Car Insurance - Disagreement Over No Claims period

Kay_Peel

The last claim that I made was in October 2001 when my car was stolen and then set on fire. I have not made a claim since then.

I arranged car insurance online, giving the details of the numbers of years without a claim. I was asked to provide proof of my no claims history and was happy to do so. I sent off my renewal notice with all the details. I saw that Saga Motor Insurance gave me 60% no claims discount, but this was gobbledegook - I did not know how many years that meant.

Apparently 60% means that it's just four years. My new insurer is asking for more money. They will not accept any other form of proof - the renewal notice was all the evidence they needed that I was telling porkies!

Can anyone suggest how I can re-instate my No Claims History? Or must I just put it down to experience and cough up more cash?

Thanks for your time.

withabix

Ask Saga for a Proof Of No Claims certificate or letter. Often what they put in the Renewal Notice is only applicable to your insurance with them.

It may be that Saga only discount upto 60%.

It can be quite bizarre - I've changed insurance companies regularly (annually usually!!) to get best discount. I've had 3 claims in the last six years, but still have 7 years no claims bonus accepted, even when I enter the dates of all claims, because I happened to have it protected at the time.

mattymoo

withabix is right. Saga maximum NCD is 4 yrs = 60%.
http://www.saga.co.uk/insurance/car-insurance/faqs.asp#

What is No Claims Discount (NCD)?

No Claims Discount (NCD) is an earned discount that is applied for every year that a driver has insurance on a car without making a claim. Saga’s maximum No Claims Discount is four years, which equates to a 60% discount.

Kay_Peel

Thank you very much. I appreciate the swift replies. I'm going to write back to Renault Insurance pointing out that it's the maximum discount - it may be worth a try.

The 'proof of No Claims' is not very accurate, it seems to me. It's not really fair to the buyer/consumer of insurance products either ..... but without people on MoneySE I'd be well and truly goosed against these huge conglomerates. Thanks again.

raskazz

What you need to do is contact Saga for a bespoke NCD proof letter which shows the total number of years NCD accumulated by yourself when the policy lapsed.

There's no point simply telling Renault that 60% is Saga's maximum discount - Renault will know that this is true and the will know that they give this maximum at only 4 years. Hence if Renault are basing your premium on 5,6,7 years etc they need to see proof of the number of years earned.

Kay_Peel

Yes, thanks Raskazz - I'm going to do that too. I just need to reply with a 'holding letter' tonight, to reach them within the next 7 days or ......... well, I don't know what the insurer will do. Cancel my insurance?

mattymoo

Kay - any chance you've kept previous renewal notices?
Say you had the 2006 notice saying 60% and then all subsequent notices showed the same, an underwriter might be prepared to accept that as proof.

If Renault scale is 5 yrs max then you only need the 2008 one plus 2009 to show 5 yrs NCD in effect.

no.10

The insurance industry's policy of only relying on renewal letters to confirm ncb is hardly fool proof.

A few years ago I took out car insurance with Barclays. I asked them where I should send the renewal letter from my previous insurer that quoted the number of years of no claims bonus I had. They said they only wanted to see it in the event of a claim.
Come the end of that claim free year I received the renewal letter that stated '5+ years ncb'
Now they only ever had my word for it that I had this much ncb at the start. I'm not sure if they have changed this policy now but it is wide open to abuse.

MarkyMarkD

How is that "wide open to abuse"? If, when you produced it in the event of a claim, you had lied about your NCD, then they wouldn't settle your claim. Would anyone be that stupid and lie?

no.10

You claim you have 5+ years, you don't have to prove it, if you don't make a claim, hey presto a renewal letter turns up with 'proof' of maximum ncb on it a year later.

For a youngster who might not otherwise bother to insure their car at all it won't seem so daft.

Would anyone lie about insurance if it saved/gained them money??? Hmm - Let me think about that one.......

Kay_Peel

Update: Saga confirmed that my 60% NCD was based on 8 years, not 4 years. My new insurance company were happy with this and telephoned me to say that they had updated their records with the new information and that no further money was required. Phew!

Thank you for the sound and timely advice. It helped me to deal with the matter in the right way. I really appreciate it.