Pure desperation regarding car insurance bullies

johnf89

I changed car insurance companies this year as I normally do to save approximately £20.00. I wished I hadn't now. I took out my policy using the usual sites, comparethemarket, confused etc. This year I chose Endsleigh and all was fine until this last two weeks. Three months into my contract, Endsleigh e mailed me saying that they want a copy of my driving licence and V5 document for my car. I duly obliged. Some days later,I received an e mail from the credit company stating that my monthly payments have more than doubled, from £18.00 per month to £40.00 per month.
I immediately cancelled my direct debit to them and telephoned Endsleigh, who stated that I had been 'At Fault' for two accidents. I explained the situation of these 'incidents' to them and they were having none of it. I asked them to check the details and get them corrected as I have never had an accident in 30+ years of driving. I will now explain these incidents hoping someone could give me advice on what to do.
Incident No 1.
I was in a country pub restaurant one Sunday afternoon with the family. Upon leaving, my son saw a note under my windscreen wiper.
The note stated that a car leaving the car park had collided with my vehicle and then left the scene without stopping. The witness took down details of the car that had caused the damage and placed the note on my car. The police and my insurance company were notified and two weeks later my car was repaired and back on the road.
Incident No 2.
I was stationary at traffic lights when the vehicle in front of me decided he wanted to change lanes to gain a few places. He proceeded to reverse, I had my finger on the hooter giving it all I had, to no avail. The guy reversed into me. He pulled to the side of the road, apologised, accepted liability and provided all of his insurance details. My car was repaired within a week and that was that. For the next two years my full no claims bonus was intact and I had no problem with taking out my insurance policies. Until now.
How is it that I can be 'At Fault' for these two incidents, I still have full no claims bonus which were provided to Endsleigh. They now want to charge me double for my insurance cover. I have contacted Endsleigh on no fewer than seven times in the last week or so by e mail and also once by telephone. I have received no reply from them, only the letter I received this evening when I came in from work saying my payments have gone up to £40.00 and also, if I cancel I will be liable for a cancellation fee. I have e mailed all of their departments, including the complaints department and still no reply. I have also contacted More Than, the insurance company that I was with when these incidents occurred and guess what. No reply.
How can I get the details that they have on record, changed to 'Not at Fault' as this is completely unfair and nobody at either company is interested in the truth. I have just e mailed Endsleigh again, saying that if nobody contacts me tomorrow then I will cancel the insurance(even though I've already stopped the payments). I have informed them I will not pay a cancellation fee as the policy they are asking me to pay for is not the original one I signed up for.
Is there anyone I can contact to sort this out for me or am I up the proverbial creek without a paddle?
They really should not be able to do this to law abiding folk.
I really abhor people who drive without insurance but after this little episode I am beginning to understand why some people might.
Sorry for this being a bit long, but I needed to explain the whole situation.
Thanks in advance for taking the time to read this.
John

Quentin

Did you disclose these two claims when applying for the cover? If not then they will be correct in wanting to revise your premium.

Though if your insurer got full recompense off the responsible third parties, these were non fault claims rather than "fault" claims which is how they apparently are registered on the database.

Take care over stopping your dd. It won't be long before they discover and threaten to cancel your policy (which you don't want at any cost!!)

olly300

Some car insurers recorded "incidents" as accidents regardless of whether you were at fault or there was no damage to repair.

In your case both incidents are definitely accidents and as you have not stated when these accidents occurred I can only presume they are recent so you needed to put them down in any quotes you obtained. It does not matter if your NCD was intact.

In the first one if your insurer could not get money of the 3rd party who caused the accident it would be recorded as a "fault" accident.

In the second, the accident it's definitely a non-fault accident.

The reason I know this is that I had two people at different times smash into my car last year in both cases they were non-fault accidents. My NCD was intact as well.

I suggest you ring Endsleigh up and pay the payments you have missed by debit card before they cancel your car insurance. If they cancel your car insurance you will have difficulty getting car insurance elsewhere for years to come.

Then get in touch with your old insurers and ask for a copy of your NCD and accident records in writing.

Once you have these, photocopy them and make a formal complaint by letter to Engsleigh about their mistake. Send any complaint letters to them by recorded delivery and put the word "Formal Complaint" on the letter. The complaint address is in your policy booklet.

If you follow the complaints procedure and provide evidence they should revise the accidents to "non-fault" ones but it doesn't mean your premium will go down.

johnf89

They both occurred in 2009 and yes they were informed. as I stated before it seems funny last year and the year before that nothing was mentioned to me.
I have missed no payments and the next one is due on October 17th.
I will be canceling the policy myself tomorrow.
Thanks for your replies, it seems they win as usual.

johnf89

I have just got off of the phone with a wonderful lady from Endsleigh who has sorted out all of my issues.
She actually listened to the facts, contacted More Than who I was insured with when these incidents happened and lo and behold she had more success than I did. More Than have actually varified that both incidents were 'non fault' and were mistakenly listed as 'At Fault'. She is now contacting the credit company for me, to reinstate the DD and get them to revert monthly payments to the original. The £18.00 per month is slightly different to £40.00 per month.
I must admit I didn't expect to have any joy as I was ringing Endsleigh to cancel the policy. I just wish everybody was as efficient as young Amy.:j