Insurance companies, sly B**stards

[Monkey boy 1]

God my P155 is really boiling at the moment.
I had been with an insurance company for in excess of 5 years and they were running a scheme where by if you didn't claim on your insurance for a 5 year period you were entitled to a years insurance payment back in the form of a Cash-back cheque.
All well & good, No accidents in my 5 year period, but as their premiums were higher than most and I decided to change my chariot around the time of renewal I changed my insurance company.
I phoned up the Cash-back company, who's name is very much like the word Insurance, but without the "anc". in September, 1 week before my insurance was due to run out and asked if I was still eligible for the cash-back ? They said yes,
Woohoo, I thought a nice cheque should be arriving on my doorstep in the next few weeks.
But nothing arrived.
I phone them up tonight and ask where my cheque is. I was told that I had made a claim. "News to me" I said. They checked and said that "I had claimed for a windscreen, and that was a claim, so I was not eligible for the cash-back".
Well, Into orbit I went.
Their argument is "Any claim" also includes windscreens, Even though I have windscreen insurance.

I needed the repair for an MOT. They said "I should have payed that out with my own money & not claimed."
So, to cut this story short, if you have one of these policies which says you'll get a lump sum cash-back for being claim free for "X" amount of years, Double check with them, don't just read their vague small print.

Right, I'm off so console myself with a

[T89 Callan]

All car insurance companies are s, theiving, cartel, robbing, sthouse s.

[jeebus]

Bad news but you did make a claim.
http://sadtrombone.com/

[aclivity]

Monkey boy 1 said:

Their argument is "Any claim" also includes windscreens, Even though I have windscreen insurance.

I needed the repair for an MOT. They said "I should have payed that out with my own money & not claimed."

But you can't pay for those repairs with your own cash, or they make it hard for you to do it. I was selling a car, it had a tiny chip in the windscreen, so I called Autoglass out. The guy flatly refused to take my money for the repair. I began to suspect that he got paid more for an insurance job than he did for a cash one?

[Nevin]

aclivity said:

Monkey boy 1 said:

Their argument is "Any claim" also includes windscreens, Even though I have windscreen insurance.

I needed the repair for an MOT. They said "I should have payed that out with my own money & not claimed."

But you can't pay for those repairs with your own cash, or they make it hard for you to do it. I was selling a car, it had a tiny chip in the windscreen, so I called Autoglass out. The guy flatly refused to take my money for the repair. I began to suspect that he got paid more for an insurance job than he did for a cash one?

Yes you can. Needed a couple of new windows in the past and have always refused to give insurance details and paid cash or card. But I can well believe that they get paid more for an insurance job.

[Somnophore]

Course you can what would TPFT customers do for windscreen repair. And a windscreen claim is a claim, they'd had to pay out, a fair bit to get your screen repaired, hence no cashback.just gotta check the smallprint, insurance companies are a business not a charity, I wouldn't like to feel like I've lost out in the process, but it's a fact of life. It's like when people ring up to make a claim and kick off that a company won't provide a courtesy car when their vehicle is total lossed, if that was important, you should specify it when you buy insurance.

[Stu - B]

Any chance of paying back the windscreen claim and then getting your cash back? Assuming ws claim was reasonably low?

SB

[TheEnd]

Tomlev40 said:

jeebus said:

Bad news but you did make a claim.
http://sadtrombone.com/

That is an awesome website!

+ lots

[DaveL86]

aclivity said:

Monkey boy 1 said:

Their argument is "Any claim" also includes windscreens, Even though I have windscreen insurance.

I needed the repair for an MOT. They said "I should have payed that out with my own money & not claimed."

But you can't pay for those repairs with your own cash, or they make it hard for you to do it. I was selling a car, it had a tiny chip in the windscreen, so I called Autoglass out. The guy flatly refused to take my money for the repair. I began to suspect that he got paid more for an insurance job than he did for a cash one?

I had a no frills policy that didn't cover windscreens a few years back, called AutoGlass for a windscreen for my Bora and was quoted a little under £700 iirc, I gave VW a call and had a new one fitted for £220 glass shipped from Germany and fitted by local windscreen contractor.

I learnt two things, make sure your policy covers glass and autoglass must rape insurance companies.

[voicey]

DaveL86 said:

I learnt two things, make sure your policy covers glass and autoglass must rape insurance companies.

You're not wrong - Autoglass wanted to charge my insurance company £6,500 for a new windscreen for my car! Even the dealer only wanted £3k...

[GG89]

That's a sore one. I've got a crack on my windscreen at the moment it was a stonechip but at the very bottom of the windscreen, so I didn't notice untill it was too late. My windscreen excess is 75 pounds. Does this effect my NCB? am I better forking out and paying for it myself?

[Tom_C76]

No effect on your NCB for windscreen claims.

[grumbas]

Tom_C76 said:

No effect on your NCB for windscreen claims.

Normally, but I know of at least one insurer that treats windscreen as fault and will cost you NCB.

[EK993]

Hang on a minute.. am I missing something here? You are not claim free - you claimed for a new windscreen which probably would have cost a few hundred £. How does that make you claim free?

Also I don't understand what you mean by "I had windscreen insurance"? Of course you did, that's why the insurance company paid out, you made a CLAIM on the the insurance....

[Curry Burns]

EK993 said:

Hang on a minute.. am I missing something here? You are not claim free - you claimed for a new windscreen which probably would have cost a few hundred £. How does that make you claim free?

Also I don't understand what you mean by "I had windscreen insurance"? Of course you did, that's why the insurance company paid out, you made a CLAIM on the the insurance....

Generally (I know the company I work for does this), windscreen claims do not count against you, but the OP should really of read the small print before he 'expected' his money back. Some companies are weasely bds!!!

[Somnophore]

The confusion is that most insurance companies don't reduce your NCD for windscreen claims, however they are still a claim that costs them a great deal, easily a years premium for some, it can easily be on a par with a minor bodywork claim.

[s.m.h.]

Was it a repair or a replacement screen?

If it was a screen then I'd say youve had your cash-back there!

[Monkey boy 1]

EK993 said:

Hang on a minute.. am I missing something here? You are not claim free - you claimed for a new windscreen which probably would have cost a few hundred £. How does that make you claim free?

Also I don't understand what you mean by "I had windscreen insurance"? Of course you did, that's why the insurance company paid out, you made a CLAIM on the the insurance....

Cost of repair to screen, £37 which had to go through insurance Company. Loss of cashback, Well in excess of £200.
All I am saying is that it's a legal requirement to have a non chipped windscreen for MOT.(size dependant on field of view.) and that most people would assume that a windscreen claim isn't an "insurance claim" as in affecting NCB etc.
My point is that the wording of the policy IMHO should state that windscreen claims, which went through another company to get fixed,should be highlighted as invalidating the cashback scheme.


Small print always gets you in the end.

[pilchardthecat]

You foolishly entered into a "cashback" arrangement. They are all st.

Let this be a lesson to you.

[munroman]

voicey said:

DaveL86 said:

I learnt two things, make sure your policy covers glass and autoglass must rape insurance companies.

You're not wrong - Autoglass wanted to charge my insurance company £6,500 for a new windscreen for my car! Even the dealer only wanted £3k...

Is your car the Space Shuttle?