Not at fault car premium increase?

PBiddy

Hi, Need some advice from the members. Our parked car has been hit in the street. We luckily got the rego number of the offender and proceeding to file a police report. The insurers confirm the other car is insured and we will not lose our NCB if they can succesfully reclaim it. The damage is minor say £400-500. Has anyone else had an experience similar where not your fault, you retain the NCB but they ramp up your premium at renewal as there technically was a claim? Also, if I was to look for a new company at renewal and I successfully retained the NCB, do I state in the applications, "I have not had a claim in the past X years" because I could provide a NCB certificate. Any help in second guessing the insurers and potential liability would be appreciated.

Quentin

You can find out what happens to your premium by doing some virtual quotes on line - with and without this no fault claim.

You will have to declare the claim (as no fault) when making any applications to other insurers. (They will find out if you don't - though may not bother till you need to make a claim, when they would have grounds to refuse it)

monkey82

You still have to register it as a claim - there is an option on the insurance company's website which says something along the lines of "non-fault claim - hit by third party". a few years ago, I unfortunately experienced 2 accidents, 12 months apart where both times I was hit by another car. Both times totally not my fault and completely unavoidable on my part and I retained my NCB both times. Yet I still had to declare both accidents when getting quotes for new insurance - and it does affect what you pay. Just because you can provide a NCB certificate doesn't mean there hasn't been a claim.

HTH

PBiddy

Looks like between you and Quentin you have covered it. Thanks to you both.
I recently renewed (Aug)the car at £497 and just went back in on Quentins scenario i.e same terms and conditions except I included the accident but retaining 10yrs NCB and the result was £522. Premiums are such a moving taget in this market it is hard to see whether there is much factored in. I would have expected more so perhaps just another readjustment to market conditions. I am almost thinking just pay for the cost myself and let the police pursue the scum that hit me and try it through the courts to reclaim. A hassle but might be in my interest in the long run to keep the insurers sweet just in case I have a worthy claim in future. Cheers

Quentin

To see accurately what difference (if any) this claim makes you need to do a quote without the claim, then amend it and add in the claim.

If there is a third party insurer involved, you could pursue them directly.

But whatever you do, you will still have to declare the incident to any new insurer (whether or not you make a claim against anyone). Your insurer will have put it on your record and the CUE database, so don't be tempted to "forget" to mention it!

McKneff

If there is a third party insurer involved, you could pursue them directly.

Quentin advice here is the best, or let a claims management comapny work for you. (Insurers hate them cos they cost them money)

Of course, as has been said, yo have to inform your ins. company for 'information only'

Happened to me in May time, and didnt cost me a penny.

Heliflyguy

McKneff wrote: »

or let a claims management comapny work for you. (Insurers hate them cos they cost them money)

And help push the premiums up as well, apparently.

Just an observation, if as I have read that a no fault accident may increase your premium come renewal then could you not claim from the third party the difference this makes to the price?

McKneff

Heliflyguy wrote: »

And help push the premiums up as well, apparently.

Just an observation, if as I have read that a no fault accident may increase your premium come renewal then could you not claim from the third party the difference this makes to the price?

The thrid party with me was NFU and if a farmer tries to get a 12 foot wide tractor through an 11ft wide gap he derserves his premiums rising.

vaio

Heliflyguy wrote: »

.......Just an observation, if as I have read that a no fault accident may increase your premium come renewal then could you not claim from the third party the difference this makes to the price?

I'd say yes (because I've done it) but others disagree and say you just have to suck it up but i couldn't see any difference between an increased premium due to a non-fault and say loss of wages or hire car cost. All are directly caused by the accident and so the TP should pay. You do have to mitigate and document your losses.

Thanks to the search facility......

vaio wrote: »

You can, I have done it.

8 or 9 years ago a 4x4 driver reversed into me whilst I was parked and cracked the back light on my car. I stuck a bit of gaffer tape over it and wasn’t going to bother claiming but she reported it to her insurance.

When I renewed my company (Elephant) loaded by £100ish due to the incident although they were still the cheapest option (don’t you just love online quote systems!!).

The 4x4 driver’s insurance (Direct Line) argued they shouldn’t pay because they wouldn’t load for a non fault incident and suggested I move to them but then quoted a figure that as way more than elephant even with the loading. The head elephant (Tanya?) kindly sent me a letter confirming the loading, process was repeated the following year and eventually I got £250 ish from direct line to cover 2 (maybe 3) years loadings.

It might be that because of the small sum involved they didn’t bother fighting but it seems to me that the loadings only occurred because of the accident and therefore should be recoverable from the third party along with all other consequential losses.

Similarly I’d argue that if someone loses 6 months premium because of a total loss payout which was someone else’s fault they should be able to recover cost that from the TP.

All to do with restoring you to the position you were in before the accident

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This policy is due in nine months time.