No claims bonus after a theft

poppy10_2

Hi, My car got broken into a few months back and the radio was stolen. I got a crime reference number and my insurance company paid for the repair to the window and replace the radio.

Now I have got my renewal through and I have lost my 4 years no claims bonus. Is this normal? I thought because the theft was through no fault of my own that it wouldn't count. I'd have just paid for the repair myself if I'd known

dacouch

The easiest way to explain it is that it is a No Claims Bonus, it is not a No Blames Bonus. Basically if your Insurer cannot recover their outlay from another party you will normally lose 2 years of your no claims bonus and not earn any no claims bonus for that year. So if you had actually earned 4 years no claims bonus as of your previous renewal you would step back to 2 years.

Your Insurer will probably allow you to reimberse them for the claim and will then give you the no claims bonus back. However you would still need to declare the claim / incident to any future Insurers.

When you get to maximum no claims bonus consider taking Protected No Claims Bonus as this allows you a couple of claims normally in a three year period without losing your no claims bonus irrespective of blame. Note they can still apply loads for claims though

poppy10_2

Meh. Are all insurance companies the same?

dacouch

The vast vast majority work like this