We’d like to remind Forumites to please avoid political debate on the Forum.
This is to keep it a safe and useful space for MoneySaving discussions. Threads that are – or become – political in nature may be removed in line with the Forum’s rules. Thank you for your understanding.
📨 Have you signed up to the Forum's new Email Digest yet? Get a selection of trending threads sent straight to your inbox daily, weekly or monthly!
no claims scam on car insurance ?
Ive just being reneweing my car insurance.
I had 3 accident claims last year (all no claims protected, 9 years).
On the broker website, if I enter the accident details, the best premium quote I can get is £800. If I remove the accident details, the best premium quote I can get is £200.
big difference.
my question is how does no claims bonus work ?
If the accidents makes the quotes go up 300% with 30% no claims bonus, does that mean that if I didnt have the no claims bonus, it would go up 330% ?
and how do I know the companies arent scamming me, by accepting my no claims protection fee, and then making my next year's quote exactly the same as if I hadnt paid the protection fee, by proportionately upping the accidents-related premium hike (as accident-related premium hikes are presumably completely discretionary and worked out in secrecy from the customer).
In other words, is it possible that companies make profits from no claim protection by taking the fees but not passing on the benefits to the consumer in terms of reduced future premiums ? how would we know ?
I think that there is a real problem for the consumer in knowing whether or not it is worthwhile paying for no-claims protection. To make the risk/benefit assessment i think we need...
1) to know if companies are doing the scam described above ? dont know how to answer this but presumably can be done by regulatory organizations.
2) to know how accidents affect premiums ? obviously complicated, depending on circumstances but could not broad guidlines be given to consumers ? if I hit a tree and claim, does my premium go up by 1,10 or 100% ?
3) no claims bonus to be described in percentage rather than years units.
Overall, I think the whole subject of no claims bonus protection is very problematic and they should be banned or clarified/improved !
Off my soap box - what do others think ?
many thanks Paul
I had 3 accident claims last year (all no claims protected, 9 years).
On the broker website, if I enter the accident details, the best premium quote I can get is £800. If I remove the accident details, the best premium quote I can get is £200.
big difference.
my question is how does no claims bonus work ?
If the accidents makes the quotes go up 300% with 30% no claims bonus, does that mean that if I didnt have the no claims bonus, it would go up 330% ?
and how do I know the companies arent scamming me, by accepting my no claims protection fee, and then making my next year's quote exactly the same as if I hadnt paid the protection fee, by proportionately upping the accidents-related premium hike (as accident-related premium hikes are presumably completely discretionary and worked out in secrecy from the customer).
In other words, is it possible that companies make profits from no claim protection by taking the fees but not passing on the benefits to the consumer in terms of reduced future premiums ? how would we know ?
I think that there is a real problem for the consumer in knowing whether or not it is worthwhile paying for no-claims protection. To make the risk/benefit assessment i think we need...
1) to know if companies are doing the scam described above ? dont know how to answer this but presumably can be done by regulatory organizations.
2) to know how accidents affect premiums ? obviously complicated, depending on circumstances but could not broad guidlines be given to consumers ? if I hit a tree and claim, does my premium go up by 1,10 or 100% ?
3) no claims bonus to be described in percentage rather than years units.
Overall, I think the whole subject of no claims bonus protection is very problematic and they should be banned or clarified/improved !
Off my soap box - what do others think ?
many thanks Paul
0
Comments
-
Ive just being reneweing my car insurance.
I had 3 accident claims last year (all no claims protected, 9 years).
On the broker website, if I enter the accident details, the best premium quote I can get is £800. If I remove the accident details, the best premium quote I can get is £200.
big difference.
my question is how does no claims bonus work ?
If the accidents makes the quotes go up 300% with 30% no claims bonus, does that mean that if I didnt have the no claims bonus, it would go up 330% ?
and how do I know the companies arent scamming me, by accepting my no claims protection fee, and then making my next year's quote exactly the same as if I hadnt paid the protection fee, by proportionately upping the accidents-related premium hike (as accident-related premium hikes are presumably completely discretionary and worked out in secrecy from the customer).
In other words, is it possible that companies make profits from no claim protection by taking the fees but not passing on the benefits to the consumer in terms of reduced future premiums ? how would we know ?
I think that there is a real problem for the consumer in knowing whether or not it is worthwhile paying for no-claims protection. To make the risk/benefit assessment i think we need...
1) to know if companies are doing the scam described above ? dont know how to answer this but presumably can be done by regulatory organizations.
2) to know how accidents affect premiums ? obviously complicated, depending on circumstances but could not broad guidlines be given to consumers ? if I hit a tree and claim, does my premium go up by 1,10 or 100% ?
3) no claims bonus to be described in percentage rather than years units.
Overall, I think the whole subject of no claims bonus protection is very problematic and they should be banned or clarified/improved !
Off my soap box - what do others think ?
many thanks Paul
How many claims are you allowed before the ncb is protection is void?0 -
Not surprising your premium went up regardless of protected status, 3 claims in a year would have raised a few eyebrows, if i was looking at your file i'd assume you were a bad risk and load your premium accordingly...no offence meant.
You have to view each claim as a 'life', you only get about 2 'lives' in any 5 year period before it destroys your protected status, the Coop used be an exception to this but many years since i was with them.
Most of us think very carefully before making a claim, i tend to view it that anything under a grand you are better off paying out yourself and not making a claim.0 -
3 accidents in one year has put you in a high risk catagory, protected no claims means that your current no claims bonus is protected not you accumalated bonus with that insurer,
e.g
you have 9 years NCB when you took out policy, you have three accidents in one year, you dont get any NCB for this years premium (because you claimed) but you still have 9 years NCB so the whole point of protected claims has benefit you. if you werent protected you would have atleast half NCB as you would now if any at all.
as for your premium rising this is a separate issue. youve made 3 claims, this policy year, even if these werent your fault you would be put in a high risk catagory with any insurer, your current insurer have paid three times for three incidents regarding one person i.e you, then depending on your area this may have been a low risk area but if so many claims were made in that area in a short space of time, the area is then reclassified to a high risk area, so not only does you personal curcumstances come into play your housing area does, and if your renewal is this month you would have missed novembers reclassifaction of cars groupings so depending on your car, it may have rising from group 6 to group 9 costing more to insure.
plus no doubt the new sorn regulations would have given a good excuse to up the premium too, as we all have to be insured if we wish to keep a car taxed but SORN, we need insurance to drive legally and insurers can basically charge what they like for this.0 -
atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »3 accidents in one year has put you in a high risk catagory, protected no claims means that your current no claims bonus is protected not you accumalated bonus with that insurer,
e.g
you have 9 years NCB when you took out policy, you have three accidents in one year, you dont get any NCB for this years premium (because you claimed) but you still have 9 years NCB so the whole point of protected claims has benefit you. if you werent protected you would have atleast half NCB as you would now if any at all.
as for your premium rising this is a separate issue. youve made 3 claims, this policy year, even if these werent your fault you would be put in a high risk catagory with any insurer, your current insurer have paid three times for three incidents regarding one person i.e you, then depending on your area this may have been a low risk area but if so many claims were made in that area in a short space of time, the area is then reclassified to a high risk area, so not only does you personal curcumstances come into play your housing area does, and if your renewal is this month you would have missed novembers reclassifaction of cars groupings so depending on your car, it may have rising from group 6 to group 9 costing more to insure.
plus no doubt the new sorn regulations would have given a good excuse to up the premium too, as we all have to be insured if we wish to keep a car taxed but SORN, we need insurance to drive legally and insurers can basically charge what they like for this.
I'd doubt that with 3 claims in one year.0 -
Yes, I understand that my 3 accidents mean much higher premiums (although 3 claims in 30 years isnt bad, though I doubt the companies care about life history !!)
But on my topic of no claims protection...
what do you think ?0 -
PS if I am now in a 'high risk' category as a results of several claims....
how long will it last for ?
will the 'high risk' status gradually reduce with time, or will it suddenly revert to 'normal risk' after a set number of years ?0 -
-
atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »plus no doubt the new sorn regulations would have given a good excuse to up the premium too, as we all have to be insured if we wish to keep a car taxed but SORN, we need insurance to drive legally and insurers can basically charge what they like for this.
Isn't this a contradiction? Either a car is taxed or it is SORN. If it is taxed it needs insurance. If it is SORN, it doesn't.0 -
PS if I am now in a 'high risk' category as a results of several claims....
how long will it last for ?
will the 'high risk' status gradually reduce with time, or will it suddenly revert to 'normal risk' after a set number of years ?
Just because you dont understand whats happening, doesnt make it a scam.
Basically, your no claims bonus has been protected, but they are weighting your insurance against you because of your claims.
If you hadnt protected your no claims bonus, the quotes you are getting now would be much higher.0
This discussion has been closed.
Confirm your email address to Create Threads and Reply
Categories
- All Categories
- 352.2K Banking & Borrowing
- 253.6K Reduce Debt & Boost Income
- 454.3K Spending & Discounts
- 245.2K Work, Benefits & Business
- 600.9K Mortgages, Homes & Bills
- 177.5K Life & Family
- 259.1K Travel & Transport
- 1.5M Hobbies & Leisure
- 16K Discuss & Feedback
- 37.7K Read-Only Boards