Hi All,

I need some advice here, I have a current live claim with my insurance it's been live since last July, I have 7 years No Claims Bonus and my renewal date is 26th Jan 08.

They have quote me over £400 I can get this alot cheaper elsewhere but they are saying that they will only release 1-2 years NCB's due to current claim.

Is this legal are their any get out clauses that I can use to change insurer as I think £400 odd is a bit OTT, I have had quotes from Egg with the claim noted for less than £240.

Thanks in advance

Marty

Hi, welcome to cag.

You will also need to look at what is covered. Are the two policies like for like ie; do they offer the exact same coverage?

Don't just go by premium cost, have a look at what you are covered for as well.

You don't need to stay with them if their new quote is very high.. I presume you are saying that you have been given quotes for the full amount of NCB though?

If you can clarify those points, maybe we can advise further...

Hi jonni2,

The new insurance quote was on 7 years NCB yes, And the old company our refusing to give me the full 7 years saying that I will only get two, even if the case goes in my favour but I don't also understand why it is taking them over 7 months to sort out the claim.

I really need to move away from the brokerage and to a direct insurer like Direct Line or something rather than through a brokerage who are useless

Hi There,

Yes what they are doing is legal. Whilst the claim is still "open" it will affect your NCD.

Its pretty much industry standard that 5 years is maximum NCD, once you go over this it usually wont make any difference (there are a few companies that do go higher but not many) so even though you have 7 years, you theoretically only have maximum 5 years.

When you make a claim, your NCD is reduced as a sort of penalty.

Usually 2 years is deducted for a claim so you would go down to 3 years, although this can vary so i'd check your policy wording as it looks like they've deducted 3 years from you.

So yes, if you cancel whilst the claim is still open, then they are correct to honour your NCD with the deduction taken off for the claim.

On a lighter note, should the claim be settled in your favour, your NCD will be re-instated back to normal again so i have no idea why they're telling you it wont.

One other thing to bear in mind is that you said you had the policy since last July, if this is as 12 month policy and you cancel early then you may not get any refund due to the open claim or they may just charge you a fee.

If this is a 6 month policy though, then you can just take out the new policy if thats what you decide although i'm guessing the quote you got from the new insurer is based on 7 years NCD, which you dont have at the moment so may be worth getting a re-quote based on the correct info and seeing what comes up then.

Any more questions, give me a shout.

cheers

DA

Similar situation here which I was just about to post about:

I have to renew my car insurance in the next week and have had my renewal notice from Direct Line which included the phrase "including 1 claim in the last 3 years".

Whilst I had an accident in May last year, it was non fault and I have been dealing with a firm of local solicitors, not Direct Line or their legal team. WHilst of course I rang them the day after to say that I have had an accident I advised them it was non fault (confirmed by police at the time and also driver admitted liability immediately) but I didn't want their help in resolving the matter.

Since then things have been getting sorted out, but Direct Line still have the claim on my record. I rang them this morning and told them to remove the claim as it has nothing to do with them, no payments have gone through them etc. They closed the claim, and guess what! It made no difference to my quote - so why put it on there??

Anyway - slight hijack here (apologies of course), my accident was totally non fault and Direct Line have taken no part in the resolution of the accident, so do I have to declare that I have had an accident to another insurance company?? If so, why?

Yes you have to declare all claims to an insurance company whether your fault or not. This is so they can assess the risk and decide whether they want to offer you cover or not. Generally speaking, a non-fault claim will have no bearing on the premium or XS on a motor insurance policy, but its always better to give all the facts upfront from day one so as not to run the risk of invalidating the policy.

DA

...I really need to move away from the brokerage and to a direct insurer like Direct Line or something rather than through a brokerage who are useless

Have a read through the guides to Insurance on MSE.

There is also a link in there to using "Referral" sites like Quidco, which pay you a 'cash-back' if you click through them and buy insurance, rather than directly.

Sounds more complicated than it really is, but I've just renewed my home insurance and ended up in profit by using that method.

Well worth a look.

Ta muchly!