Raised premium following No Fault Claim - Car Insurance

SiuLoong

Sorry if this seems like a rant as I am pretty annoyed right now!!

My car insurance is due for renewal at the end of the month and I had the renewal notice through a couple of weeks ago, which was fine.. I called Halifax today to accept and pay and needed to add that my partner who I have on as a named driver was involved in an accident last month. She was not at fault, the claim is resolved and all costs were claimed through the third party's insurer, she has not lost her no claims bonus and paid no excess. The CSA 'recalculated' the renewal and it came out £25 more expensive. Its not much but how on earth can it change when there was no fault at all in the claim?! I'm sure its widespread policy but out of principle I've gone with a different company.. came out a little cheaper when I did all my comparisons but for a small amount I wasn't going to bother switching, now I'm glad to.

dunstonh

how on earth can it change when there was no fault at all in the claim?!

Very easily and quite justifiably so.

I'm sure its widespread policy but out of principle I've gone with a different company..

It is.

Statistically, someone suffering a no claims fault is more likely to have another claim in quite quickly after. Insurance is priced on risk based on stats.

SiuLoong

dunstonh wrote: »

Very easily and quite justifiably so.

Statistically, someone suffering a no claims fault is more likely to have another claim in quite quickly after. Insurance is priced on risk based on stats.

Easily I can understand, justifiably I have more difficulty in believing. Just because a moron wasn't paying attention and ran into the back of her at a roundabout now results in us being penalised... she was stationary at the time of the accident. Details like that aren't taken into account though, and 'statistics', (which I come into contact regularly and am well aware can be used to prove anything, particularly in a situation with so many variables as this) are used to justify more risk and therefore cost. These have to be declared for 3 years and therefore this accident which has already cost plenty of stress and time will also continue to cost us.

The fact that she has been encouraged to put in a compensation claim can only increase the overall costs to the insurers and make the whole situation worse. So far on principle she hasn't as thankfully she is ok but with no win no fee it is tempting to just try anyway.

Quentin

SiuLoong wrote: »

The fact that she has been encouraged to put in a compensation claim can only increase the overall costs to the insurers and make the whole situation worse. So far on principle she hasn't as thankfully she is ok but with no win no fee it is tempting to just try anyway.

Obviously a compensation claim will increase the cost to insurers.

But that is no reason not to make one! If she has experienced a loss then she is entitled to be compensated for it.

Her "principle" seems strange - she is unhappy that due to the actions of a third party her premium is affected, yet doesn't want to claim compensation off the third party which will not affect her premium at all!

(A no win no fee lawyer won't have offered to take the case unless they are pretty certain to win)

Astaroth

Whilst the insurer can recover the cost of the repairs etc from the other party's insurers they are unable to claim back the cost of administering the claim (staff, phone calls, letters, filing, offices etc) and therefore an insurer does make a loss even if they make a "full recovery" from the at fault party.

As Dunstonh has said, the more claims you have the greater the probability there is of you having yet more.... could be you live in a perfectly reasonable area but your neighbour has a nasty habit of drink driving and clips your car every few months