else in the same predicament had ended up paying for repairs themselves as opposed to making a non-fault claim and whether they thought that had worked out in their favour in the long run.....
My question was if there was a better or different way to go about pursuing a claim or if anyone else in the same predicament had ended up paying for repairs themselves as opposed to making a non-fault claim and whether they thought that had worked out in their favour in the long run.....
Ozzie Osmond said:
Unfortunately it's just the way the system works. The statistics say that people who have "incidents" are more likely to have "incidents", regardless of fault.
At the end of the day it's a "no claims bonus", not a "no fault bonus".
Indeed I understand that perfectly, However I have not made any claim in either case, only the third party has but I am significantly out of pocket...At the end of the day it's a "no claims bonus", not a "no fault bonus".
To be fair, the OP was hit a second time in a non-fault. That doesn't tie in with what a lot of you are saying. Many see the rise in premiums for non-fault accidents and suggest that they're more likely to be involved with another claim, but that only holds water when the next claim is their fault (thus incurring costs for his insurance company, which only then would justify the increase in premiums).
If the statistics suggest that if you're hit in a non-fault and are more likely to have a further at-fault accident then I understand the rise in premiums.
If the statistics suggest that if you're hit in a non-fault then you're more likely to have a further non-fault then the premiums are unjustified.
Some will say that even a non-fault will incur costs on his insurer - not always. Your only legal compulsion is to notify your own insurer. You could then deal entirely with the TP insurer, leaving yours with 'nothing to do', and 'no admin costs borne'.
If the statistics suggest that if you're hit in a non-fault and are more likely to have a further at-fault accident then I understand the rise in premiums.
If the statistics suggest that if you're hit in a non-fault then you're more likely to have a further non-fault then the premiums are unjustified.
Some will say that even a non-fault will incur costs on his insurer - not always. Your only legal compulsion is to notify your own insurer. You could then deal entirely with the TP insurer, leaving yours with 'nothing to do', and 'no admin costs borne'.
SimonD said:
Some will say that even a non-fault will incur costs on his insurer - not always. Your only legal compulsion is to notify your own insurer. You could then deal entirely with the TP insurer, leaving yours with 'nothing to do', and 'no admin costs borne'.
But most drivers will call their insurer, and the insurer will have to pick up the cost of handling the the calls and dealing with anything else which needs to be done.Also, if you have a non-fault when parked it shows you sometimes park in places where the car is 'at risk' of damage. Next time maybe the driver will leg it and not leave details so your insurer is liable for the full repair cost.
It sucks, but in actuarial terms it does make sense, especially when the accident is low speed or stationary.
TooMany2cvs said:
How on earth did your neighbour hit your car while it was parked in your drive? What was your neighbour doing in your drive in the first place?
It's a large shared driveway in between the two houses in a small circular cul-de-sac. I think he was doing a three point turn or something.I was annoyed of course but fair play to him for knocking on the door and fessing up..
SimonD said:
If the statistics suggest that if you're hit in a non-fault then you're more likely to have a further non-fault then the premiums are unjustified
There is always the risk in things like parking dings that the other driver will just do a runner. So I'd have said being involved in more non faults does make it more likely that your insurer will have to pay out."Likely to be involved in another incident"
No, that doesn't hold any water in this case. It would if the OP had been driving the car at the time, as has been mentioned, the insurer might see it as 'you could do something to avoid these incidents,' but the car was parked. It's a lottery if your car gets hit whilst parked or not. It's an inanimate object.
After suffering a non-fault crash 18 months ago, my car was also parked up, my insurer (rhymes with Mariva) bumped my premium nearly £600 for a non-fault claim, even though they were useless through the process and I dealt directly with the third party insurance myself. I shopped around on the comparison websites and it ranged from an additional £200-1000 for including the non-fault claim.
I decided to go down the route of insurers not on the comparison websites and the insurer with the red telephone beat my premium (before accident) by £100.
No, that doesn't hold any water in this case. It would if the OP had been driving the car at the time, as has been mentioned, the insurer might see it as 'you could do something to avoid these incidents,' but the car was parked. It's a lottery if your car gets hit whilst parked or not. It's an inanimate object.
After suffering a non-fault crash 18 months ago, my car was also parked up, my insurer (rhymes with Mariva) bumped my premium nearly £600 for a non-fault claim, even though they were useless through the process and I dealt directly with the third party insurance myself. I shopped around on the comparison websites and it ranged from an additional £200-1000 for including the non-fault claim.
I decided to go down the route of insurers not on the comparison websites and the insurer with the red telephone beat my premium (before accident) by £100.
It sucks but don't think you can do anything about it.
At 21 I had a BMW 335i, all good for the first 6 months, after renewing the policy I was then hit in the side by somebody pulling out without looking and 6 months later I was rear ended whilst stopped. My insurance went from £800 to £2400, no where would insure me any more, without either claim it had actually fallen to £750....
I had to sell the car and crystallize a pretty substantial loss :/
At 21 I had a BMW 335i, all good for the first 6 months, after renewing the policy I was then hit in the side by somebody pulling out without looking and 6 months later I was rear ended whilst stopped. My insurance went from £800 to £2400, no where would insure me any more, without either claim it had actually fallen to £750....
I had to sell the car and crystallize a pretty substantial loss :/
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