Told the insurer - big mistake

[AI001]

Had a minor contact with an R reg Peugeot (really old and tatty one) both thinks it is other party's fault. Whatever damage was quite minor to my 07 535d (minor scuff on the bumper and one scratch on nearside fender trim just before headlight, touch wood healight survived).

Exchanged insurance details and told insurer, that is the mistake I made. Other party was insisting to settle it outside but my bad I thought I will do it properly and told the insurer. Now insurance is telling me that this is ongoing case until it is settled your NCD is down from 5 (was suppose to be 6 in a week's time) to 3 and you have to get your renewal based upon this incident. Guilty unless proven otherwise Insurance wasn't cheap anyway and it is going to be more even if I am proven to be not at fault. Increase in insurance is going to be dearer then that R reg Peugeot price.

It has been 3 weeks now and other party is very slow in doing anything, now my insurance renewal is due. I even thought I will retract my claim and tell them nothing really happened (other party agreed over the phone) even if other parties insurance finds it to be my fault I will settle it separately. Not sure if that is going to be good idea, first time getting caught in all these legal govt. supported scams.

Was really surprised to find that my insurance will be impacted even if I wasn't found to be on the error side, guess what even if you had NCD protected. Wonder what is the point of NCD then.

[AI001]

This was the incident situation, I was trying to get into the inside lane of the 2nd exit. Red arrow my course, orange intended course, blue arrow other parties course, red circle is incident location.

[TTmonkey]

A protected NCD protects your discount, but doesnt stop your risk going up.

For example, your insurance is £1000 due to your risk level, but you have 50% discount becasue of NCD. You pay £500.

You have a bump, its your fault, you are a higher risk. Renewal is now £1500 due to this higher risk factor. However, despite the bump being your fault, your protected NCD is still 50%, so instead of having to pay full whack, you only pay 50% of £1500, which is £750....

[AI001]

That makes sense, what doesn't make sense is if it is not your fault then also your insurance goes up.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/blog/2012/feb/15/c...

[FastNReliable]

I'm afraid you've got a snowball's chance in hell of getting them to forget about it. Even if they do agree you're still going to have to inform any future insurer at renewal time for the next 3-5 years depending on their policy as you have now had a fault/non fault claim/accident.

I had an uninsured driver drive straight into me, his fault, no contest. It took Admiral 18 months to finally put my record straight. They knew he was uninsured, didn't tell me or the Police and then sat on their useless arses doing sod all between my phone calls each of which would spark a brief flurry of activity before they sat on their useless arses again until the next call.

All this while some spiv tries to sell me a brand new top of the range BMW, Audi, Merc etc loan car.. "car befitting your stature sir", " why should you suffer sir". Useless, useless people. Even after all that my car still wasn't fixed, just as well it was only cosmetic damage.

[750turbo]

AI001 said:

Had a minor contact with an R reg Peugeot (really old and tatty one) both thinks it is other party's fault. Whatever damage was quite minor to my 07 535d (minor scuff on the bumper and one scratch on nearside fender trim just before headlight, touch wood healight survived).

Exchanged insurance details and told insurer, that is the mistake I made. Other party was insisting to settle it outside but my bad I thought I will do it properly and told the insurer. Now insurance is telling me that this is ongoing case until it is settled your NCD is down from 5 (was suppose to be 6 in a week's time) to 3 and you have to get your renewal based upon this incident. Guilty unless proven otherwise Insurance wasn't cheap anyway and it is going to be more even if I am proven to be not at fault. Increase in insurance is going to be dearer then that R reg Peugeot price.

It has been 3 weeks now and other party is very slow in doing anything, now my insurance renewal is due. I even thought I will retract my claim and tell them nothing really happened (other party agreed over the phone) even if other parties insurance finds it to be my fault I will settle it separately. Not sure if that is going to be good idea, first time getting caught in all these legal govt. supported scams.

Was really surprised to find that my insurance will be impacted even if I wasn't found to be on the error side, guess what even if you had NCD protected. Wonder what is the point of NCD then.

Is it me that finds this a bit, well, undecipherable?

If not, apologies in advance... It has been a long day.

[AI001]

Sorry bud, I tried to squeeze too many things in one post. Wasn't willing to make a long post otherwise people tend to give up mid-way. Now looks like squeezing didn't go right, my bad.

[AI001]

Guess what, I tried to convince insurer today like this:

"As initially thought there wasn't any damage to my car, all the scratch present in the car were pre-existing. To my untrained eye it doesn't look like there is any damage. Looks like my car hasn't made any contact as the other party thought. It was close but due to low light condition we couldn't confirm it on the spot then, later on when I checked it I can't make out if there was any contact, I would like to retract my claim as cars haven't made contact."

Despite this insurer said we need this from the other party otherwise the claim will stay on and it may take months to come to a conclusion, 3 weeks is nothing. You have to wait sir.

Horrible... Lesson learnt, hard way, never again.

[bob bobbleton]

This must we assume that the marketing of "protected no claims" is thus actually fraudulent in that the hard earned money we pay for it is no way directly linked to our final price insurance

If this is the case, how has this legitimate industry managed to fraudulently acquire our protected NCD premium increases ?

Is there a website where I can reclaim this mid-sold protection ?

Eagerly awaiting experienced and valid responses

Sincerely, Bob

[ridds]

Yep, had a similar thing.

Ran into the back of a car at some temporary traffic lights. No real damage done but gave my details and told the girl to sort it through my insurance.

Rang them up to let them know but they weren't interested and just said wait for things to happen.

Nothing happened so forgot all about it.

3 years later, I get a quote through 1st Central and didn't declare this bump as nothing had ever happened (same with prior years insurance quotes through other insurance providers). However, they managed to find a record of this incident from 3 years previous and charged me extra. £1.60 increase on the premium.... With a £50 admin fee!!!!

[AI001]

btw. looking at the accident scene picture above what is the chance of me being found in error here? Other driver tried to undertake me and my car's nearside wing made contact with his wheel arches and bumper on offside. Very slight but present nonetheless.

I was slow like 10mph steadily trying to take exit, well indicating for atleast 10 seconds. Still this guy tried to undertake me. Even if I would have stopped he still would have scratched my car. He said he saw green light and he simply move on. Confusion arose due to overlaid lane markings.

[mike9009]

bob bobbleton said:

This must we assume that the marketing of "protected no claims" is thus actually fraudulent in that the hard earned money we pay for it is no way directly linked to our final price insurance

If this is the case, how has this legitimate industry managed to fraudulently acquire our protected NCD premium increases ?

Is there a website where I can reclaim this mid-sold protection ?

Eagerly awaiting experienced and valid responses

Sincerely, Bob

Not really fraudulent as it is protected no claims discount, not protected premium. I learnt this when i had a minor mishap some years ago. It is peoples perception of what it means.

Also, your insurance company actually asks 'any claims or accidents in last ** years' . So even if you don't claim, strictly speaking you should declare the accident. ......can of worms.......

Mike

[Chas88]

AI001 said:

what doesn't make sense is if it is not your fault then also your insurance goes up.

It's a no claims bonus not a no blame bonus so even if it's not your fault it will still affect you.

[bob bobbleton]

Dear Mike,

Like you I believe I have been MIS-SOLD NCD protection

Can you ever recall being sold this "protection" as a non guarantee to increased premium.

I've always been told it would "protect my premium" no matter what, however I realise after your comments that I've been on the receiving end of the insurers choosing to change their tune at their monopoly position without their apparent disclosure beforehand

Has anyone else been conned with "protected NCD", so called ?

Sincerely, Bob

[AI001]

Chas88 said:

It's a no claims bonus not a no blame bonus so even if it's not your fault it will still affect you.

Nope, even if you don't claim your premium goes up just because you had an accident. Despite no insurer paid for anything. Technically accident even if you had a minor one at your workplace (slip/trip) is an accident so should be declared. It doesn't say only "motoring accident".

No blame is fine as the insurer had to pay for it (like stolen car) but can't digest I have to pay more just because I told them something out of honesty. Actually some of them "BY LAW" want you to let them know any accident you have had, so that they can milk you. We are cornered either way.

Ok rant over.

[AI001]

bob bobbleton said:

Dear Mike,

Like you I believe I have been MIS-SOLD NCD protection

Can you ever recall being sold this "protection" as a non guarantee to increased premium.

I've always been told it would "protect my premium" no matter what, however I realise after your comments that I've been on the receiving end of the insurers choosing to change their tune at their monopoly position without their apparent disclosure beforehand

Has anyone else been conned with "protected NCD", so called ?

Sincerely, Bob

Bob, just to add a bit of fuel to your fury. One of my friend told me he had 9 years UNLIMITED-CLAIM-PROTECTED NCD, when he reported an accident to his insurer and they took off his protection and reduced it by 2 years (infact by 3 years depends upon how far have you gone into your first year) and said once a decision is made who was faulty irrespective of it was you or the other party then we will restore it all back. Till then live with reduced NCD.

First we have been told your NCD makes a difference in the price you pay, next we can protect it. Indirectly any unsuspecting buyer will get this "idea" that protecting is ALL you need to keep your premiums low, which is wrong assumption in itself but many like me got into this trap of words. Actually there is no choice. We have been tricked by the word-wielding solicitor backed regime of fully legal and authorized day-light robbers.

If this is NOT fraud, wonder what is fraud then?

[Harpo]

The other party has 90 days to send in their side of events.
If your insurance is due in the meanwhile then you have to man up ..... vasaline helps!
Looks like he was at fault, so blame almost cetainly 50/50 as it means that the insurance will get extra money from both of you. Best of luck.

[StottyZr]

If I run a quote on Elephant for no claims at all my insurance quote is £1000. If I put in 2 accidents, neither were my fault and no claim made at all on either (this can be specified) the quote goes to £2600

This could be a car tupping mine but leaving no damage at all, this still counts as a non fault accident with no claim made... I can't see for the life in me how this is justifiable. I'd love to see the statistics that back up this hike in price.

[Blue Oval84]

bob bobbleton said:

Dear Mike,

Like you I believe I have been MIS-SOLD NCD protection

Can you ever recall being sold this "protection" as a non guarantee to increased premium.

I've always been told it would "protect my premium" no matter what, however I realise after your comments that I've been on the receiving end of the insurers choosing to change their tune at their monopoly position without their apparent disclosure beforehand

Has anyone else been conned with "protected NCD", so called ?

Sincerely, Bob

Bob, TTMonkey has explained it at the top of the thread, it's not a scam, your NCB has been protected. Unfortunately your base premium has risen, which means your policy goes up, but not as much as it would have done without protection.

[AI001]

LV advertises upto 75% off. Wonder 75% of WHAT? Having "upto" adds complexity which even Newton won't be able to solve:

$x = ?% = £1000 (example premium) where $x = ? and ?% = upto 75%

If you ask them even about your own quote then won't tell you, not sure if data protection act covers this.