Hi

I have been involved in very minor car incident where I slightly touched the bumper of the car before me. This was on traffic lights and no damage was done at all (not even a scratch). But the other driver registered this incident with his insurance company and there is a claim case created with my insurance company as a result. The other driver didn’t actually claim any damage and my insurer advised that if there is still no damage claimed after 6 months I can keep my No Claim Bonus intact (the incident happened 11 months ago).

Now, I received a renewal quote, which is much higher than expected and after calling them they advised that they reduced my NCB to 3 years (from 9) because of the claim. They said that I get to keep my NCB only if there is no damage claimed within 18 months (not 6 as advised previously). As a result I need pay more for the renewal, which seems very unfair to me considering there is no damage claim against me and I need to wait 18 months. Seems like money making scheme to me.

Can anyone advised if there is something I can do about this? I didn’t find anything helpful on my policy T&C.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Thank you

Of course you are right. It is a moneymaking scheme.

There is probably something you could do about it and I expect the question is how far are you prepared to go.

Insurance companies have a statutory duty to treat you fairly. It seems to me from what you say that this is an example of unfair treatment. It's unfair because first of all you tell us that there is no reference to this kind of arrangement in their terms conditions. Secondly, as there has been no claim made then there seems to be no reason why you should be out of pocket.

The other thing by the way is that you can almost bet your bottom dollar that the insurance company for the other guy is also increasing their premium as well. It's a nice little earner for both sides and you and the third party are joint piggies in the middle.

Your insurer has a statutory duty under ICOBS to treat you fairly. You would have to threaten them and then bring a legal action in the County Court for breach of statutory duty. Of course your insurer has never been treated in this way because unfortunately, to my knowledge no one has ever brought an ICOBS legal action against any insurer. They will either kick out very robustly and spend much more than their saving by trying to fight you or else they will put their hands up.

Your chances of success on the basis of what you say are better than 80%, in my view.

Of course you could go to the ombudsman but you will then face an uncertain wait of 12 months or more and the likelihood is that the ombudsman will decide against you. By that time you have lost your enthusiasm because the money will already have gone and you will be getting on with your life and you won't be bothered to do anything more and the insurer will come out of it quids in.

Insurers are typically dishonest bullies but nobody ever takes them on. It's about time somebody gave them a slap. Would you like to be the first?

the problem is their computer has reassessed you as being a risk so even if you kept your 9 years no claims they would hike the premium.

Shop around and see who offers a better price.

I had a similar thing with Admiral paying out on a dodgy claim a year after an incident so I wnt to Aviva instead. I explained carefully what had happened and they decided that it wasnt something they woul clobber my no claims for and were cheaper on the basic premium anyway. fail to mention something even of no consequence and they will bite your backside so be upfront.

The make your complaint about the failure to honours the terms agreed, they will ahve a recording of the call so they cnat lie their way out of it if they ahve indeed backtracked or rely on something they didnt mention at the time