Insurance claim - am I being Shafted?

[Cupradupra]

Afternoon all,

My Fiance's car was involved in a car park prang. She was out shopping, came back to car with a big dent down the rear quarter panel. There was no CCTV but a witness had left details of the car that hit her.

She phoned her insurance and they said they would contact the 3rd parties insurance to see if they would accept liability. A few days later we received a phone call saying they had accepted liability and that the car would be repaired and the excess would be waived.

This is all great I thought!

But now it appears she will have a "Non fault Claim" on her insurance, which after a quick quote, seems to put her insurance up by close to £300!!!

How can this be fair? I don't even think the dent would cost that to remove!

Is there another way we can claim, such as off the 3rd parties insurance which means that we don't get shafted come renewal time by having to declare a "claim".

[LoonR1]

Wow. Your second post, your second topic and it's another "Woe is me" insurance gripe. Aren't you the unlucky one?

Before anyone gets upset here's an answer to your made up story

1. Not all insurers increase their prices after a non fault claim, some even reduce them.

2. You can not successfully sue the other driver for the increase in premium

3. Think about what would've happened if the witness hadn't left a note

4. Make up a better story next time.

[Adrian E]

D'oh! Loon beat me to it!

[Cupradupra]

LoonR1 said:

Wow. Your second post, your second topic and it's another "Woe is me" insurance gripe. Aren't you the unlucky one?

Before anyone gets upset here's an answer to your made up story

1. Not all insurers increase their prices after a non fault claim, some even reduce them.

2. You can not successfully sue the other driver for the increase in premium

3. Think about what would've happened if the witness hadn't left a note

4. Make up a better story next time.

Thank you for your kind reply.

My most sincere apologies for seeking advice and help on a motoring forum specifically for the legalities surrounding driving.

As to why people on this forum believe every story is made up, I'm not sure.

[LoonR1]

Cupradupra said:

Thank you for your kind reply.

My most sincere apologies for seeking advice and help on a motoring forum specifically for the legalities surrounding driving.

As to why people on this forum believe every story is made up, I'm not sure.

You got one response to your previous insurance thread and didn't bump it or post up any form of resolution.

The reason I (and a few others) call BS on stories like this is the frequency with which they pop up during school holidays. Anyway you've got the answer to your question. It's not what you want to hear, but it's factual so that's that.

[Cupradupra]

LoonR1 said:

You got one response to your previous insurance thread and didn't bump it or post up any form of resolution.

The reason I (and a few others) call BS on stories like this is the frequency with which they pop up during school holidays. Anyway you've got the answer to your question. It's not what you want to hear, but it's factual so that's that.

I suspected the answer would be as much, but was merely inquiring as to anyone with greater experience than I, had any light to shed on the topic.

As with my other topic, It was resolved to my satisfaction, but having a life, I didn't think to immediately run to the computer and tell everyone. I have also long since left school.

However, thank you for you prompt and factual response.

[thainy77]

LoonR1 said:

Wow. Your second post, your second topic and it's another "Woe is me" insurance gripe. Aren't you the unlucky one?

Before anyone gets upset here's an answer to your made up story

4. Make up a better story next time.

Why post this everytime someone with a low post count starts a thread? I find it hard to believe that so many school kids sit at home and think "i know, i'll create a profile on PH to start a topic on car insurance".

[Cupradupra]

thainy77 said:

LoonR1 said:

Wow. Your second post, your second topic and it's another "Woe is me" insurance gripe. Aren't you the unlucky one?

Before anyone gets upset here's an answer to your made up story

4. Make up a better story next time.

Why post this everytime someone with a low post count starts a thread? I find it hard to believe that so many school kids sit at home and think "i know, i'll create a profile on PH to start a topic on car insurance".

Thank you thainy77. Especially when you have to wait 2 weeks to actually make a post in the forum you want to.

[LoonR1]

thainy77 said:

Why post this everytime someone with a low post count starts a thread? I find it hard to believe that so many school kids sit at home and think "i know, i'll create a profile on PH to start a topic on car insurance".

I don't post it every time. I post it when number of things happen. This thread is a standard I surface one, where there is another little nugget around the hit and run element and the witness.

We could have a lengthy police debate too. If only this type of thread hadn't been done to death any, many times.

[mikeveal]

Cupradupra said:

Is there another way we can claim, such as off the 3rd parties insurance which means that we don't get shafted come renewal time by having to declare a "claim".

Yes. You can choose not to go through your insurance and demand that the other driver pays.
He will claim from his insurance to pay to repair your damage and technically (Loon will correct me I'm sure) you have not made a claim.

However, you do have to notify your insurance of an "incident" and it's highly likely that your premium will increase as a result.

Cupradupra said:

How can this be fair?

Why should it be that?

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Cupradupra said:

How can this be fair?

It's not meant to be fair, it's meant to be a reflection of risk.

[shandyboy]

Cupradupra said:

Afternoon all,

But now it appears she will have a "Non fault Claim" on her insurance, which after a quick quote, seems to put her insurance up by close to £300!!!

Have you tried a decent comparison website? My unresolved non-fault claim nearly doubled my insurance with my current insurer, but a meerkat found one where it only went up by £20. Incidentally, it didn't make any difference to my quote whether it was a fault or non-fault claim - make of that what you will!

Over 6 months later and I may finally be getting the money for the repairs I paid for - if I do I'll post a celebratory message with the dashcam footage.

[johnfm]

LoonR1 said:

Wow. Your second post, your second topic and it's another "Woe is me" insurance gripe. Aren't you the unlucky one?

Before anyone gets upset here's an answer to your made up story

1. Not all insurers increase their prices after a non fault claim, some even reduce them.

2. You can not successfully sue the other driver for the increase in premium

3. Think about what would've happened if the witness hadn't left a note

4. Make up a better story next time.

Don't be such a .

If you don't want to reply, don't. Pretty simple really.

[johnfm]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Cupradupra said:

How can this be fair?

It's not meant to be fair, it's meant to be a reflection of risk.

How does increasing this individual's premium by £300 reflect the increase of all individuals of that driver's age, gender, postcode, car make and model, annual mileage etc.

Or are you saying that car owners should now not make claims against other drivers when we are driven into?

It is bks.

[LoonR1]

johnfm said:

How does increasing this individual's premium by £300 reflect the increase of all individuals of that driver's age, gender, postcode, car make and model, annual mileage etc.

Or are you saying that car owners should now not make claims against other drivers when we are driven into?

It is bks.

What do you know about this individual? The OP's girlfriend may well be a 17 year old driving a high risk car, where £300 is a single digit percentage of her overall premium.

Oh yeah, nearly forgot

[Sheepshanks]

I think the answers from the so-called "experts", who happen to have vested interests, are what they would like the position to be.

The reality is that of course you can claim for costs incurred that you wouldn't have done had the incident never took place.


(And anyway, schools are the biggest source of PH threads so we should get more of these in term-time).

[anonymous-user]

happened to me, you are classed as higher risk, i even had 2 non claim faults. try esure they are quite cheap.

i had the last laugh, i became a freeman and don't buy insurance now.

[LoonR1]

Sheepshanks said:

I think the answers from the so-called "experts", who happen to have vested interests, are what they would like the position to be.

The reality is that of course you can claim for costs incurred that you wouldn't have done had the incident never took place.


(And anyway, schools are the biggest source of PH threads so we should get more of these in term-time).

Good luck suing for the increased premium. I'll wait for a legal bod to explain why, as they don't have any vested interests.

The other thing to claim for is the lottery ticket that you were in the way to buy, but didn't due to the accident and lo and behold you only had the winning numbers as well. A play card with the correct numbers marked should prove that loss too.

[Retroman]

LoonR1 said:

Good luck suing for the increased premium. I'll wait for a legal bod to explain why, as they don't have any vested interests.

The other thing to claim for is the lottery ticket that you were in the way to buy, but didn't due to the accident and lo and behold you only had the winning numbers as well. A play card with the correct numbers marked should prove that loss too.

There's a few posters on the MSE forums who work for insurance companies and brokers.

Although there's a very slim chance (or none) of you successfully suing someone for the increased premium incurred due to a non fault accident a few of the insurance wise people there have said their company has paid out to cover the increased premium for the first year only.

I can only guess to why, but i would assume sometimes it's cheaper to do that, than the costs / man hours incurred defending it in small claims. Either that or trying to avoid bad PR.

[LoonR1]

Retroman said:

There's a few posters on the MSE forums who work for insurance companies and brokers.

Although there's a very slim chance (or none) of you successfully suing someone for the increased premium incurred due to a non fault accident a few of the insurance wise people there have said their company has paid out to cover the increased premium for the first year only.

I can only guess to why, but i would assume sometimes it's cheaper to do that, than the costs / man hours incurred defending it in small claims. Either that or trying to avoid bad PR.

youve probably misunderstood what's happened. An insurer may choose to waive the increase in premium for their policyholder, but a TP insurer would never pay out for that head of claim. It simply wouldn't happen, just as they wouldn't pay out for either the lottery win, or even £1 to buy another ticket. The insurer would win in court and the loser would be liable for the costs, TP insurers do not cave in on dead cert victories.