Complicated Car Insurance query..

nirey666

Hi There

Whilst driving this week i was in stop start traffic and a pedestrain walked out from the side of the road, did not look and walked into the side of my car whilst it was moving. There is no damage to the front of the car, and although he fell down, I did not actually knock him down as he walked into my car. The police attended and agreed that it was practically impossible for me to be at fault. Even if i had of stopped etc he would have still hit the side of the car.

My car is damaged slightly mainly cosmetic and the third party was taken to hospital with an injured ankle. The police did not press any charges and i was free to go. I became slightly worried about a personal injury claim against me. I wasnt sure who paid for this if he tried it, i thought it was my car insurance. I called them and informed them what happend but made sure they were aware i did not want to make a claim to fix my car as i am quite young and have a new car i figure it wouldnt be worth my while and i'll pay it myself.

They agreed this wasnt a claim and put a note of it on my account incase the personal injury thing ever arose. My renewal is due next week and they had already sent me a figure previous to this. I said whilst on the phone that i also wanted to go ahead with my renewal

However! my renewal has gone up by £100 due to this incident, even though it wasnt my fault and no claim has been made.

Do i have any rights here? i have a mangager calling me back tomorrow night and i'd like to know exactly where i stand. They say that this is to cover incase he does try to claim me and that they will give me it back if he doesnt but cant tell me when.

Im gutted since i havent even done anything wrong!

Thanks for any help.

nirey666

Thanks for the response, not what I wanted to hear though. Really its quite disgusting from them. Statistics aside it was really an act of fate! If I'd been two seconds slower or quicker it would have been somebody else.

Quentin

Firsty should there be an injury claim, your insurer will deal with it.

As far as the £100 is concerned, whoever said it is to cover in case of a claim hasn't really explained this well.

Any incident which changes your driving history can lead to a premium change at renewal.

And it may be that they are reducing your NCD pending the outcome of the incident, and this is what they mean when they say they will refund you when they feel the matter can be closed. (ie They will reinstate your NCD to the level it should have been at renewal and the premium "overpaid" will be refunded).

nirey666

it confuses me that my NCD could be affected in anyway as I wont be claiming anyone.

It strikes me like this...

I pay them £450 a year and that is to insure me against anything which may happen as Im fully comp. I havent claimed in 2 years so i am rewarded with that price. So basically, i pay them £450 incase nothing happens.

If something does happen though they need £550. So my £450 is basically pulled from where?

mikey72

It doesn't normally affect your ncd, protected or not. They hike the policy behind it, so the final overall cost is more expensive.

Quentin

Your NCD can be affected should there be a successful claim from a third party.

If the £100 is a result of them now witholding your NCD, then once the matter is considered closed you should get it back when your NCD is reinstated. But if it is all down to a premium loading because of the incident then that won't be refunded.