Unbelievable charge - can anyone help?

Vivienne1000

Hi everyone

New to the forum and just looking for some advice really...hope someone can help!

This morning I received my renewal quote for my car from Diamond and it was £1966 for a TEN MONTH policy!!!! This is despite the fact that I have FOUR years no claims bonus. When I increased my voluntary excess to £350 the quote was still £1700 for ten months.

Immediately I decided to shop around and contacted Bell, who I know are very cheap... they gave me a quote for £1600 for twelve months, which although it is still horrendous, was much more reasonable given my age (22) and the car I drive (sports car)
However, I was then asked if I had made any claims...and I explained that back in August (one month after buying my brand new car) a police low-loader lorry carrying confiscated untaxed cars had reversed down a hill into the back of my unattended parked car (parked in a residential bay set off the road). To which the reply was "Well that will increase your policy by THREE HUNDRED POUNDS"
How is this possible?! An accident which had absolutely nothing to do with me is impacting my car insurance (despite the fact that my no claims bonus proves that the other party admitted total responsibility and paid my damages in full).
At the time I was able to claim back reasonable expenses, but noone mentioned future liabilities.

Are there any car insurance companies that actually take notice of whose fault an accident was?! My car is fitted with a tracker and an immobiliser, I live in a safe area and Im obviously a safe driver so this is driving me NUTS!
If not, am I in any position to claim this additional cost back from the guilty party? When I bought my car I budgeted very carefully and my car insurance was supposed to fall this year not jump!

Thanks for any advice

V**

joaniemerc

Vivienne - welcome to MSE.

When you are asked "have you made any claims" your answer is "no" - because you haven't. If they ask "have you been involved or been party to any accident" then you reply yes, but it wasn't your fault.

I think you are giving them unnecessary information and an excuse to bump up your quote.

You haven't made any claims - so therefore your answer should be "no".;)

Hope this helps - dreading next summer when my eldest can start to drive and I have to start looking around for insurance for a 17 year old!

maclean2

Did you realize that Diamond and Bell are both part of Admiral ? Would suggest you look for another quote and can recommend A Plan whose performance car division is in Thatcham on 01635 874646.You talk to their intelligent people in the UK !

Best of luck

DavidHM

When you are asked "have you made any claims" your answer is "no" - because you haven't. If they ask "have you been involved or been party to any accident" then you reply yes, but it wasn't your fault.

In those circumstances you need to make it clear that you were involved in a claim and you either claimed off your own policy, which was settled by the third party or its insurer, or claimed from the third party policy directly. So you have claimed, albeit it was not your fault and your no claims was preserved.

Keep shopping around. I don't know what you drive or where you live but Bell and Diamond will use basically the same quote mechanism with some minor adjustments (which suits me but may not suit you).

Vivienne1000

Thanks for the replies guys - I guess I may have been a little too willing to provide information but when I said "how can you up my quote for something that I could never have prevented" (save by never leaving my car parked anywhere!) he turned around and said "well its a bit like having your car nicked isnt it - thats not your fault but it increases your insurance".
I should have at this point said a) you can do things to safeguard against that like have a tracker and immobiliser fitted (I have done both at significant cost) and b) the whole point in that case is that noone else pays the claim besides your own insurance company - in my case it hasnt cost my own insurance company a penny (in the long term...obviously they have to reclaim their money from the third party).


As for trying outside Admiral...Direct Line website cut me off the minute I said I drove a sports car and had been "involved in an accident"...

I'm a 22 year old professional who can afford a nice car (just about) on finance....not some 17 year old party animal boy racer...

Anyway, end of rant....
Will keep shopping around and give those people a call!:)

DavidHM

I just did a search:

22 yo accountant, drives an Audi TT 163, one non-fault claim, 4 years' NCD, lives in south west London...

... and Diamond were the cheapest on moneysupermarket.com at £1,500 for the year

Mrs_pbradley936

Different sites ask different questions. Some just ask if you have had a claim, some if it was a fault claim and others have a drop down menu for you to be able to say what happened such us “lost control in bad weather”. Try using confused or insuresupermarket because you can search lots of sites and just enter one lot of info.

Woby_Tide

Vivienne1000 wrote:

Thanks for the replies guys - I guess I may have been a little too willing to provide information but when I said "how can you up my quote for something that I could never have prevented" (save by never leaving my car parked anywhere!) he turned around and said "well its a bit like having your car nicked isnt it - thats not your fault but it increases your insurance".
I should have at this point said a) you can do things to safeguard against that like have a tracker and immobiliser fitted (I have done both at significant cost)

Not sure how a tracker or an immobiliser would prevent a truck rolling into you but...on the other hand this is the point of insurance, you're insuring against the unexpected (otheriwse it'd be assurance if you wanted to be protected from the fact that you know a truck is going to hit you in the next 12 months), at leats it was a no fault claim, if it was an uninsyured vehicle hitting you would have been even more increase I'd imagine

Out of curiousity what have you paid for the last years insurance, is it really a shock that the quotes are this high?

dragonsoup

Have you tried a specialist broker? For anyone who doesn't fit the insurer's ideal they are often the best bet.

I drive a modified sports car which immediately makes me persona non grata. However I was recommended to use http://www.adrianflux.co.uk/. They got me cover at half the price of that which the AA could manage.

Astaroth

joaniemerc wrote:

When you are asked "have you made any claims" your answer is "no" - because you haven't. If they ask "have you been involved or been party to any accident" then you reply yes, but it wasn't your fault.

The answer would still be yes but non-fault - failure to declare the accident would void your policy and potentially have you loaded to the fraud registry.

Unfortunately the only option is to shop around and see who is cheapest for you.

maclean2

Hi - privilege.com could be worth trying.