Admiral and the Phantom Insurance Claim

Dougal1709

Hi,

I just joined and have a question about Admiral and their magically appearing accident claims.

A few months ago, I was parking the car and must have driven over a piece of glass or a nail or something as the tyre went flat. I needed the car the next day so I phoned to get the recovery service chap out to replace the tyre while I was at work.

The following day, Admiral phoned me asking for information about teh insurance claim I'd made. I called them back and explained that I'd not made a claim, just called the recovery people to change my tyre. The chap on the phone apologised for the misunderstanding and assured me that he agreed there was no claim and that he'd remove it from the system. Happy with this I continue with my life.

A few short months later, my other half passes her driving test. We decide that as I'm already with Admiral, they are cheap and they do a multicar policy, we'll get a multicar policy and put both cars on it.

She phones up and gets given a price for her car and for mine which seems reasonable so we agree. The documentation arrives in the post and all is well.

2 days later I get another letter saying that the premium for my car is in fact £276 more than they quoted her when we agreed to the policy. I phoned them up to ask why and was told that they were charging me an extra £276 for the claim I made that she hadn't mentioned to them when they gave her the quote. I told them that Id been through all that and the claim was added mistakenly and I'd not made any claim, I'd not had an accident, I'd not been hit or damaged my car and that I'd only phoned them to get the recovery people out. They told me that this still counted as a claim and even though they didn't pay anything out, it was still enough to add 25% to my premium. They told me that there is no way to remove this spurious claim from the system and even though there had been no accident, just a flat tyre, it was now in their system as me informing them of an incident.

I this is absolutely scandallous and feel like I'm being robbed. They made a mistake and are charging me an extra £276 because of it just because they don't understand the difference between "Can you send out a recovery van" and "I've had an accident and am performing my legal obligation to let you know".

I'm now worried that they will pass this "claim" to other insurers if I try to change suppliers even though there was no claim in the first place.

Do I have any comeback here? I don't see how they should be allowed to completely ruin my insurance rating with other companies just because I told them I had a puncture.

Who can I escalate the complaint to as it feels rather like they have tricked us into getting this new policy under false pretences.

If I'm honest, they are very cheap as far as my partners new driver insurance is concerned but they have wacked up my premiums under false pretences. Who would one go to i order to argue this phantom claim? Surely they can't consider me a less safe driver because someone left something sharp in the road.

raskazz

Write to them by recorded delivery letter to their complaints department (there should be an address in your policy wording).

Point out that:

(i) The incident that they are referring to was not an accident, fire, theft or insurance loss and therefore their records are incorrect and you will not pay the additional premium that they are attempting to levy.

(ii) As per principle 4 of the Data Protection Act 1988, personal data should be accurate and, where necessary, kept up to date

(iii) The same Act entitles data subjects to have inaccurate information about them amended or destroyed

Therefore you request that they:

(i) Amend or delete the relevant incorrect data, and

(ii) Ensure that the inaccurate data is removed from CUE (the main insurance industry shared claims database) and any other relevant databases, and

(iii) Confirm to you in writing that (i) and (ii) have been completed.

Go on to state that the insurer should be aware that under the Act, data subjects are entitled to claim compensation if they have suffered damage or distress as a result of a data controller failing to comply with the Act. Make them aware that you WILL enforce your rights under the Act unless they deal with this within a reasonable period of time, and you will also report them to the FSA/refer your complaint to the Ombudsman if necessary.

dacouch

Further to Raskazz's spot on post, Admiral as do most Insurers exclude cover for punctures as they do not want to pay for replacement tyres under their comprehensive cover. Thus it is no way a claim, accident or loss under their own definitions

Spiderham

Can't really add to what has been already said. Both spot on.

Just to reinforce, Admiral have a duty to correct this and you should get it sorted as most insurers do check the central claims database (CUE) to validate if information given is correct.

Hope you get it sorted soon.

Dougal1709

Thanks guys. When I brought this up with the claims department, they said that it still counts as an incident that was my fault and that it affects my premium, whether I officially make a claim or not. From what they were implying, driving over something is no different than driving into something.

What's annoying is that the only reason they know I drove over something is because I used their roadside assistance rather than the AA or RAC.

I will create a suitably snotty letter containing the information you have given me and see what happens. I konw they record their calls so there must be a record of them promising to remove the erroneous claim from the system.

rs65

Dougal1709 wrote: »

just because they don't understand the difference between "Can you send out a recovery van" and "I've had an accident and am performing my legal obligation to let you know".

Make sure you point out that you requested breakdown service and not recovery service. Recovery suggests an accident rather than a breakdown.