The Great No Claims con!

aj76 · 17 February 2008 at 9:00PM

Hi everyone

first post and am looking for a bit of help to see if a) I have a case for a complaint and b) warn others about what I can only call a scam.

I had built up my no claims to 9 years, and have a company car also. My wife was learning to drive so I bought her a car and put us both on it using the NCD I had built up to preserve it. I went through a comparison site and Direct Line came up with the best price for what we required so we purchased on line. I had an accident in the car last march and expected to lose 2 years NCD leaving me with 7, resonable I though until the renewal turned up only showing 3 years NCD.

I phoned DL to query this to be told that they only recognise 5 yrs maximum even though on the application you are asked if it is 5 or more and that is what is shown on the issued documents not 5 yrs max. The supervisor I spoke to also claimed that this detail is not important enough that they are required to include it in any terms and conditions or documentation they provide. Surley this is vital as I know I wouldn't have purchased from them had they had the decency to disclose this information.

I am sure that this fact is so important that there must be some regulatory requirement to disclose it?

Thanks for taking the time to read my post and any help much appreciated.
AJ

Riq · 17 February 2008 at 9:03PM

It will be disclosed somewhere in the T&C's.
It did in mine when I was sorting my insurance out.

aj76 · 17 February 2008 at 9:11PM

Thanks for the reply Riq but I have been through them with a fine tooth comb and it only states the loss of 2 yrs NCD for a claim, the supervisor I spoke to today confirmed I am correct that they do not publish this information anywhere because, he says, they have no regulatory requirement to disclose anything they don't want to!

V_tricky · 17 February 2008 at 9:25PM

AFAIK all insurers are the same in this respect

Here it basically says that they recognise an NCD upto 5 years

It sucks, but in the same way that they wouldn't recognise those extra two years for NCD purposes, they also wont recognis spent driving conditions after the five years either.

aj76 · 17 February 2008 at 9:46PM

I see your point but what has incensed me is that no where does it state that if you come with more than 5 years this is all that they will recognise and will drop what you have to 5 years their actual policy document that they issue says the following:

No claim discount

If you do not make a claim against your policy, we will give you
a no claim discount and may reduce your renewal premium.
However, if you do make a claim against your policy, we will reduce
your no claim discount. You cannot transfer your no claim discount

to someone else.

No actual maximum is mentioned and surley it is this that determines the terms of your contract with them?

mattymoo · 18 February 2008 at 11:21AM

Interesting when you compare it with More Than's policy wording. They are very clear about max NCD and have a table showing what will happen to the NCD in various situations.

"A NO CLAIM BONUS

If you have made no claims in this period of insurance your No Claim Bonus will be increased at renewal up to a maximum discount of 65%. If you have made any claims your No Claim Bonus may be reduced at your next
renewal. Please refer to the following table for further details."

The table can be seen on page 21 here - http://www.morethan.com/Process/Documents/motorpoli.pdf

tinkerbell84 · 18 February 2008 at 11:23AM

5yrs is usually max NCB anyway, and earns you up to 65-70% discount.

Further years won't earn you more discount.

5 yrs is the industry standard.

shelly · 18 February 2008 at 1:39PM

I know its too late now but this kind of situation is exactly why you should protect your NCB as soon as you are able.

jennifernil · 18 February 2008 at 5:37PM

We are having somewhat similar trouble. We got a new car last year and started a new policy using the NCD from our other car that we had owned for 12 years. We have never had a fault claim for this car and we had protected bonus. We had 1 no fault claim in 1999. The new policy just stated "protected bonus". Since we took the policy we had to make a claim as I managed to scrape the door paintwork on a wall and dent the running board.

The renewal this year now states "protected bonus equivalent to 7 years".
So what did we actually have to start with, was it over 12, or did the no fault count so it was only 8? And if it is protected how come it changed anyway, and did that recent claim make it 7?

I am so confused!

aj76 · 19 February 2008 at 7:27PM

I have looked at a lot of insurance companies and found the average to actually be 7 years companies like direct line are using the fact they have lower limits to reach your maximum to effectively entrap customers as they don't disclose the full facts and this is what has really got my goat.

The fact they they didn't tell me or produce any literature for me to read meant they denied me my right to make an informed decision and, as far as I'm concerned mis-sold me the policy so I have initiated the formal complaint process so that I can take this all the way and will let you know how I get on.

On the brightside though it did make me get off my backside and shop around follwing the advice on this forum and I managed to beat not only my renewal by £297 but what I paid DL last year with full no claims by £100! Never going direct again!:beer:

jeanette251978 · 19 February 2008 at 9:59PM

Whether you have 5,6,7,8,9 or more years in ncd, once you get to 5 years you are already on the maximum discount that any insurer will allow which is normally 65 - 70%, my point in saying this is that even though in your eyes they have stepped back from 9 years to 3 years, you need to look at it in percentage discounts rather than years!

If they were to step you back to 7 years as you expected then you would have still got the full 65-70% discount which they are not going to do! seems fair enough really, so they will go to 5 years and step back 2 years from that so you loose some of your percentage discount.

The Great No Claims con!

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