Non Fault MUST be labelled as Fault
Discussion
About a month ago I had a Non Fault accident as a named driver on my GFs car (someone ran into the back of us).
Third party immediately admitted liability, their insurers immediately admitted liability over text message and left multiple voicemails confirming this.
RIghtly or wrongly we claimed through our own insurers and provided crystal clear dashcam evidence showing this as non fault.
I've since been marked down as having an AT FAULT claim against me along with the resulting increased cost of my motorcycle insurance renewal which happened shortly after.
The car was fully repaired and back with us within approximately two weeks and the hire car (standard Corsa) was used for just under a week.
Throughout all of this I was given the line about it being "standard procedure" and "yes, we're legally required to log it as such" but wouldn't go any further on that.
Having worked in customer services in the financial sector years ago this sounded very much like it was made up - the legal part.
What I would like to know is that is this actually true?
Are the insurers legally FORCED to log this as AT FAULT until the "costs are recovered"?
Or, is it merely them running their usual racket and not taking individual cases into account?
I know full well that this SHOULD be changing to NON FAULT once the "costs are recovered" but was also told this can take 6 months. So I would be paying considerably higher costs had multiple policies renewed in that time.
Third party immediately admitted liability, their insurers immediately admitted liability over text message and left multiple voicemails confirming this.
RIghtly or wrongly we claimed through our own insurers and provided crystal clear dashcam evidence showing this as non fault.
I've since been marked down as having an AT FAULT claim against me along with the resulting increased cost of my motorcycle insurance renewal which happened shortly after.
The car was fully repaired and back with us within approximately two weeks and the hire car (standard Corsa) was used for just under a week.
Throughout all of this I was given the line about it being "standard procedure" and "yes, we're legally required to log it as such" but wouldn't go any further on that.
Having worked in customer services in the financial sector years ago this sounded very much like it was made up - the legal part.
What I would like to know is that is this actually true?
Are the insurers legally FORCED to log this as AT FAULT until the "costs are recovered"?
Or, is it merely them running their usual racket and not taking individual cases into account?
I know full well that this SHOULD be changing to NON FAULT once the "costs are recovered" but was also told this can take 6 months. So I would be paying considerably higher costs had multiple policies renewed in that time.
Ask your car/bike insurer what the premiums would be WITHOUT the fault claim, and then add that extra cost to the uninsured losses claim against the 3rd party.
I really hope it is sorted in 6 months, but if there's anything contentious in the claim be prepared for a much longer wait (over 18 months in my case).
I really hope it is sorted in 6 months, but if there's anything contentious in the claim be prepared for a much longer wait (over 18 months in my case).
Fault doesn't mean at fault, it means money has been paid out or might be paid out, and is yet to be fully recovered.
Non fault doesn't mean that either, it just means it didn't cost them anything.
At the moment, you have had a fault accident. It'll hopefully turn into a non fault accident when the tp insurers reimburse your insurers for their outlay.
Non fault doesn't mean that either, it just means it didn't cost them anything.
At the moment, you have had a fault accident. It'll hopefully turn into a non fault accident when the tp insurers reimburse your insurers for their outlay.
Biker9090 said:
About a month ago I had a Non Fault accident as a named driver on my GFs car (someone ran into the back of us).
Third party immediately admitted liability, their insurers immediately admitted liability over text message and left multiple voicemails confirming this.
RIghtly or wrongly we claimed through our own insurers and provided crystal clear dashcam evidence showing this as non fault.
I've since been marked down as having an AT FAULT claim against me along with the resulting increased cost of my motorcycle insurance renewal which happened shortly after.
The car was fully repaired and back with us within approximately two weeks and the hire car (standard Corsa) was used for just under a week.
Throughout all of this I was given the line about it being "standard procedure" and "yes, we're legally required to log it as such" but wouldn't go any further on that.
Having worked in customer services in the financial sector years ago this sounded very much like it was made up - the legal part.
What I would like to know is that is this actually true?
Are the insurers legally FORCED to log this as AT FAULT until the "costs are recovered"?
Or, is it merely them running their usual racket and not taking individual cases into account?
I know full well that this SHOULD be changing to NON FAULT once the "costs are recovered" but was also told this can take 6 months. So I would be paying considerably higher costs had multiple policies renewed in that time.
This is what happens:Third party immediately admitted liability, their insurers immediately admitted liability over text message and left multiple voicemails confirming this.
RIghtly or wrongly we claimed through our own insurers and provided crystal clear dashcam evidence showing this as non fault.
I've since been marked down as having an AT FAULT claim against me along with the resulting increased cost of my motorcycle insurance renewal which happened shortly after.
The car was fully repaired and back with us within approximately two weeks and the hire car (standard Corsa) was used for just under a week.
Throughout all of this I was given the line about it being "standard procedure" and "yes, we're legally required to log it as such" but wouldn't go any further on that.
Having worked in customer services in the financial sector years ago this sounded very much like it was made up - the legal part.
What I would like to know is that is this actually true?
Are the insurers legally FORCED to log this as AT FAULT until the "costs are recovered"?
Or, is it merely them running their usual racket and not taking individual cases into account?
I know full well that this SHOULD be changing to NON FAULT once the "costs are recovered" but was also told this can take 6 months. So I would be paying considerably higher costs had multiple policies renewed in that time.
You have an insurance policy on your car, it has been damaged so you have claimed on that policy (who is at fault is Irrelevant).
Your insurers have met there legal obligation to you, to pay for the repairs to your car.
That is it ,your insurers have met all their obligations to you.
You have to pay any excess you agreed to.
You will most probably see an increase in your premiums in future because you have made a claim on YOUR insurance.
If your insurer wants to claim the money back from a third party due to them being negligent then they can do so if they wish, they normally do because they want the money back, they can also claim any excess you had to pay out for you. But they do not have to.
The words that have been used like "Fault claim" and "Non Fault claim" are misleading because all that counts is, did your insurer recover the money they paid out on YOUR claim.
You could have claimed from the third party and his insurers if you had wished to do so and things would be different.
Biker9090 said:
Are the insurers legally FORCED to log this as AT FAULT until the "costs are recovered"?
Legally, probably no, but in my experience, they will effectively treat it as a fault claim until fully resolved, however (again in my experience), they are not unreasonable about refunding any uplift in premium as a result of this once the dust settles.Biker9090 said:
I know full well that this SHOULD be changing to NON FAULT once the "costs are recovered" but was also told this can take 6 months. So I would be paying considerably higher costs had multiple policies renewed in that time.
You should get the difference back once the claim is settled.Gassing Station | Speed, Plod & the Law | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff