Having a terrible time with car insurance company - advice please?!

Parisian

I wonder if anyone could advise me on the following issue I am having…

I was in a car accident in October 2011. A car drove into the back of my car, whilst I was stationary at a traffic light. I took the details of the car and the man driving it. My bumper was damaged, but the car was still driveable. I reported it to my insurance company that day, they assigned it as a "non fault" claim and they arranged for it to be repaired. They could not trace the insurance linked to the car at the time, and said they would do further checks. I asked them if this would implicate my insurance in any way, and they said no - this would not affect my policy.

My car was repaired whilst I had a hire car. I am sure it is all within their time limits, however it took months and lots of prompting from me to look for the insurance company for the other party. Whenever I would call, they would ask me to hold the line whilst they called the mobile number the guy had given to me, and say it was a dead line. They sent letters to the provided address and received no reply. Eventually after a long time I said it was astonishing that they were only phoning the telephone number given (always dead) and writing to the address given (no reply for months), without making any other enquiries to find the details of the person associated with this number plate/car. After much prompting, they made enquiries with the DVLA who said the car was not registered. The advisor explained this could happen if the other party used fake plates.

At this point I was obviously worried that this would affect my insurance policy and no claims bonus. I discussed this with the advisor who categorically told me that this would not affect my insurance policy and it would not affect my no claims bonus ie. I would not be blamed for this. He told me to report it to the police to progress with the claim. I wrote down what he said verbatim “If the police say that they can’t find insurance attached to the vehicle, or find the registration, that would be enough for us. The no claim bonus would not be affected”. He confirmed this would be true even if the other party had used fake plates.

I reported it to the police, and they confirmed:
“The driver of the other vehicle was unable to be traced as false details had been provided to DVLA as to whom the registered keeper was. We have been unable to trace any insurance held on this vehicle”.
A telephone call to them further clarified that through their enquiries – the vehicle was VOID with the DVLA, and was scrapped in January 2012 (after the accident). It appeared that fake plates had been used with fake registration details prior to it being scrapped.

When I reported this to my insurance company the advisor I spoke to said I had been advised incorrectly by the previous advisor. I forget the terminology he used but basically he said it wasn’t only just that the other party didn’t have insurance but as the other party was also non-traceable this would affect my insurance policy and count as a claim. I told him what the previous advisor had categorically said, and he said that it didn’t matter what the advisor said as this was all in terms & conditions.

At this point, I raised a complaint. I understand that these things are in the fine print, but all along I had been advised that this would not affect my own insurance policy. I spoke with a complaint advisor – he was very arrogant and talkative and hardly let me speak. Anyway, he said he would listen to the calls. He got back in touch and confirmed he had heard what I had been told. He said he would honour what I was told, and my no claims bonus would not be affected. I was initially delighted with this. As we were ending the call, I asked him when my excess would be refunded. At this point, I was amazed as he said they would honour that my no claims bonus would not be affected, but I would still have to pay the excess.

I said I was trying to highlight that I had been told that I would not be blaimed for this accident, and as a result would not lose my no claims bonus. Losing the no claims bonus was not the sole focus.

He initially offered to re-listen to the calls but then quickly became rather confusing and said he would offer me a £50 good will refund (I had paid £150 excess). Or the alternative was that I could refuse and I would lose my no claims bonus and £50, and could go to the Financial Obudsman to see what they had to say. I asked him to put this in writing, which he refused. He said I had to make a decision, and then he would close the case and then put things in writing. He said he’d give me the weekend to think about things, and would call me in 3 days where I was to tell him my decision. It was such an upsetting conversation! When he called back after the weekend, I insisted on these communications being put into writing which he declined. I asked to speak to his manager, and the manager agreed to put it in writing but that the complain/case would then be closed. If I wanted to protest anything, I would need to reopen a new complaint or go to the FO. None of this was actually reflected in the letter I received – they basically said they were honouring what I was told, and were making a goodwill gesture of £50 with the fairly usual comment about being able to go to the FO if I had any concerns. This was all a couple of months ago, and I initially waited the required 8 weeks with plans to write to the FO but kept putting it off as I found it so upsetting/infuriating!

Could anyone offer any advice on the following:

1. I am still not sure if this has been processed as a non fault claim. It is unclear whether they are just allowing me to keep my no claims bonus but are putting me at fault. Should I make an enquiry or wait until my renewal comes up next month? (I’m not even sure if this would be reflected in the renewal. I shall be looking closely though to make sure they have not taken away my no claims bonus). I guess this is important information for the future car insurance I purchase with other providers.
2. Should I pursue this as being a non fault claim, and then therefore I should be entitled to a full refund of my excess?
3. Is it worth taking this up with the FO?
4. I have not even processed the cheque for £50 received a couple of months ago. Should I cash it? Or if I am pursuing this, not cash it until I know the outcome? I was not sure if cashing it would mean I agree with their offer.

Thank you v. much!

Parisian

Anybody? Any advice would be so sooooo appreciated

A further update, I received my car insurance renewal which is due at the beginning of October and my 3 years no claims bonus is intact

Quentin

Your excess is an uninsured item which you always have to pay when making a claim on your own policy (and reclaim off any liable third party if you can).

deelee888_2

The excess is something you always have to pay in the event of a claim...Quentin is right...that is why they have options you can add to your policy like legal help to get back your uninsured losses from the other party....

Parisian

Okay, so as they haven't been able to find the third party - I am liable for it. I suppose that makes sense.

I guess because I was told it would be a non-fault claim and that my no claims bonus would not be affected, and that I would get my excess back I was a bit upset about this. But I guess they could have taken my no claims bonus and not given me the £50, so I guess I can deal with the £100 loss.

I'm still not sure if I need to declare the accident as one that was my fault when I apply to new insurers. & I am rather reluctant to ask my current insurer about this.

Quentin

It is a "fault" claim. This doesn't mean you were to blame.

In insurance they use fault and non fault to mean whether or not your own insurer was involved in any unrecoverable cost, (which yours was).

Riccal

Just a quick question. If the plates were false how were the police able to track the car at all? How were they able to ascertain that it was void with the DVLA?
If they were able to track the vehicle they would be able to investigate sufficiently to possibly identify a driver.
Or do you mean the plates were from a scrapped vehicle?

Riccal