If the accident is not my fault will it affect my renewal?

Flyboy152

Barbarella2 wrote: »

My son's car insurance is up for renewal and his insurers Bell are quoting such a high premium (£1490).

Has he had issues with claims in the past? Bell specialise in drivers who do not have a no claims discount.

lisyloo

Other companies loaded the premium, some ignored the claim.

The OP need to use comparison sites or a broker, but my suspicion is that those that don't load (perhaps you might call them "quality" companies) will be more expensive, and the cheap and cheerful one will load, but I could be wrong. Only one way to tell.

McKneff

Like I say, the COOP dont load and they are pretty competitive.
My 09 Corsa is only £220 for the year, full NCD, legal cover

lisyloo

the COOP dont load and they are pretty competitive.

Anecdotally it's been the case for many decades, that a company that is competitive for one person, maybe uncompetitive for another e.g. they might be competitive for low risk drivers but not competitive for high risk drivers.
It's depends on what business they want and what data they are using for claims.
That's why it's so hard to recommend competitive companies.

I always find it easier to use a comparison site and then narrow it down from there (not necessarily based on price) and then research more fully the few I'm interested in.

mikey72

I find they change seasonally for me. I just can't work out the seasons.
I use gocompare, or moneysupermarket whatever.
Then find the best one, that I recognise, and get a direct quote through their website, and either buy online, or sort out anything over the phone and then buy it. If it's not right, I'll move to the second choice.

adamc260

vaio wrote: »

On the bright side, as the extra cost is solely as a result of an accident that was someone else's fault then it can be reclaimed from the third party just like all other consequential costs

In all the time I dealt with Third Party claims (Both fault and non fault) I have never experienced this ...

adamc260

Flyboy152 wrote: »

Not all insurers. In fact oddly enough, Admiral don't. I had a claim last year and I had a similar discussion with them regarding this. I tried Diamond (another EUI company and they loaded the premium, as did Elephant (another EUI), but Gladiator (yes....you guessed it...) didn't. Other companies loaded the premium, some ignored the claim.

Gladiator are only a broker and do not underwrite any policies... Probably why they didnt load it yet all the EUI companies did as they underwrite their own.

Barbarella2

Thanks to everyone for their really useful replies. My son Mike has certainly taken on board the fact that he should have mentioned the claim - an innocent mistake but he did not realise the implications. He has since had a few more 'correct' quotations and my husband said he has now got down to £998 - I am not sure whether it was CIS, but my brother also mentioned they were a Which 'best buy' and his son (22 and with two years' driving) had got the best deal from them. Mike has had 7 years' accident free driving and is 24 by the way. He did put the claim through Bell, but would think twice next time. We had a similar experience, when the other driver's insurance company suggested we dealt direct with them - we're glad we did.

adamc260

Even if you deal direct with the third parties insurer or third party, you HAVE to inform your Insurance Company of an accident your involved in. It's part of the T&C that you agree to when you take out the policy.

http://www.bell.co.uk/policyDocs/BL12%200610%20Policy%20Booklet.pdf

Page 5 - "ALL ACCIDENTS MUST BE REPORTED WITHIN 48 HOURS, EVEN IF YOU ARE NOT CLAIMING YOURSELF"

Barbarella2

They certainly make sure they cover all the bases, don't they?