Increased car insurance premiums after a no fault claim

VickySim_2 · 29 August 2010 at 2:31PM

Earlier this year while I was inside my home, a driver reversed into my parked car outside. He waited, gave his details and a claim was made and settled to repair the damage he caused.

My insurance renewal has now come through £90 more expensive than last year. I've been online to search other providers and out of curiosity got prices where I declare my no fault claim and also without.

Despite having 9 years no claims protection almost every insurer will charge me more when I note the no fault claim. My current insurer (Elephant) have argued that despite me paying them for no claims protection last year and not being at fault, the premium will still be higher because I've had to claim. They didn't even pay a penny because all costs were fully recovered.

How is this fair? What is the point of protecting your no claims and being honest when you still get penalised?? And how can you avoid this?

Quentin · 29 August 2010 at 2:37PM

You are mixing up no claim protection and premium increase.

Your NCD is unchanged.

Your premium has increased because your history (and therefore your profile) has changed - a no fault incident on your recent history makes you more of a risk (in their eyes) than no incidents at all.

mikey72 · 29 August 2010 at 2:44PM

It is a mistake to believe that the premium won't rise.
As Quentin says, the insurance company will protect you NCD, and then sustantially raise the premium they are applying the discount to.
The same would happen if you have a fault claim.
On paper, you would keep the same discount, but your premium it was applied to would raise by several hundered pounds behind it.
Do a quote based on a fault accident with a protected no claims, and one without for a comparison as well.

Duncombe · 29 August 2010 at 4:31PM

I still think insurance companies pick numbers out of the air when issuing quotes.

My premiums come back cheaper when I declare the one accident I have had, than when I dont.

Ridiculous

savemoney · 29 August 2010 at 4:36PM

I have 9 years nocd too but had a claim in Nov due to a driver hitting my stationary car outside my house. I got Protected no claims but I fear come renweal time my insurance will still go up

Banana-Man · 13 March 2012 at 4:19PM

Had a no fault accident in Sept 2011. The at fault driver's insurance, LV, sorted the repairs and provided a hire car. I also had to claim for around £350 of lost earnings etc but they finally covered it.

I received renewal quote from esure this morning and it doesn't show the details of the accident. I called LV to see if I need to tell my insurer, esure. They said I should notify esure. I asked LV if they would cover any renewal premium increase. They said "No". I argued that as any premium renewal increase would be a direct loss to me as a direct result of their policy holder's actions, then LV would be liable. They said I could send them a letter....or better still write to the Ombudsman. I prefer more direct action.

I contacted esure and "notified" them of ther accident. Kerching! 10% premium increase. OK, only about £25 but hey, why should I pay that.

I've written to LV to see whether they are prepared to cover it or whether I need to pursure their policy holder directly. I'm thinking about doing both. The more people upset with LV for shirking their liability the better. I doubt their policy holder will renew with LV when he finds out they haven't fully settled the claim and he's got to waste time dealing with me.

As for esure....well I guess everyone should note that non-fault claims will increase your premium by 10%. If you don't want that possibility then find an alternative insurer that doesn't penalise non-fault drivers.

Does anyone have a list of insurers that don't load premiums for non-fault accidents?

starrystarry · 13 March 2012 at 7:40PM

I don't think you can state that eSure increase premiums by 10% for everyone who has a non-fault accident.

I'm with eSure. I had a non-fault accident in Jan last year but my renewal in August went up by tuppence ha'penny. It was such a small increase I can't even remember how much. Certainly not 10% anyway.

vaio · 13 March 2012 at 8:05PM

and 10 ish years ago elephant loaded me for a non fault by about 50% (from memory £200 up to £300).

I managed to recover it from the at fault party

mikey72 · 13 March 2012 at 9:48PM

starrystarry wrote: »

I don't think you can state that eSure increase premiums by 10% for everyone who has a non-fault accident.

I'm with eSure. I had a non-fault accident in Jan last year but my renewal in August went up by tuppence ha'penny. It was such a small increase I can't even remember how much. Certainly not 10% anyway.

But, it may have actually gone down if you hadn't had the accident, with your increase in ncd.

starrystarry · 13 March 2012 at 10:30PM

mikey72 wrote: »

But, it may have actually gone down if you hadn't had the accident, with your increase in ncd.

Nah, I've already got a gazillion years NCD anyway, another year wouldn't have made any difference.

LBradley1989 · 14 March 2012 at 9:19AM

The existence of any claim will increase the premium (albeit a non-fault considerable less than a fault claim).

The reasoning behind this is that for better or worse insurance premiums are calculated via a risk assessment which relies on statistics. Basically they'll re-check all your details and see how much they've had to pay out on similar details across the board.

Generally, those that have non-fault claims are more likely to claim themselves. Also bare in mind that if you have been involved in an incident then it could be seen that you're driving on 'risky' roads.

Using a common sense approach it's unfair, but statistically it's sound. Unfortunately there's nothing you can do to prevent this sort of thing but certainly get on a price comparison and come back to your insurer with the lower price. The available discounts for retention aren't great, but sometimes they can help push it down that little bit extra.

Increased car insurance premiums after a no fault claim

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