Non-fault accident insurance premium query

[chancha]

Hi guys, first post here and I would like some clarification on an insurance issue I found out about this week...........

Last year I was involved in a RTA where a van ran into the back of my car (whilst stationary). The car was damaged to the tune of £5500 and duly repaired. I suffered whiplash and I am currently still waiting on settlement.........

On one of my other vehicle policies (van for my business) I received notification that renewal was up mid july of this year. I phoned them up and was quoted £210. Since this was substantially up on last year I asked them to run another quote, telling them about last years accident etc.
The new quote then went up to £410 . Is this normal for policy holders who have had non-fault accidents and is it legal for these companies to put your premium up for other vehicles in you possession event though the claim had nothing to do with them? Seems like a scam to me.......


Rgds Kevin

[Bernie_the_Bolt]

Insurance premia are based on a number of risk orientated factors. Being recently involved in a "non-fault" accident supposedly statistically speaking increases the risk that you will be involved in another accident (non-fault or otherwise). Further even with non-fault accidents, insurers do not always recover.

So, sadly it is all down to the numbers I'm afraid.

Best bet is to shop around. A new insurer will fight harder for your business than your existing one.

[chancha]

Unfortunately Bernie you could be right. Statistically speaking can mean anything to anybody though and it is just another way of getting more cash. I defy anybody to tell me how I am statistically more likely to be involved in another accident when I am sitting stationary on the Froth Road bridge minding my own business when BAM this bloo*y great big van slams into the back of me. This whole insurance lark stinks to high heaven .

Rgds Kevin

[gyzmo]

the nature of insurance is a complex one. I think the main issue is that if payments have not been received from the third pary it may still be logged as an outstanding claim. It is also possible the the new quote was done incorrectly by the advisor. I would ask for the quote in writing

[LemonTwist]

This has been discussed a couple of times before on this forum:

Unlawful car insurance claim increase?

HELP ! Non fault car incident - Hit by penalty

Needless to say, this is a very controversial issue.

I defy anybody to tell me how I am statistically more likely to be involved in another accident when I am sitting stationary on the Froth Road bridge minding my own business when BAM this bloo*y great big van slams into the back of me.

I'm not really sure how this works, but ultimately the statisticians must have found a correlation between non-fault claims and future at-fault claims, in order to justify charging more for these drivers. I'd be interested to find out why there is a link between the two, as it's not immediately obvious.

However, in your case, I think the reason why the premium is higher is because you have an outstanding claim, and your insurer may not have yet recovered the payment from the at-fault party (as gyzmo said). Once that is sorted out, you would get your no claims discount back again, although the premium may still be slightly higher than before the accident, because of the statistical link as mentioned above.

[chancha]

thanks guys for all the info...........

Kevin


ps another question whilst I'm here. The policy that the claim was made was my fiancees and I was a named driver. Does this mean that stricly speaking I have have not made a claim per se or is there some other clause that would mean any insurance I have will require notification of this?

[Bernie_the_Bolt]

When you renew your own insurance, if you have any, you will have to declare the accident.

[Wulfyn]

When pricing a policy insurers can handle previous claims in a number of ways, depending on where the underwriters feel the risk lies. Some insurers will take even a non-fault claim as an indication that you will have further fault claims. Others will ignore non-fault claims as long as the full costs are recovered from the third party insurer. Some will even take a combination of factors, such as ignoring 2 or 3 non-fault claims, but penalising you if there are more.

There is nothing illegal about this. Best thing to do is shop around for the best deal.