Insurance doubled

[Cschrissie]

Daughter has a 3rd party run in to her head on while 3rd party was on the wrong side of road.

 

Claim going through but policy has just doubled been in comparison websites and got new quotes from Hastings half the current price even though we disclosed the accident on their. Car was only bought after doing 2 quotes one before test and other after when change was made policy rose more than on quote for having just past test but now she has received a letter saying insurance will be over 4000 for year.

 

Latest quote we declared accident andcar as write off was valued at 920 by engineer and said it would cost more to repair. Veryconcernedby some of the comments on here as by the time they take access off that she was going to replace car and continue with cover but reading some of the comments on here about Hastings demanding full annual premium worried as that would mean she has lost car will get no money and still owe them over 3500 for the pleasure of some idiot driving round avens on the wrong side of road in to her.

 

If that's the case she will motbe able to afford a replacement car never mind replacing it and the fees that they charge to change the car on policy. Can anyone from Hastings advise?

Edited June 8, 2015 by honeybee13
Paras.

[unclebulgaria67]

Claim directly from the third parties insurances in this situation and then you have no excess to worry about. Also because you are not claiming off own insurance policy, you don't have to pay the full remaining premium, which is always required when a claim is paid out during the year.

 

It would be silly to claim from Hastings in this situation unless you could not get the third parties insurers to deal with it. If your daughter had any injuries, one of the accident solicitors will deal with the car claim as well.. Accident management companies or solicitors may not be interested in just dealing with the car claim as ant personal injury gives them a chance to earn.

 

If the Hastings policy had any legal cover, they may also be able to assist claiming from the third party.

[Cschrissie]

We would do but 3rd party trying it on and wants to claim off daughter as somehow thinks she is to blame when he was on her side of the road so she Claiming initial off her insurance as fully comp but should be claimed back off his eventually when all sorted as she needs to be back on the road to get to work

[Cschrissie]

When other half a bike was wrote off his insurance paid up minus excess and cover transferred to replacement bike . Still doesn't account for how they have increased premium after accident

[unclebulgaria67]

We would do but 3rd party trying it on and wants to claim off daughter as somehow thinks she is to blame when he was on her side of the road so she Claiming initial off her insurance as fully comp but should be claimed back off his eventually when all sorted as she needs to be back on the road to get to work

 

She needs to speak to Hastings about the best way forward with the claim. I think I would be taking to court ASAP to establish the accident fault, which in the situation explained should 100% the other drivers fault. Why were they on the wrong side of the road ?

 

In regard to premium increase a new driver with an accident claim is always going to see a large premium increase at the renewal.

[Cschrissie]

Coming round a bend with parked cars on the 3rd party's side she could not see him until he was in front of her as the parked cars included a van and a landrover on the bend . He decided to come round for some reason and she was not expecting to meet another car coming towards her on her side of the road.

[Cschrissie]

It's not a renewal only had the policy a month and a half and despite the accident her dashboard displays 78% and only that low due to a late night trip to pick her brother up. If they are they are expecting her to pay over 4000 to claim 525 and but new policy declaring accident and all other details the same with Hastings would only be just over 2000.

[unclebulgaria67]

She may be partly to blame for the accident, if she was driving too fast around the bend, therefore not anticipating a potential hazard and therefore not able to stop to prevent the accident.

 

It sounds like a black box type insurance where her driving is monitored and she would need to check the terms of the policy very carefully. If Hastings are asking for her to pay an increased premium now as a lump sum or by instalments over the remaining year of the policy because of the accident, then she can dispute this taking it to the FOS if necessary.

 

It is obviously going to be different, the premium based on black box info plus the accident versus a new quote online.

 

Hopefully someone with better knowledge of black box type insurances will reply to this thread to clarify the position.

[Hastings Direct. Joe - Soc]

Hi Cschrissie,

 

Thanks for taking the time to post and share you and your daughter's experience. It's not completely clear from reading the conversation exactly what the circumstances are however. Could you provide the policy number or registration and also your daughters name & DoB on an email please? With this information I will be able to assist you further - you can send them to [email protected] and include reference to this CAG thread.

 

Many thanks,

 

Joe

[Cschrissie]

Hi Joe

Have sent you several emails as she had a call last night to tell her not getting any payment despite comprehensive cover and 3rd party at fault as you want to take the full annual premium off her so we are not happy at all

[unclebulgaria67]

Hi Joe

Have sent you several emails as she had a call last night to tell her not getting any payment despite comprehensive cover and 3rd party at fault as you want to take the full annual premium off her so we are not happy at all

They can do that unfortunately. This is what makes these black box policies a potential nightmare. You have an accident within a few months and the premium is increased. The value of the car is a lot less than the premium, so you end up with no claim payment, no car and a debt. At least with a normal policy, you know what the annual premium is that you would have to pay, if a claim was made against the policy.

 

I think that your daughter will end up being considered partially to blame for the accident. If she is considered to have not driven slowly enough around the bend, so could stop to avoid a hazard, then they may decide partial fault.

 

In this situation, I would suggest a formal complaint to Hastings and to refer it to the FOS. The complaint would be about the premium increase and the way they are asking for this in the current situation, with no payment made for your daughters car. The fault for the accident has not been decided, yet Hastings have calculated a doubling of the premium. Your complaint is that Hastings have not acted fairly.

[Cschrissie]

Thanks waiting to hear back from them. She was only going about 20 think he was going faster though as he had come off another road which the junction of is a gentle bend that can easily be taken at speed on to the correct side and then when on to wrong side to go round the bend when he hit her in about 15 meters she thinks he was going about 30 ish so she had slowed to go round but due to his speed he just appeared in front of her and she had drove up hill in to the bend already passed 2 of the 3 parked cars/van before he hit her.

At her age she is only 19 there are very few affordable policy's out there that do not involve a box. She is a really good driver and passed her test 6 days earlier with no minors at all

Edited June 10, 2015 by Cschrissie

[unclebulgaria67]

Thanks waiting to hear back from them. She was only going about 20 think he was going faster though as he had come off another road which the junction of is a gentle bend that can easily be taken at speed on to the correct side and then when on to wrong side to go round the bend when he hit her in about 15 meters she thinks he was going about 30 ish so she had slowed to go round but due to his speed he just appeared in front of her and she had drove up hill in to the bend already passed 2 of the 3 parked cars/van before he hit her.

At her age she is only 19 there are very few affordable policy's out there that do not involve a box. She is a really good driver and passed her test 6 days earlier with no minors at all

 

If she did not take photos of the road layout at the time, may be worth doing so people can see what the road is like. This may help with deciding fault, although often insurers don't want to argue about it, if the claim value is fairly low.

 

I don't think Hastings will change their position and she will end up having to go down the FOS route. At least while it is with the FOS they won't be able to go down the route of involving debt collectors. She will have to make some payments towards the annual premium she was originally quoted. Whenever any claim is made on a policy you have to pay the annual premium. Obviously Hastings have reduced the amount due by deducting the write off value of the car.

[Cschrissie]

She took a photo on the day and sent it to Hastings I have heard of them allowing credit agreement to stay in place previously which would make more sense as car value no where near covers policy so if they did that then we could try and argue policy increase amount as blame has not yet been decided at least that ways she could get to work to be able to earn and be able to pay premiums just noticed you mentioned about injury claim earlier she has whiplash and is claiming for that along with excess and travel costs as having to pay people petrol to pick up and take to work as not always able to get there on public transport due to shifts also her boyfriend was in car with her and he also says car just appeared from nowhere and he has whiplash

[unclebulgaria67]

It won't be a quick process claiming for injuries and other costs.

[Hastings Direct. Joe - Soc]

Hi,

 

Thanks for your reply, I have received your emails and provided the Smartmiles team with them to look into for you. I hope we're able to reach an amicable resolution with you soon.

 

Regards,

 

Joe

[Cschrissie]

I hope we can as well Joe as we just feel that she is loosing everything through some other idiots error and thought that as she had comprehensive insurance she would be able to get back on the road with it goes through as a claim against the 3rd party's insurance.

[Cschrissie]

Unclebulgaria67 they haven't reduced it at all really as they increased it after the accident even if they don't change anything she will still owe more than what the annual premium was. I can understand the fact premiums will change when a change of circumstances happens such as when she passed her test but at the point she made the claim the policy was much less and it was an annual policy but payable with a separate credit agreement with creation finance so therefore policy should be paid up with outstanding to Hastings and the amount due to creation finance who the credit agreement is with as she had to log on to creations website to sign credit agreement and can log on there to view payments. So realistically two separate companies involved.so as Hastings do not hold credit agreement for insurance then surely it's up to creation finance and as another car would be purchased with the claim money then policy could be transferred to new car and any required adjustments made to accommodate different car type and sucequently credit agreement reflected to accommodate now premiums.

I kmow it will take a while to sort claim for pi etc as other half was knocked off his motorbike last sept other side just admitted liability this week so just waiting for settlement to be agreed .

Edited June 10, 2015 by Cschrissie

[Cschrissie]

Joe Any idea how long it will take to hear from them at all

[Hastings Direct. Joe - Soc]

Hi,

 

I'm really sorry that I can't answer that for you, however you can speak to the team anytime it's convenient for you - there's a number, email form and opening hours here: https://www.hastingsdirectsmartmiles.com/contact

 

I hope this helps,

 

Joe