ammendment to premium , for not claiming

geoff1057

my son skidded off an icy country rd coming from work,and damaged his front wing .No other vehicle or person was involved He had a couple of quotes ranging £70-£160,He rang his insurance company to ask if he claimed, how much would his insurance premium would go up by next time. He was told £80-£100. He decided not to go through his insurance and paid £85 to get the dented wing sorted himself. Today hes received an ammendment to his premium, they are asking for another £90, for not reporting the INCIDENT, not accident , even though he didnt claim and no other vehicle was involved. And if he cancelled there would be a £45 admin fee. ....can the insurance company do this ????? surely hundreds of things could be classed as an incident

mikey72

Yes.
Apparently you're even supposed to shop yourself for everything including shopping trolley dents.
It'll be stone chips next.

You'll be told he's now a greater risk as he crashed, drives on ice, goes out in winter, he's statistically more likely to have another serious crash....

You'll have to declare it on all insurance quotes as well now.

Personally, least said, soonest mended is a good saying nowadays.

dacouch

When was his renewal date ?

Majic

Sorry-but if he rang the insurance company up about if he claimed then wasn't this reporting the incident?

adamc260

Your son has had an accident/incident however you want to word it and all accidents/incidents/claims/losses should be reported to your insurer. They will then re-rate this as he's a higher risk as he has had something happen. Tis unfair but.. in the eyes of the insurer he's more likely to have another crash etc.

vusys1

they should be increasing the premium until renewal.

If the vehicle suffered damage what did he hit? wall,fence,hedge,signpost etc, a third party may claim??

Quentin

vusys1 wrote: »

they should be increasing the premium until renewal.

Ignore this.

They cannot increase the premium mid term as a result of the incident occurring during the policy year.

But if this is a new policy since the incident, and the incident wasn't disclosed to the new insurer, then they are entitled to increase the whole year's premium (ie from date the policy started).

vusys1

Quentin wrote: »

Ignore this.

They cannot increase the premium mid term as a result of the incident occurring during the policy year.

But if this is a new policy since the incident, and the incident wasn't disclosed to the new insurer, then they are entitled to increase the whole year's premium (ie from date the policy started).

yep its my typo,(damn these Dell keyboards:rotfl:) they should NOT be increasing until renewal"

cheers Quentin

magpiecottage

Quentin wrote: »

They cannot increase the premium mid term as a result of the incident occurring during the policy year.

But if this is a new policy since the incident, and the incident wasn't disclosed to the new insurer, then they are entitled to increase the whole year's premium (ie from date the policy started).

Correct - but even if you renew with the same insurer it IS a new policy.

However, if the premium has been renewed with the same insurer and they are now kicking off, you may have grounds for complaint if, as you say, you had actually told them about it already.

A word of warning - FOS adjudicators sometimes argue that it is not legally binding if an insurer made a mistake. That is normally only so if it ought to have been obvious to the other party in a contract that it is an error.

If you can demonstrate that the insurer WAS aware but simply forgot to take it into consideration then the contract should be honoured for this year. That would not prevent them taking it into consideration next year, though!

Quentin

magpiecottage wrote: »

Correct - but even if you renew with the same insurer it IS a new policy.

What is your point?

If the OP has renewed then its a "renewal" not a new policy!

(To be a "new policy" the OP would have to have cancelled his original policy and then taken out a new one!)

The OP reported the incident at the time it happened!

geoff1057

He renewed his insurance in Jan ,and they have just got intouch with him to put the £90 increase on . If he cancelled ,he was told he would have to pay a £45 admin fee.... apparently my son was quoted £360 for the work to be done by a local garage that deal with insurance claims ,they kept ringing him asking if he would like to book his car in to get the job done with the promise of a hire car. he refused and went to another garage who did the same job for £85, another reason why premiums are high ,rip off garages charging what they want on insurance claims. My son saved the insurance company money but he gets billed for it..