Total Loss Still Paying Insurance

darich

vaio wrote: »

In danger of drifting off topic and I know it is generally the case but I’m not even sure about the logic/fairness (rather than contractual) of stopping cancellation rights/ending policies if there has been a claim.

Risk is a minute by minute, day by day thing and the pricing reflects that.

If a company decides that my risk is say £1 a day then it doesn’t seem fair that if I make a claim after 10 days the insurance company can end my policy and effectively get £365 for ten days cover when the agreement was they would provide a years cover for that sum.

It’s an agreement and just as I can’t adjust the price after the event if I don’t claim they shouldn’t be able to adjust it if I did.

it's perfectly fair.
if your car is stolen on day 10 and the insurance pay out, you could go buy another.....day 20, another theft and another pay out....day 50, a crash and another payout......how many payouts would you expect for one premium?

You pay an annual premium to cover your vehicle....if the vehicle is written off/stolen then the insurer pays out. The contract has been "completed". If by some chance you've been paying the premium monthly (in effect borrowed the money from the insurer) then they're fully entitled to the entire premium - it's what was agreed at the start of the policy.

mikey72

darich wrote: »

it's perfectly fair.
if your car is stolen on day 10 and the insurance pay out, you could go buy another.....day 20, another theft and another pay out....day 50, a crash and another payout......how many payouts would you expect for one premium?

You pay an annual premium to cover your vehicle....if the vehicle is written off/stolen then the insurer pays out. The contract has been "completed". If by some chance you've been paying the premium monthly (in effect borrowed the money from the insurer) then they're fully entitled to the entire premium - it's what was agreed at the start of the policy.

What happened to the
"the premium isn't determined by the cost of the car, it's the amount of damage you'll do to the third parties"
arguement to justify stupidly high premiums of thousands of pounds for a £500 car for young drivers then?

If the car is written off, they can't do any damage at all, so there is no further risk.
From your reasoning, it would be fair to knock off the couple of hundred pounds for the risk to their own car, but pay back the thousands they have justified by the third party risk.
Another one for the "treat the customer fairly" rule perhaps?

vaio

darich wrote: »

it's perfectly fair.
if your car is stolen on day 10 and the insurance pay out, you could go buy another.....day 20, another theft and another pay out....day 50, a crash and another payout......how many payouts would you expect for one premium?.......

Don’t know, how many non total loss claims could I have? Basically I expect a year of cover or, if the policy ends early, to only pay for the time I have been covered at the originally agreed rate.

darich wrote: »

......You pay an annual premium to cover your vehicle....if the vehicle is written off/stolen then the insurer pays out. The contract has been "completed". If by some chance you've been paying the premium monthly (in effect borrowed the money from the insurer) then they're fully entitled to the entire premium - it's what was agreed at the start of the policy.

Yep, I totally agree that they are entitled to the whole years premium but the other side of that is that I’m entitled to a whole years cover at the agreed rate.

NilSatisOptimum

The claim came off our insurance in the first instance, this was not going to be the case, however it turned out the other driver was also with the same insurance company and would not accept liability. However the driver is serving a 20 month driving ban now for the incident.

I only queried this charge due to a similar incident some years back and the insurance cancelled the policy after the claim had gone through. So was surprised with this penalty charge. Indeed there will be further claim by ourselves due to injuries and additional costs and hospital stays for the four of us, it was not the best end to a family day out.

As for new insurance we went with another company due to fact they hassled every day for 3wks wanting information of this driver, however the police had informed us he was insured by them and they had supplied him with a solicitor.

bouncydog1

As the claim has come off your insurance you will have to pay the balance to your insurers. You may also find that if you did not have protected NCB your new insurers will want more money - unless they have based their terms on protected bonus (if that is the case).

Did you have legal expenses cover on your policy or a separate policy as I think that the only recourse now open to you is to probably sue the other driver for your out of pocket expenses. If you are successful, you might then be able to persuade your insurers that the claim should go against the third party's policy.

Many years ago I was in a similar situation - we all knew who the third party was - he ran off after the accident because he was drunk and I had witnesses who told the police who it was. He was eventually prosecuted for dangerous driving and had his licence suspended.

However he refused to notify the claim to his insurers so I was left with a write off (insured third party). The costs of trying to recover my out of pocket expenses (car value etc) were high in comparison to my loss.

dunstonh

If you borrow money to buy a car and write the car off, should the person no longer have to pay the loan? That is effectively what is the case with the car insurance.

Car insurance is to cover you for a claimable event during a 12 month period. You pay up front for that cover. If a claimable event happens then the policy has done its job and pays out. However, if you dont pay the premium up front and borrow money and pay monthly then you still have to pay the money you have borrowed until its fully repaid.

Car insurance is not pay as you go. That said, as has already been mentioned, most insurers will allow you to transfer the policy to your new vehicle and carry on from there.

NilSatisOptimum

He has notified them, as mentioned they supplied him with legal advice as stated by the police. They don’t want the full premium just the cancellation fee. It was the way they behaved after finding out he was insured by them, I would begrudge sending them my bodily waste. Anyways pay them £39.40 and get it back with solicitor fee on top. NCB was protected yes we are in the process third party process; the settlement letter states this avenue.

mikey72

NilSatisOptimum wrote: »

He has notified them, as mentioned they supplied him with legal advice as stated by the police. They don’t want the full premium just the cancellation fee. It was the way they behaved after finding out he was insured by them, I would begrudge sending them my bodily waste. Anyways pay them £39.40 and get it back with solicitor fee on top. NCB was protected yes we are in the process third party process; the settlement letter states this avenue.

So you successfully claimed back the loss of your insurance, and the cost to you, from the third party?
Have you claimed for any increase in premium as a result of the no fault accident?
We were discussing this on here recently.

NilSatisOptimum

We are going through the process as I write, faster than we anticipated. Indeed our solicitors advised us to claim for all costs and increases.

mikey72

NilSatisOptimum wrote: »

We are going through the process as I write, faster than we anticipated. Indeed our solicitors advised us to claim for all costs and increases.

Good news.
It would be excellent to confirm that you have the ability to claim back penalties imposed by your own insurer for being hit by a third party.
Keep us all posted.