Urgent insurance advice needed please!
Discussion
How is it that my life seems to be one long battle against insurance companies??
I've had a bit of a nightmare year with my Wedge. First, in May I had a learner driver's foot slip sending him into me. He admitted this to police officers, the car was fixed, he accepted liability, my excess was waived and I was told that that was the end of it.
Then in December I was sitting in stationary traffic waiting to get onto a roundabout when there was a 3 car pile up behind me in another lane. The front of the 3 cars was pushed out of their lane, into mine, hitting the back corner and scraping along the length of the car. The guy at the very back admitted liability and repairs were authorised.
A could of weeks ago (while the TVR was being repaired) I received my renewal from Tesco (due 10th Feb) and they wanted £3000. I call up as this is over twice the usual premium and tell them to cancel the renewal until it's sorted out. They tell me it's because the Dec claim is coming off my policy as libility hasn't been settled (at that point it hadn't). I speak to the claims dept that say that once liability is sorted they can temporarily close the claim, issue my NCB and then open it again so I can get my regular renewal quote.
Well, liability was sorted, the car was fixed and my £500 excess was waived. I call up to tell them I would like to reinstate the renewal. They tell me that the £3000 still stands since neither of the claims have been completely closed. I explain the situation and she says there is nothing that can be done but pay the £3000 and get a refund at some distant point in the future.
Is this correct? I can't help but feel like I'm being shafted here since I've done nothing wrong whatsoever, just been in the wrong place at the wrong time a couple of times. It seems unreasonable to expect me to shell out £3000 for a year's insurance when in both instances the 3rd party have accepted liability.
What if I call other insurers, will they listen and take circumstances into account or will they treat me as though I've had 2 'at fault' claims? Does anyone have any suggestions? There is also the complication that my Corvette is insured as a 2nd car so I assume that that policy becomes invalid if I don't have an insured 1st car?
I'm insured until noon on Thursday. I need to have all this sorted by then.
At the moment I feel like just sticking both car on e-bay taking whatever I can for them, getting the bus to work and finding another interest...
>>> Edited by Uriel on Tuesday 8th February 16:52
I've had a bit of a nightmare year with my Wedge. First, in May I had a learner driver's foot slip sending him into me. He admitted this to police officers, the car was fixed, he accepted liability, my excess was waived and I was told that that was the end of it.
Then in December I was sitting in stationary traffic waiting to get onto a roundabout when there was a 3 car pile up behind me in another lane. The front of the 3 cars was pushed out of their lane, into mine, hitting the back corner and scraping along the length of the car. The guy at the very back admitted liability and repairs were authorised.
A could of weeks ago (while the TVR was being repaired) I received my renewal from Tesco (due 10th Feb) and they wanted £3000. I call up as this is over twice the usual premium and tell them to cancel the renewal until it's sorted out. They tell me it's because the Dec claim is coming off my policy as libility hasn't been settled (at that point it hadn't). I speak to the claims dept that say that once liability is sorted they can temporarily close the claim, issue my NCB and then open it again so I can get my regular renewal quote.
Well, liability was sorted, the car was fixed and my £500 excess was waived. I call up to tell them I would like to reinstate the renewal. They tell me that the £3000 still stands since neither of the claims have been completely closed. I explain the situation and she says there is nothing that can be done but pay the £3000 and get a refund at some distant point in the future.
Is this correct? I can't help but feel like I'm being shafted here since I've done nothing wrong whatsoever, just been in the wrong place at the wrong time a couple of times. It seems unreasonable to expect me to shell out £3000 for a year's insurance when in both instances the 3rd party have accepted liability.
What if I call other insurers, will they listen and take circumstances into account or will they treat me as though I've had 2 'at fault' claims? Does anyone have any suggestions? There is also the complication that my Corvette is insured as a 2nd car so I assume that that policy becomes invalid if I don't have an insured 1st car?
I'm insured until noon on Thursday. I need to have all this sorted by then.
At the moment I feel like just sticking both car on e-bay taking whatever I can for them, getting the bus to work and finding another interest...
>>> Edited by Uriel on Tuesday 8th February 16:52
My brother had this. They held a claim open for a random length of time, 8 weeks i think. Legally the person could counter-claim within 3 years or something though.
They said they couldnt close the claim early, but he repeatedly said if they can close it 90 weeks or whatever before the legal requirement expired they could close it 91 weeks before. After about half an hour of restating his demand they closed the claim and he got his regualr renewal quote.
They said they couldnt close the claim early, but he repeatedly said if they can close it 90 weeks or whatever before the legal requirement expired they could close it 91 weeks before. After about half an hour of restating his demand they closed the claim and he got his regualr renewal quote.
What insurance companies don't know and can't find out won't hurt them. 
However, you are always advised to inform your insurance companies of all material facts which may influence or affect your policy/ies. Ahem.....
It is usual practice for an insurer to reduce NCD until claim resolution. However a few, will allow NCD and not charge excesses, if a claim is definitely non-fault. In my experience, the only ones to be so pro-active are the Insurance UK companies ie. Direct Line, Tesco etc.
It seems that it is only a matter of time, before it gets sorted so why not try and swallow the added cost of having to pay the extra, which will give you a nice little windfall when the NCD gets reinstated. You will probably have to get alternative quotes based on the actual amount of NCD that you have at the time of obtaining the quotes, which will of course be the lower amount. However when the NCD is reinstated this will apply, not only to your previous company, but also your new company. So you will get a refund regardless.
As a foot note, when insuring with Max NCD, always protect it. For a cost of around 10% it's well worth it as a max discount is invaluable.
edited to add: bloody good luck and try not to be too despondent. All the best.
>> Edited by anniesdad on Tuesday 8th February 17:21
However, you are always advised to inform your insurance companies of all material facts which may influence or affect your policy/ies. Ahem..... It is usual practice for an insurer to reduce NCD until claim resolution. However a few, will allow NCD and not charge excesses, if a claim is definitely non-fault. In my experience, the only ones to be so pro-active are the Insurance UK companies ie. Direct Line, Tesco etc.
It seems that it is only a matter of time, before it gets sorted so why not try and swallow the added cost of having to pay the extra, which will give you a nice little windfall when the NCD gets reinstated. You will probably have to get alternative quotes based on the actual amount of NCD that you have at the time of obtaining the quotes, which will of course be the lower amount. However when the NCD is reinstated this will apply, not only to your previous company, but also your new company. So you will get a refund regardless.
As a foot note, when insuring with Max NCD, always protect it. For a cost of around 10% it's well worth it as a max discount is invaluable.
edited to add: bloody good luck and try not to be too despondent. All the best.
>> Edited by anniesdad on Tuesday 8th February 17:21
Thanks guys.
I've just had a call from them. They say that in somce cases, once liablilty has been cleared they can close the case to issue the no claims and then open it again and in some cases they can't.
They've said that my claim is one that shouldn't be closed, but they have notes there that show clearly I was told on a couple of occasions that I would be able to renew with full NCB so they're honouring that. I need to ring back tomorrow afternoon to confim it, but it's at least looking a lot more hopeful now.
And I would pay the extra and wait for it to come back, but that'd leave me really, really skint at the moment. I'm poor
And I don't have the option of protected no claims. I think with Tesco you can only start this once you have 4. I only have 2 years
I've just had a call from them. They say that in somce cases, once liablilty has been cleared they can close the case to issue the no claims and then open it again and in some cases they can't.
They've said that my claim is one that shouldn't be closed, but they have notes there that show clearly I was told on a couple of occasions that I would be able to renew with full NCB so they're honouring that. I need to ring back tomorrow afternoon to confim it, but it's at least looking a lot more hopeful now.
And I would pay the extra and wait for it to come back, but that'd leave me really, really skint at the moment. I'm poor
And I don't have the option of protected no claims. I think with Tesco you can only start this once you have 4. I only have 2 years
You say that you should be able to renew with Full NCD. Well, that's 4-5 years depending on who you insure with. So if your NCD is reinstated to full NCD [waterboy]"You can do eeeet"[/waterboy] ie. protect your NCD.
You also say 2 years, which i'm assuming is what you have at this moment in time. When the rest is reinstated this will put you up to 4 years. Note insurers take away 2 years at a time when a claim is made.
You also say 2 years, which i'm assuming is what you have at this moment in time. When the rest is reinstated this will put you up to 4 years. Note insurers take away 2 years at a time when a claim is made.
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