Admiral car insurance charging more for previous accident when not at fault.

zalaple

Hi there,
I bought a car in Sept 2012 and gone through the web site Compare the Market, opted for the cheapest deal from Admiral.
Last year I met with an accident with my previous car and not at fault at all, the other party accepted liability. The car was written off. My excess was refunded to me. The insurance company was Tesco. My 7 years NCD is safe, letter received from Tesco.

Two week ago Admiral send a mail stating that they will charge me £74 extra as there is a change in my policy. I was surprised why a sudden change. Gave Admiral customer service a phone call and I was told that the charge is due to the accident I had last year with my previous car.

I explained them the matter has been resolved, the other party has accepted liability and it was not my fault. Admiral told me that still I will have to pay the £74 even if it was not my fault. I even emailed them a copy of my 7 years NCD from Tesco.

The thing that I cant understand, why even someone is not at fault will have to be a victim again. Why will I have to pay more when I am not at fault.

This never happened when I insured another car (sold now) with Allianz. Allianz never asked me to pay extra even the knew about the accident last year.

Could someone please guide me what to do next to avoid paying the £74. I even asked to canceled the policy but still though I will have to pay £47.50 cancellation fee as compared to other insurance company like Allianz which do not charge any fee.

Please someone guide me.

Quentin

It looks like you 'forgot' to disclose the claim, they have discovered the truth from the database and increased your premium. This will have resulted in an additional admin charge as well as the premium loading.

You need to disclose this claim when asking for quotes from other insurers. They normally ask for your history over 3 to 5 years.

Some companies take a different view and if they think you deliberately mislead them just void the policy!

zalaple

Thanks for the help Quentin.
I have been on many comparisons website, was so tired wanted to insure my car as soon as I bought it. May be I missed that part cant remember.
But what I cannot understand is that why someone not at fault will have to pay for the premium when the NCD is still safe?

Quentin

Your history is a separate item to your ncd.

Although your ncd is unchanged your previous spotless history has changed, and they see you as a bigger risk.

dunstonh

The thing that I cant understand, why even someone is not at fault will have to be a victim again. Why will I have to pay more when I am not at fault.

Could be two reasons.

1 - your lack of disclosure makes you a higher risk.
2 - people who have had claims, whether fault or non-fault are statistically more likely to suffer another one in the short term. Some providers will increase the premiums on non-fault claims a little to cover that increased risk.

You still keep your NCD. However, the discount is applied to a higher risk premium than before.

vaio

Whatever the reasons there is nothing (short of changing insurer) that you can do about it, insurers can generally charge what they like and you pay or go elsewhere.

What you can do is get a letter from admiral confirming that the increase is due to the non fault accident and then recover the cost from the at fault party.

paidinchickens

Same happened to me. I have my own and I'm named on two other polices. I was told I was more likely to have an accident as I have been in one.

Someone in the same position had a solicitor who claimed five years increase in insurance to cover this along with the rest of his claim, just a trick mine wasn't up to date on.

I know how you feel as I was really miffed aswell

Ad86

My insurance also increased when i was hit by another driver.

vaio

paidinchickens wrote: »

Same happened to me. I have my own and I'm named on two other polices. I was told I was more likely to have an accident as I have been in one.

Someone in the same position had a solicitor who claimed five years increase in insurance to cover this along with the rest of his claim, just a trick mine wasn't up to date on.

I know how you feel as I was really miffed aswell

To sort of paraphrase someone, "don't get miffed, get even" and claim the costs from the at fault party.

Once everybody does this then it's likely insurers will stop loading for non faults

chanz4

vaio wrote: »

To sort of paraphrase someone, "don't get miffed, get even" and claim the costs from the at fault party.

Once everybody does this then it's likely insurers will stop loading for non faults

no they will just increase policys for everyone, and claim they are not loading

korky69

happened to me, disclosed my at fault claim, he asked if there were any other claims, i said "no, apart from a minor bump not at fault"
i never even knew the costs of the claim, my premium still went up on the original quote,
he said politely it was all down to risk factor and said its not fair really, but we're going to screw you anyway!