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MSE News: MPs demand action to put the brakes on car insurance price surge
Former_MSE_Helen
Posts: 2,382 Forumite
in Motoring
This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:
"The increase in claims for whiplash injury is the main cause of the rise in motor insurance premiums, a report states ..."
"The increase in claims for whiplash injury is the main cause of the rise in motor insurance premiums, a report states ..."
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Comments
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From the Insurers response. "We are pleased the committee has recognised that spiralling personal injury claims are the real reason car insurance premiums have been increasing and made recommendations for meaningful reform." A bit rich considering it's them who, quite often, sell on the details of claimants to no win no fee ambulance chasers!0
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oldagetraveller wrote: »From the Insurers response. "We are pleased the committee has recognised that spiralling personal injury claims are the real reason car insurance premiums have been increasing and made recommendations for meaningful reform." A bit rich considering it's them who, quite often, sell on the details of claimants to no win no fee ambulance chasers!
It's all about good PR. Though insurance is pretty ridiculous in certain areas of the country (high scam) and because of your age. For me, it's cheaper to get taxis everywhere than it is to pay for insurance0 -
When my parked car was hit by a lorry I found the whole experience of getting the repair done to be very suspect.
I got an initial quote of £400 from a local repaired to fill and respray the patched quarter panel. The driver of the other vehicle then decided to go through the insurance company. The register repairers quoted more than 4 times as much to replace the panel. Now I realise that the quality of the repair was much higher but the car was 7 years old at the time and the quoted cost was just short of write off value of the vehicle, conveniently! The damage was purely cosmetic it still worked fine.
I had no choice to pick one of these repairers (all similar prices) and booked it in. I was told it would take 2 weeks to complete. I was then picked up by the rental car company and given a rental car. The repair actually took 5 weeks and I only got that because I phoned up and complained repeatedly. As it turned out the car was with the repairer for nearly 3 weeks before they even started. It seems they had a backlog but they knew that before they took the car in. I was happy to keep driving my own car until they where ready to start. It would have actually been preferable as i did not have to worry about damage to the rental car which I might have become responsible for. I was beyond caring about those minor car park dinges and scrapes on my own car but I am well aware of how rental car companies use this as revenue generation. So an extra 3 weeks of car rental charges where caused that where not warranted. There was always a suspiscion that there was some collusion between the repairer and the rental company to cause this extra cost.
Insurance companies are throwing away the money recklessly on incompetent and corrupt suppliers and contractors. But then they just pass the cost onto us. I am ultimately sorry I just not just go to the local company and use the bus for a couple of days. It would have been less hassle and at least I would have helped an honest local supplier.
If the insurance companies offered a service that gave you a fair value for the damage and suitable compensation then alot less people would take the injury route. They do that as it is seen as the only way to get what you deserve for the incident.
My insurance company where aware of my initial quote but then it was non fault so meant nothing to them. As an industry they need to start to work together and not just sell each other down the river.0 -
Why? The insurance company cannot dictate where you have the vehicle repaired (there's case law on it).Denis220471 wrote: »I had no choice to pick one of these repairers (all similar prices) and booked it in ... I am ultimately sorry I just not just go to the local company and use the bus for a couple of days. It would have been less hassle and at least I would have helped an honest local supplier.0 -
But they can make life harder for you. no curtesy car, higher excess, no guarantee for the work etc.crittertog wrote: »Why? The insurance company cannot dictate where you have the vehicle repaired (there's case law on it).0 -
I know NOW that I had the option of choosing a different repairer but I didn't at the time and that was the way it was presented. I thought that because I was dealing with a company recognised by my insurance company that It would be efficient and it appeared to be the easiest option. You would have thought they would have looked out for the insurance companies interests as well. But then it was not my Insurance companies interest to look out for.
With hindsight I wished I had paid more attention to those nagging doubts I had at the start when I got the quotes. Another one of those learning experiences. I am older and more cynical now!:(
I am just trying to highlight that it is not just the legal aspects that need investigated. The courtesy car and register repairers are adding a fair bit to. I know it is not in the same level as the legal payouts and fees but could it is still significant or least it was in my case.0 -
I already mentioned this in another thread, but I suspect one reason for personal injury claims, genuine or otherwise, is that you tend to get shafted in pretty much every other area of the claim. Let me give you an example.
My partner's car was rear ended by a 4x4 with bullbars as she stopped at the give way line of a roundabout due to there being a car using it. She suffered back injuries that are still with her all these years later, but of interest for this purpose is the car, which was deemed to be a write off.
The car was a heavily modified 200SX, it had a rebuilt and upgraded engine and a rebuilt and upgraded automatic gearbox, the chassis had been professionally restored and resprayed, it also had some much simpler modifications, wheels, suspension, ECU, turbo, intercooler etc.
The insurance decided it was worth £850, after arguing we got £1850 for it.
You couldn't get a 200SX close to the condition of hers for anything near £1850, most of them are rustbuckets and/or smashed up by drifters. In the end we ended up going with one with a good clean shell, but an engine that was close to death, and had a manual gearbox, for £2100.
It cost us £350 to buy back the remains of the old car for parts, and £600 at mates rates to have everything transferred over.
Total cost, £3050, Total payout £1850. A loss of £1200
So even with a £1000 personal injury claim, we're still down £200 and having to pay increased premiums for the next 5 years.
Is it really any wonder people are so keen to claim?0 -
People claim due to greed on a lot of occasions seeing free money, they dont think about the insurance.Don't put your trust into an Experian score - it is not a number any bank will ever use & it is generally a waste of money to purchase it. They are also selling you insurance you dont need.0
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A couple of years ago when we were run into while waiting at a roundabout I then found my insurance almost begging me to put in a personal injury claim. Although the rear end of the car was badly damaged neither my wife or myself suffered any physical injury although we were shocked at the time. We were lucky in that I had just started moving when we were hit (by a driver on prescription drugs!) and the car, which was shunted a few yards, took the force.
The insurance company were not happy at the lack of a personal injury claim and at the time I was surprised as I thought that they would not want the claim to be bigger than it needed to be even although the other driver's insurance eventually paid. I now see that they were unhappy about not getting their cut from a personal injury claim. No wonder car insurance keeps getting more expensive.0 -
A couple of years ago when we were run into while waiting at a roundabout I then found my insurance almost begging me to put in a personal injury claim. Although the rear end of the car was badly damaged neither my wife or myself suffered any physical injury although we were shocked at the time. We were lucky in that I had just started moving when we were hit (by a driver on prescription drugs!) and the car, which was shunted a few yards, took the force.
The insurance company were not happy at the lack of a personal injury claim and at the time I was surprised as I thought that they would not want the claim to be bigger than it needed to be even although the other driver's insurance eventually paid. I now see that they were unhappy about not getting their cut from a personal injury claim. No wonder car insurance keeps getting more expensive.
i take prescription drugs, does that make me more likely to cause a crash then? whole point about that coment is pointless and empty, dramatic affect? he hit me whilst high on hemeroid supposatorys!! prescribed by his doctor he's not fit to drive!!!.
if repairers quoted as the damage is presented to them, i think allot less cars would be written off, but money is the game these days, curtesy hire, new parts, inflated labour. ive seen repairers chuck away a perfectly good bumper why? screw clips broke easily repaired but thrown away. grills with slight scuffs binned, doors with perfectly good window mechanisms and handles binned due to the door having a slight dent all because its going through an insurer instead of private. i think insurers should regulate their repairers more stringently.
another would be for the government to put stringent laws inplace for selling a customers details to a outside or even inside source, preventing the sale of accident victims details to outside company and deemed a breach of DPA wich follows heavy penalty, company to company pass over of details should only be done so with the customers verbal or written permission, and not hidden in terms and conditions and small print but a seprate agreement, or OPT IN scheme online and do rid of the we may pass on details you provide to companies within the group and outside sources if deemed necessary for data ETC ETC ETC BS that we all see these days only permissable data can collescted by credit refrence companies.0
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