Why does my car insurance premium increase after a no-fault claim?

[stelladrinka]

About a year ago someone reversed in to my car in a hotel car park, but I was lucky that they were honest enough to leave their details. I rang up my insurance company at the time and told them what had happened and gave them the other person's details. Now when I come to renewal time my premium has gone up even though I didn't claim on my insurance, but made a no-fault claim against someone else. How can this be right? Is it as I suspect just a scam by all insurance companies to screw a little bit more out of everyone?

[lorla]

Some companies do this and others don't - I was in exactly the same situation....someone went into my car and wrote it off and when it came to renew my insurance, many companies said there was now a claim regardless of whose fault it was, and so I would be penalised. I argued that with elephant.co.uk and they agreed I shouldn't be penalised so I got away with it.

So either try them or argue it - I got a bit stroppy with them and told them it was ridiculous that I should get penalised for someone else writting my car off!

[buildersmate]

Phone around for some alternative quotes.
And tell your existing company you are going to do this unless they back off.
It's a competitive old world out there when it comes to car insurance.

[stelladrinka]

I have tried the arguing thing and they won't budge. Most annoyingly they are actually the cheapest around even with the hike so it looks like I have to just take the hit, however I think that it is extortion and something should be done about it.

[themas]

I agree it is quite unreasonable. Probably all you can do is to go through their complaints procedure and then to the Insurance Ombudsman.

[JB]

So have they disallowed your no claims bonus or is it just a rate increase? If they've disallowed the bonus, find out why - maybe they were unable to recover their costs from the guilty party's insurance for some reason. If it's just a rate increase, you're stuck with it! From what you say, they are very cheap anyway, so maybe they've had to increase their rates in line line with the market?

[gouldc]

Resreahc shows that someone who is involved in a non-fault accident is more likely to be at fault for their next accident, hence the increase in premium.

I for one think this is a load of rubbish, but pricing departments in insurers set the premiums based on research, so what can you do - I've personally been involved in two non-fault accidents, and (touch wood) haven't had an accident in the five years since then.

It's the same nonsense that speeding isn't necessairly an act of negligence - try dealing with some of the claims I see and think to yourself ''well maybe the 80mph ion a 30 zone wasn't a contibutory factor''.

Not a satisying answer I know, but this is what the score is

[steveoid]

Research has also shown that most rapes are commited by men ... but we're not forced to register as sex offenders or become tagged if out on our own are we. This 'statistical' anomaly by the insurance industry flies in the face of justice and should be rvoked by the ombudsman immediately. Sadly, as with the PCC, the Financial Ombudsman and all the rest of the toothless quangos, they will continue to commit their government backed robbery. It is utterly wrong for a victim of an accident, where they Insurance company state themselves thet you have 'No Fault', for to then come back to you and penalise you (financially) for something you were not at fault for! Using my rape analogy further, it's like expecting the victim of a rape to serve the last two months of the rapists sentence for every year of their sentence (because this premium hike continues for 5 years remember). By the time you factor in these increases, you'd be better off paying for a £^00 claim yourself - even if its not your fault. And THAT I consider, is exactly the end the insurance industry is trying to achieve - to cut their legitimate costs and pass them onto the consumer. Utterrly, utterly wrong in every sense of the word, and no amount of sophistry or statistics will convince me otherwise.

[steveoid]

Research has also shown that most rapes are commited by men ... but we're not forced to register as sex offenders or become tagged if out on our own are we. This 'statistical' anomaly by the insurance industry flies in the face of justice and should be rvoked by the ombudsman immediately. Sadly, as with the PCC, the Financial Ombudsman and all the rest of the toothless quangos, they will continue to commit their government backed robbery. It is utterly wrong for a victim of an accident, where they Insurance company state themselves thet you have 'No Fault', for to then come back to you and penalise you (financially) for something you were not at fault for! Using my rape analogy further, it's like expecting the victim of a rape to serve the last two months of the rapists sentence for every year of their sentence (because this premium hike continues for 5 years remember). By the time you factor in these increases, you'd be better off paying for a £^00 claim yourself - even if its not your fault. And THAT I consider, is exactly the end the insurance industry is trying to achieve - to cut their legitimate costs and pass them onto the consumer. Utterrly, utterly wrong in every sense of the word, and no amount of sophistry or statistics will convince me otherwise.

[mdj101]

A couple of weeks ago we got our renewal through for our car, then last week someone drove into the back of my van at a roundabout, BANG! my renewal has gone up £100, even though it wasn't my fault. I argued that they are discriminating against me, they spilled their statistic. I then argued that they are still discriminating against me, I think it's absurd that they think they can charge people extra for an accident that wasn't my fault based on the fact that im now more likely to have an accident. What a load of rubbish, I've never heard so much twaddle in all my life.

However, what I did find interesting was when I phoned my insurance company and asked them how I go about suing the 3rd party for losses arrisen from increased insurance premiums born upon myself through no fault of my own.

They were a bit stumped and said that as far as they were aware noone had ever done this before, but agreed that legally I would be entitled to compensation.

They will be contacing their legal team!

[marcusblackcat]

Mine has just gone up for the same reason - I have written a letter of complaint stating that I am being penalised for someone else's wrongdoing - effectively it would be the same as arresting me for someone breaking into my house. It's a joke in my opinion and I believe things like this should be made illegal. If the stats say I am more likely to have an accident, surely the insurance company will get their money when I have this accident so why should I be penalised before I have the accident?