Car Insurance - Theft of Vehicle

April73

Hi there everyone, I hope that there is someone on here that is able to give me some good advice.

I recently suffered the theft of my vehicle, however due to the incompetence of the person who was nicking it, he ended up dumping the vehicle a few yards away from where he took it from.

Now the problem, my Insurance Company (Brokers Sureterm Direct, Insurance Company Enterprise). I have not received a courtsey car even though I am fully comp, the Brokers have advised me that I am only due a courtsey car if my vehicle is deemed repairable, which I am still waiting for the engineers report on, 2½ weeks after the incident, surely I should have received a car whilst this is being decided. Also no where in my policy does it say that I will or will not receive a courtsey car if my vehicle is written off, I have spoken with the Insurers and they have said that if everything was written in the policy it would make it very long. It turns out there is an additional endorsement which was released after I took the insurance out and until I queried it was not made aware of this endorsement.

Now the next problem, I have queried with my the brokers how much of my 7 years no claims will I loose if the vehicle is written off, they have advised me that because this will be deemed a fault claim, because the insurer cannot recover any of their loses, other than selling the salvage I will loose 5 years of my no claims bonus, taking me down to 2 years, surely this cannot be correct, how can it be a fault claim and that I'm punished for it by loosing so much of my no claims bonus.

I look forward to hearing from anyone that can offer some good advice.

Many thanks for reading.

FlameCloud

It is a fault claim if they cannot recover 100% of the costs. How much NCD you will loose is likely to be detailed in your policy booklet.

Courtesy cars are given out by garages when your car is being repaired at their garage. If you wanted a guarenteed hire car, you would likely have needed to request this at inception stage and paid an additional premium.

forgotmyname

I was told the same when i took out my policy, If my car needs repair a car will be supplied.

But in your situation i wouldnt get one either, But the additional premium didnt seem worth it.

I may as well just go and buy a £200 shed with a few weeks tax and MOT left until it was sorted.

No worries about finding little scratches etc when returning it.

Quentin

April73 wrote: »

I have queried with my the brokers how much of my 7 years no claims will I loose if the vehicle is written off, they have advised me that because this will be deemed a fault claim, because the insurer cannot recover any of their loses, other than selling the salvage I will loose 5 years of my no claims bonus, taking me down to 2 years, surely this cannot be correct, how can it be a fault claim and that I'm punished for it by loosing so much of my no claims bonus.....

Fault and no fault claims don't mean whether or not you were to "blame".

If your insurer cannot get reimbursed the costs you have put them to, then it is a "fault" claim. Alternatively if they are reimbursed in full, it will be a "no fault" claim and your NCD will be reinstated.

Your broker has misinformed you about your reduction in NCD.

Most insurers operate from 5 years maximum NCD when you make a fault claim.

You normally "lose" 2 years NCD for a single claim, thus yours should be 3 years NCD at renewal, unless you have it protected, when a single claim should not result in any "loss".

vax2002

Dont forget to start keeping a book of uninsured losses so you can sue the thief in county court, they wont be able to get, credit, mobile phones, mortgages so will suffer in the long run
If more did this some of these chumps who like state of the art mobiles on contracts might think twice.

April73

Thanks everyone for your comments never having to make a claim in the past this is all new to me. With regards to the courtesy car I was never informed that I wouldn't get one if the vehicle was written off and the endorsement this is noted on has never been sent to me and is not in the policy downloaded from there website when I took out the policy last August and even now it does not appear. With regards to the NCD I read somewhere that I would loose 20% but the insurance company is insisting it will go from 7 years down to 2 years. How do I fight this? Also when I took this policy out protecting my NCD was not an option

thenudeone

Some policies provide a courtesy car if yours is stolen; but normally not at the cheaper end of the market.

Aviva, LV, and Churchill all do, AFAIK

This is often for 7 or 14 days but is usually withdrawn shortly after they make you an offer for your car, if it's a write off or not recovered (otherwise you could refuse a reasonable offer just to keep the car for longer)

It's another cost they have to cover, and many insurers would rather appear cheaper to gain business than offer a better but more expensive policy, and many customer want exactly the same!

Quentin

April73 wrote: »

With regards to the NCD I read somewhere that I would loose 20% but the insurance company is insisting it will go from 7 years down to 2 years. How do I fight this?

See post #4.

Check your policy wording to confirm what happens to your existing NCD after one fault claim, then if they don't abide by this you can complain.

You may have to await your renewal to see what level of NCD you will have to use for your next policy.

April73

I have checked my policy wording and unfortunately I don't quite understand it, below is an exact copy of what it says:-

General Policy Terms

[FONT=Wingdings,Wingdings][FONT=Wingdings,Wingdings]
[*] [/FONT][/FONT]No Claim Bonus
[FONT=Calibri,Calibri][FONT=Calibri,Calibri]It is important that [/FONT][/FONT]you [FONT=Calibri,Calibri][FONT=Calibri,Calibri]check the Schedule to confirm if no claim bonus is being used, accrued and could be affected by any claim on this policy. If you are unsure, please check this with your intermediary.
If a claim is not made under this insurance during the periods shown below, [/FONT][/FONT]we [FONT=Calibri,Calibri][FONT=Calibri,Calibri]will apply the following discount to [/FONT][/FONT]your [FONT=Calibri,Calibri][FONT=Calibri,Calibri]renewal premium:
[/FONT][/FONT]No. of years with no claim
Discount/reduction
[FONT=Calibri,Calibri][FONT=Calibri,Calibri]One year [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri,Calibri][FONT=Calibri,Calibri]30% [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri,Calibri][FONT=Calibri,Calibri]Two years [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri,Calibri][FONT=Calibri,Calibri]40% [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri,Calibri][FONT=Calibri,Calibri]Three years [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri,Calibri][FONT=Calibri,Calibri]50% [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri,Calibri][FONT=Calibri,Calibri]Four years [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri,Calibri][FONT=Calibri,Calibri]60% [/FONT][/FONT]

If only one claim is made in any period of insurance, and if the terms and conditions do not change, any no claim bonus which you [FONT=Calibri,Calibri]have earned will be reduced at [/FONT]your [FONT=Calibri,Calibri]next renewal as follows:
[/FONT]Discount reduced from:
To:
[FONT=Calibri,Calibri][FONT=Calibri,Calibri]60% [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri,Calibri][FONT=Calibri,Calibri]40% [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri,Calibri][FONT=Calibri,Calibri]50% [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri,Calibri][FONT=Calibri,Calibri]30% [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri,Calibri][FONT=Calibri,Calibri]40% [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri,Calibri][FONT=Calibri,Calibri]30% [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri,Calibri][FONT=Calibri,Calibri]30% [/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri,Calibri][FONT=Calibri,Calibri]NIL [/FONT][/FONT]

If two or more claims are made in any period of insurance, you [FONT=Calibri,Calibri]will lose [/FONT]your [FONT=Calibri,Calibri]no claim bonus. If more than one vehicle is covered by this insurance, [/FONT]we [FONT=Calibri,Calibri]will assess the no claim bonus for each vehicle. If the [/FONT]insured vehicle [FONT=Calibri,Calibri]is written off, and [/FONT]you [FONT=Calibri,Calibri]transfer the insurance to a replacement vehicle, [/FONT]we [FONT=Calibri,Calibri]will not transfer any ‘no claim bonus’ unless [/FONT]we [FONT=Calibri,Calibri]agree otherwise. [/FONT]Your [FONT=Calibri,Calibri]‘no claim bonus’ cannot be transferred to another person. [/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri,Calibri][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri,Calibri]As it is talking about percentages and I don't actually know how much percent I had and it only goes up to 4 years whereas I had 7 years NCB.[/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri,Calibri][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri,Calibri]Any help anyone can give me regarding this would be greatly appreciated.[/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri,Calibri][/FONT]
[FONT=Calibri,Calibri]Many thanks
[/FONT]

Quentin

Has the formatting gone wrong regarding the table showing what you reduce to after a claim?

If not, then it is a misprint in your policy (as it doesn't make sense!)

MAybe it should show it reduces from 60% to 40% (ie lose 2 years)? If so, then it does seem correct that you will have 2 years at renewal, as your insurer appears to operate a NCD scale which reaches it's max after just 4 years, (not 5 as is the norm)

April73

Thanks Quentin for getting back to me. I assume then that because I had 7 years NCB that I had 100% or more. Is there any way I can fight loosing 5 years which takes me to 40% NCD as technically it should be 80% as this has hiked my insurance quotes up by £500+