Car Insurance Complaint

flophop

Hi there,

I renewed my car insurance with Bell in July this year with no issues. The next day I had a call to say I had not advised them of a crash I'd had last year, but that this wouldn't affect the premium.

I was aware of the crash (my wife reversed off our drive into a parked van - there was no damage to our car and a small dent in the parked transit van), and duly reported it to the insurer as you should by law, even though there were no witnesses. Bell then sent me papers out to make a claim, but as I didn't want to claim I didn't return the papers or proceed any further. And as I heard nothing more, I incorrectly assumed there was no claim made by the other party. However, it transpired that Bell dealt directly with the third party and paid out a claim for nearly £500..... all without my knowledge or consent.

I have made a complaint to Bell as:
a) I wasn't advised of the claim at any point, or asked for any information relating to the crash, etc. Not sure whether Bell are obliged to inform me of claims being made under my insurance and what my rights are relating to this? and
b) the road was (and still is) a private road as my house is on a new development and the council have still not adopted the road. So surely there shouldn't have been a claim in the first place as the accident occured on private land? Or is this irrelevant?

In my complaint, I asked for the claim to be written off due to the reasons above. I have since had a response from Bell to say "sorry you're unhappy, etc, etc, but we've paid the claim so tough" and "you've admitted you were involved in the accident, so we can't simply write off the claim".

I will be phoning the FOS for advice on Monday as 8 weeks have elapsed since I made the initial complaint. But, I just wondered if anyone was able to advise if am even able to ask for the claim to be written off based on the above facts, and if I do have grounds for complaint?

Apologies for the lengthy post, but any advice would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks for reading.

vaio

Your OH reversed into a parked van, your insurance paid for the damage.

Struggling to see the problem or why you think they would write the claim off.

flophop

Because it was (and still is) a private road? I thought car insurance only covers you for accidents on public roads?

As you quite rightly state, my OH had an accident. However, I'm trying to ascertain that if my above assumption is correct then there shouldn't have been a claim in the first place?

I'm in half a mind whether to persue the issue further as the incident did actually take place and hence why I wanted a second opinion. But I still feel agrieved that I wasn't advised or consulted about the claim at any point, and I could have settled directly with the third party instead of the insurer and avoided any increase on my car insurance next year.

Thanks for your honesty though and the quick response.

mikey72

No, your insurance covers you anywhere.
It was a valid claim, and you reported it yourself, so it seems fair they paid out.

vaio

flophop wrote: »

......and I could have settled directly with the third party instead of the insurer and avoided any increase on my car insurance next year........

I'd guess you still can, just repay the insurance company what ever they paid out and the claim will come off (and any lost NCB will return) but the incident will still be there which might still result in a premium increase

flophop

Thanks Vaio, I didn't realise I could do that. I will speak to Bell to see if 1) I can pay back the claim and 2) how it affects my premium in future.

Sparx

vaio wrote: »

I'd guess you still can, just repay the insurance company what ever they paid out and the claim will come off (and any lost NCB will return) but the incident will still be there which might still result in a premium increase

flophop wrote: »

Thanks Vaio, I didn't realise I could do that. I will speak to Bell to see if 1) I can pay back the claim and 2) how it affects my premium in future.

You can't do that.. :rotfl:

dacouch

Sparx wrote: »

You can't do that.. :rotfl:

you can......

Sparx

dacouch wrote: »

you can......

Keep me updated.

Quote

You can definitely buy back NCD - but it's not normally very cost effective when there is a third party involved. The insurers' outlay might run to thousands including parts, labour, courtesy car costs, injuries, etc etc etc

OP - when you take out an insurance policy you're saying to your insurer, "If I have a claim can you sort it out for me please?" If every insured party was kept informed of every single stage in the claims process then the cost of handling claims would massively increase. And we all know who would be paying for that. Why on earth do you imagine that you have to be kept informed? You've wasted enough time on this. Don't waste any more.

adamc260

Sparx wrote: »

You can't do that.. :rotfl:

You 100% can - I used to work in Bell Claims and used to give out the address where to make cheques payable ....