Car insurance breakdown charges

jlg1

Hi everyone,

Just a problem that came up.

I was involved in a car accident last January 09 - I hit a traffic island that was just erected (and unfinished) but was opened to drivers - on a very badly lit road. Accident happened at 6:00pm in January so obviously it was very dark at the time.

This was in my wifes car. She had 2 breakdown policies one with Zurich (which apparently does not cover breakdown recovery?) and another with a company called MIS (here in N Ireland).

Basically, I phoned Zurich the following morning (not having the breakdown info for the other policy) they simply agreed to pick the car up (at this stage they did not tell me there would be a charge for recovery). I then spoke with my brokter and someone in that office assured me this would be taking care of and we woud not be charged. They are now denying anyone ever said this.

Because the renewal was on 25th Feb 09 and because Zurich was quoting an extortionite £1700 premium (it was £360 the previous year!!) we obviously did not claim for thecar and took a complete loss on the accident - the car was scrapped for £20 - we regret this now obviously.

Anyway - we were informed only yesterday that my wife's premium last year was so high (£660) because of this breakdown recovery charge from Zurich.

We received no correspondence from them, no bill, nothing and I am angry that they can do this (so long ago) and basically put a claim for recovery expenses in without even notifying us and taking my wife's only 1 year bonus off her - leaving her insurance double for the last year. They allegedly said they wrote out to us in August 09 I never rrceived any such correspondence.

Is this legal? Can they do that without even notifying you?

Someone from my brokers (Open and Direct) office assurred me at the time the recovery bill would be paid - they now deny they ever said this and the other breakdown company i.e, MIS are "passing me back" to Open and Direct (broker) saying its nothing to do with them and they would never have given permission for this either.

So - where do I go from here? I was consdiering contacting the insurance ombudsman and seeing if we have any rights in this case?

We have paid over £330 extra car insurance last year because the 1 year bonus was taken without out knowledge by Zurich and still her insurance is higher this year because of it!!

Has anyone any suggestions?

Sorry for the long post but its a difficult one to explain....

Thans a lot for any advice,

James

Anihilator

Your not making much sense.

So you crashed, asked Zurich to recover the car, they did , you chose to scrap the car and not claim for it, zurich took your no claims due to the recovery, you paid extra due to losing your no claims.

If this is right then its perfectly legal. You crashed and made a claim (the recovery). Your only hope and its too late now would have been to pay for the recovery and keep the NCD.

If you can prove your conversations it might be different but good luck with that as to me it sounds like you misunderstood and basically expected a service for nothing.

jlg1

Anihilator wrote: »

Your not making much sense.

So you crashed, asked Zurich to recover the car, they did , you chose to scrap the car and not claim for it, zurich took your no claims due to the recovery, you paid extra due to losing your no claims.

If this is right then its perfectly legal. You crashed and made a claim (the recovery). Your only hope and its too late now would have been to pay for the recovery and keep the NCD.

If you can prove your conversations it might be different but good luck with that as to me it sounds like you misunderstood and basically expected a service for nothing.

Hi,

No what happened was we were not given the correct deatils (i.e, policy/breakdown cover info) of who we should have contacted - I didnt want the car picked up for nothing? we were paying another policy with MIS AS WELL as Zurich. MIS then told us after the incident that had we not booked the car with Zurich and had phoned THEM they would have picked it up and we would not have been charged.

Our broker is arguing that they sent out the MIS policy Info (I never received it hence I only had the Zuricare policy) info.

What is bugging me is that Zurich knew we didnt have breakdown recovery with them (at the time of my first contact with them the following morning ) yet never once mentioned that - they went ahead and booked the car to be picked up anyway without telling me there would be a charge for it? Why? I only found out after the Recovery Company had got the car and were transporting it to a local garage. Their office informed me of the bill.

We werent given the chance to pay the recovery charges upfront and save the NCD which has had the effect that this recovery or "claim" has cost us last year and is still costing us money!

I wamt to know why Zurich did not clearly state at the time of my phone call or even afterwards! that there was a charge for recovering the vehicle? I mean a letter in August 7 months later - after it happened to say the claim was down as "fault"? (Which I still have not received - I only heard this from my broker yesterday!!! Its ridiculous.

To me this was a sneaky trick to make a quick buck - thats how it appears.

Surely you have some rights in this case? especially if it goes as a claim against your insurance?

Hopefully that makes a bit more sense?

James

Anihilator

I dont agree.
You asked Zurich for a service and they provided it. Not their fault you phoned the wrong people.

MIS also cant be expected to pay out because you didnt phone them.

jlg1

Hi,

Yes Zurich provided the service but did not give me enough information to make an "informed" choice before I accepted that they pick the care up?

So I have no choice in the matter? they pick it up then do whatever they want afterwards to charge me for it? Does that seem fair?

If it happened to you would you be happy about it?

We all make mistakes - in this my broker was at fault for not making it clear who we shoudl have contacted in the event of a breakdown - in this case one mention of "charge" and I would have stopped the process at the first phone call -and found my own way of getting the car recovered.

So Zurich are entitled to turn a blind eye to the fact they knew I wasnt covered for recovery?

There is supposed to be such a thing as "decent" customer service - obviously not in their case.

James

DirectDebacle

jlg1 wrote: »

Hi everyone,

Just a problem that came up.

I was involved in a car accident last January 09 - I hit a traffic island that was just erected (and unfinished) but was opened to drivers - on a very badly lit road. Accident happened at 6:00pm in January so obviously it was very dark at the time.

This was in my wifes car. She had 2 breakdown policies one with Zurich (which apparently does not cover breakdown recovery?) and another with a company called MIS (here in N Ireland).

Is it not the case that you made an insurance claim and as often happens lost NCD?

Hitting a traffic island and writing the vehicle off is not the run of the mill breakdown is it? The vehicle may well not have been driveable but it didn't really breakdown. More likely it broke up.

Anihilator

jlg1 wrote: »

Hi,

Yes Zurich provided the service but did not give me enough information to make an "informed" choice before I accepted that they pick the care up?

So I have no choice in the matter? they pick it up then do whatever they want afterwards to charge me for it? Does that seem fair?

If it happened to you would you be happy about it?

We all make mistakes - in this my broker was at fault for not making it clear who we shoudl have contacted in the event of a breakdown - in this case one mention of "charge" and I would have stopped the process at the first phone call -and found my own way of getting the car recovered.

So Zurich are entitled to turn a blind eye to the fact they knew I wasnt covered for recovery?

There is supposed to be such a thing as "decent" customer service - obviously not in their case.

James

You called them and went I am insured with you; I have had a crash ; police recover the car. This would have been covered and this is why they did so. What did you want them to say ?

you did have a choice. You called them to ask them to collect the car.

You were insured for recovery as it was an accident hence your NCD beiing withdrawn

The only person here who seems confused is you. No doubt they had a large payout for the traffic island too whcih would have prevented the NCD staying intact.

jlg1

Eh, sorry but you sound like you work for Zurich?

If there was payout on the traffic island (and as far as I was told there wasnt) I never heard a thing back about it and they assured me the case was closed as of end of April.

Do you not think if I had the right info in the first place I would called the RIGHT - number and by the way the policy booklet clearly states under the number I phoned vehicle recovery i.e, its an insurance policy - why is this even mentioned if your not covered for f*** all!

I have written to Zurich - see what happens.

Hintza

Well you need to sort out what is accident insurance and what is breakdown cover.

jlg1

Hintza wrote: »

Well you need to sort out what is accident insurance and what is breakdown cover.

Hi,

Well looking at the Zuricare Booklet:

Under the number I phoned - it clearly states:

Use this number for:

- reporting an accident
- vehicle recovery
- theft of vehicle
- advice if you are involved in an accident or making a claim.

If I had no other number at the time (which i didnt have) to phone, what else would I do? After all everyone knows that if you have an accident you report it to your insurer immediately? - this is what I did - Zurich were our insurer at the time.

We were told we had 2 breakdown policies - not that one was accident nsurance and one was breakdown cover.

We are now told that the Zuricare policy DOESNT cover Homestart, vehicle recovery, and god knows what else - eh, rewind a bit there - vehicle recovery - is that not what this was?

Why does the bookley state use this number for vehicle recovery - then when you do they wop a charge on for the priviledge?

What I also dont understand is this brokter uses MIS Claims to handle any claims that arise - so if we use MIS for recovery and sorting the claim - whats the point in having Zurich at all then? Why the 2 different parties anyway? Obviously Zurich ar ethe insurer - but surely MIS shoudl do all the work and let Zurich know the outcome?

From my conversations with Open and Direct it appears they do not want to handle claims so MIS does this for them.

Judging by the other posts here - its a case of our fault for not claiming the value of the car back at least, but surely then to do that we would have had to run with Zurich for another year at nearly 4 TIMES (yes £1400 or more from £330 the previous year) our quote for the previous year? Who in their right mind would do that?

Our broker stated "we better get you away from Zurich as quickly as possible" at renewal date 1 month after the accident renewal was 25/2/09 - that left us with no option but to scrap the car - as they had plans to get us cheaper with someone else..

Confusion? Thats an understatement.....

James

KaJeFr

Hi James,

Further to your comments:

I work in The Zurich Press Office. Please send me an email to [EMAIL="service@zurichconnect.co.uk"]service@zurichconnect.co.uk[/EMAIL] attention Karen Froude and I will look into this matter for you.

Best Regards