No Claims Bonus

[Tolsty]

My partner had 9 years No Claim Bonus until last summer when a driver cut him up and he swerved into the kerb resulting in damage to his car. The other car did not stop so my partner had to claim on his insurance.
His insurance company have now increased his premium to 3 times what it was before and have said he has nil NCB.
My question is, can they reduce 9 years to nil for a no fault claim or do they have to offer a reduced NCB?
Thanks

[bednobs]

was it protected?

[boxtops]

IMO it's usual to take off 2 years' NCB after any claim, not 9. What argument do they have for taking away his bonus altogether? Premiums have risen considerably over the last couple of years which could account for some the increase, but this sounds like a mistake to me - why would they take away his earned NCB altogether?

[bednobs]

ps it's not a no fault claim

[Hymie]

As boxtops says – they will normally take 2 years off.

With full no claims at 65%, loosing two years will typically take this down to 55% - providing no further claims are made the following year, the no claims discount would be 60% before finally returning to 65% the year after that.

So putting some money on those figures; suppose you have a base premium of £1,000. At 65% no claims your insurance will cost £350. When this is reduced to 55% no claims, the insurance cost will increase to £450.

[Tolsty]

Thanks for all your answers. Its given him some ammunition for when he calls them.

[joko]

its just his word against theirs... as there was no actual collision, i dont think you can say its a no fault claim.

how much damage did a kerb do?

[micmak]

Many years ago I new someone who wrote off a nearly new car by hitting the curb. Bent chassis I believe.

[ABerrant]

"Fault" does not necessarily imply blame.

A "no fault" claim is when your insurer is able to reclaim the full cost of the claim from the other party's insurer.

A "fault" claim is when your insurer cannot reclaim all their costs from the other party. This may be because you are wholly liable, partly liable, the other party has no insurance or the other party is not traceable (as described in the question).

[flip_flop]

It is called a No Claim Bonus and not a No Blame Bonus for a reason.

The 'step-back' procedure should have applied, so it sounds like a mistake, not unless there has been the report of another incident in the current insurance year.

[d9f1c7]

That's why you should never claim on your own insurance unless it's a complete write off. No point they always get it back.

[EDDIE51]

Get another insurance quote from the comparison web sites. Never , never accept a renewal quote from your current insurers.
I have had no claims or accidents ever but my renewal quote was £650 against £220 last year. When I phoned them to complain they said '' everyones insurance has gone up this year'' I told them to cancel the policy and looked on the 'net' and got the insurance for £218 with £40 cash back so £178 total.
All goes to fuel my contention that insurance companies are legalised robbers

[bednobs]

ps, no claims bonus does not protect against your insurance going up after a claim, it just ensures a proprtion off of that amount. So the insurance might increase your premium by £500 after a claim. If you stillhave NCD, it will take a proportion off that amount

[sinderella]

his insurance company are telling him that they dont want his custom.