Car insurance (admiral) charging me for change in occupation

repoman123

Hi everyone,

So last weekend while I was out shopping, a women hit me while she was trying to park her car in the bay next to mine.

Anyway, afterwards when I spoke to my car insurance company, they made me fill out a claim form (over the phone) and as a part of that asked me for all of my details.

Since I took the policy out last June, I've changed jobs and my occupation has since changed. When the guy on the phone asked for my occupation I thought nothing of it and told him what my occupation was not realising when I took the policy out I had a different job.

Yesterday I received a letter from admiral (I'm insured with them) stating that they will be taking £58 from my card in 10 days as my occupation has changed it has resulted in creating a premium on my account!!

When I called them about this, the guy I spoke to (based in Bangalore, India) said my occupation is a factor for my insurance premium. I only have until June for my policy so it looks like they are just trying to rob me in broad daylight!

I've googled this but had no luck, I would like to know if there's anything I can do to protest this charge?

Many thanks in advance as always...

Quentin

They are acting correctly.

Check your policy wording and you will see that you broke the conditions by not telling them immediately.

Had you changed to an occupation they weren't prepared to cover your policy would now be void and your claim rejected!

spacey2012

Your first mistake was claiming someone else's loss on your policy.
A very expensive mistake over many years.

InsideInsurance

Arguably they could have voided the policy for non-disclosure of a change in a material fact and thus (a) not paid the claim and (b) ALL future insurances would be massively inflated when you have to declare you've had insurances cancelled for the rest of your life.

Ask them for a breakdown of the cost, a significant proportion is most likely an admin fee. The rest will be the change of risk factor and that may in part be for the different job but may also be be because you've proven yourself unreliable in declaring material facts/ changes and therefore other aspects may also be wrong or "forgotten about".

In future, if anything changes, you must inform your insurers at the time

dunstonh

Some providers require you to notify them of changes when they happen. Others require you to do it at renewal. You should always check to see which applies to you.

Occupation is a pricing factor on car insurance. So, they are correct.

repoman123

Thanks for your responses guys

spacey2012 wrote: »

Your first mistake was claiming someone else's loss on your policy.
A very expensive mistake over many years.

Please explain? If I am involved in an accident even if it is not my fault, surely I have to tell my insurance company? The lady that hit me admitted fault straight away (I wasn't even in my car at the time).

If I don't tell my insurance company how else can I get my car repaired? My insurance company will recover the costs from the other party.

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Arguably they could have voided the policy for non-disclosure of a change in a material fact and thus (a) not paid the claim and (b) ALL future insurances would be massively inflated when you have to declare you've had insurances cancelled for the rest of your life.

Ask them for a breakdown of the cost, a significant proportion is most likely an admin fee. The rest will be the change of risk factor and that may in part be for the different job but may also be be because you've proven yourself unreliable in declaring material facts/ changes and therefore other aspects may also be wrong or "forgotten about".

In future, if anything changes, you must inform your insurers at the time

So you're saying that if I told them that my occupation changed straight away then they wouldn't charge me?

The change of job was from recruitment consultant to an account manager, so hardly a big change....

Quentin

You get charged an admin fee for making any mid term changes.

The premium may increase or decrease as a result of the change.

spacey2012

You inform your insurance for information only.
Then you obtain 2 quotes for the damage and a pro forma invoice and send it to the other driver.
How they pay it is not your problem, if they dont you sue them.
99.9% of the time their insurance company steps in and makes a claim on the policy of the person who is at fault. So they make the "claim"

The other "easy" way is you claim on your policy for their negligence.
Your insurance then claims it back from their insurance, you now have a "claim" on your policy.
As you now have claimed on your policy fault or no fault up goes your insurance for at least 5 years.
Insurance companies never lose money, they get back what they pay out many times over.

These "how to claim and on who's policies" are lesson learnt the hard expensive way by those who have fallen for the easy way and got hit hard in their pocket.
I have, second time I made the other party claim and my insurance did not rise.
The first time when I was ignorant of how "the game" worked, my insurance bill, trebled !
Never again.
Your fault, you claim on your insurance not me on mine !
Lesson learnt.

InsideInsurance

PHP1703 wrote: »

So you're saying that if I told them that my occupation changed straight away then they wouldn't charge me?

The change of job was from recruitment consultant to an account manager, so hardly a big change....

If you had done what you agreed to do when you bought the policy then the likelihood is that they would have charged you an admin fee, there may or may not have been a change in premium and that change may have been positive or negative but you certainly would avoid any non-disclosure type loadings because you'll have correctly fulfilled your obligations

repoman123

spacey2012 wrote: »

You inform your insurance for information only.
Then you obtain 2 quotes for the damage and a pro forma invoice and send it to the other driver.
How they pay it is not your problem, if they dont you sue them.
99.9% of the time their insurance company steps in and makes a claim on the policy of the person who is at fault. So they make the "claim"

The other "easy" way is you claim on your policy for their negligence.
Your insurance then claims it back from their insurance, you now have a "claim" on your policy.
As you now have claimed on your policy fault or no fault up goes your insurance for at least 5 years.
Insurance companies never lose money, they get back what they pay out many times over.

These "how to claim and on who's policies" are lesson learnt the hard expensive way by those who have fallen for the easy way and got hit hard in their pocket.
I have, second time I made the other party claim and my insurance did not rise.
The first time when I was ignorant of how "the game" worked, my insurance bill, trebled !
Never again.
Your fault, you claim on your insurance not me on mine !
Lesson learnt.

Sorry I don't quite understand what you mean.

Whether I claim or not through my insurance is regardless though, surely? Reason being, now that the insurance company of the party at fault has got involved and will pay for the damages to my car one way or another, I am always going to have to declare this accident when I am filling out a form for a quote come my renewal date? As soon as I state that this accident has occured (despite it being a not at fault accident) my quote will increase.

If I don't say anything then the insurance company can void my policy for not disclosing this accident?

Many thanks

kingstreet

By asking the insurer of the party at fault to deal with your damage, you avoid payment of your excess.

If you claim from your insurer, you have to pay your excess, then claim it back from the other side's insurer, either via your insurer or directly.

You still need to notify your insurer that an "event" took place, claiming from them, or not.