Non-fault incidents affecting car insurance

djcat

Hello, I was just told by a Canadian Call Centre person from a certain Welsh insurance company, that I need to pay three times as much insurance then I was originally quoted because I had three totally non-fault incidents!

In 09/2011 I was stopped at a roundabout waiting for traffic to pass when I was hit from behind. I had a nearly new car and a repair bill of over £3000.00 , the other party accepted liability.

In March 2013, I was filling up my car at a petrol station in Austria. Another impatient person wanted to squeeze his SUV past and took my mirror with him. The other party accepted liability.

In September this year, I was stationary on a junction with my motorbike when an SUV cut the corner and hit me head on! The other party accepted liability.

Yes, three times I was hit whilst stopped when I should be. Three times there was no arguing about who was at fault or not and my no claims discount only kept accumulating. To hear from that company now that even having an incident will raise my premium is utterly insulting and unfair and I want to know if they can do that as I am thinking about complaining to the FCA.

I do believe that raising my premium because of non fault incidents defeats the purpose and the very principle of insurance, if not at fault motorists do not claim and instead keep sitting on their own damage we are doing nothing but to penalise careful motorists and letting the careless higher minds potentially get away with (god forbid) murder. I already requested a subject matter access about my data and how it is used, I want to see if the above mentioned practice has any chance of being illegal.

Thanks for all helpful comments.

baza52

illegal? NO
Why not just shop around and change insurers?

djcat

baza52 wrote: »

illegal? NO
Why not just shop around and change insurers?

Wow, genius! I never thought about that! :T

Irony mode off now!

I asked for usable advice, not one that shows that you don't care or are too lazy to fight for your rights.

Thank you!

Altarf

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/personalfinance/insurance/10457149/Insurer-assumptions-leave-holes-that-you-can-exploit.html

Quote from article - Ian Crowder of the AA said - "There is statistical evidence that shows those who have suffered a no-fault accident are more likely to go on to make a fault claim."

dacouch

djcat wrote: »

Wow, genius! I never thought about that! :T

Irony mode off now!

I asked for usable advice, not one that shows that you don't care or are too lazy to fight for your rights.

Thank you!

What he gave you was the only real usable advice you will get.

Most Insurers tend to apply a load for customers with non fault accidents as their data shows customers with a non fault accident are more likely to make a future fault claim than customers who are totally accident/claim free.

If you did not disclose the accidents to Admiral when taking out the cover and they've just discovered it, part of the extra premium tends to include an administration fee

Aretnap

It's not illegal. The FCA won't intervene as it's a pricing issue rather than an issue in the way you're being treated as a customer. Insurers can charge what they like - the market rather than the regulator is meant to,ensure that the price you pay is a fair reflection of the risk.

They can also base their prices on anything they like unless there's a law preventing them from doing so. Anti- discrimination laws prevent them basing prices on race or sex, the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act prevents them from basing prices on most convictions more than five years old, but there's no law protecting people who've been rear ended from discrimination.

In practice a single no fault accident tends not to have much, if any, effect on your premium, but by the time you've had three in two years you start to look accident prone. Being rear ended may be a sign that you're defensive driving isn't what it could be - maybe you're the sort of driver who cuts into queuing traffic and slams on the brakes. (I did this once. The other bloke admitted liability and I wasn't going to argue with that, but I could hardly complain that it put my insurance up next year) Or perhaps it's a sign that you drive in ropey areas with a lot of bad drivers, and it's only a matter of time before one of them drives off or is uninsured, leaving your insurer with the bill. Or perhaps as in your case it's just a sign that you've been very unlucky, but when you think about it the last people insurers want on their books are unlucky people.

Sorry, but I think shopping around is all you can do. Try a broker rather than price comparison websites - they're often better if your circumstances are at all out of the ordinary.

Hintza

djcat wrote: »

I asked for usable advice, not one that shows that you don't care or are too lazy to fight for your rights.

Well they could just refuse to insure you, especially if you become a PITA.

Scrootum

From an underwriting point of view, you seem to have a habit of putting yourself into risky situations. It's the way insurance works.

New_and_Improved_Me

For all those with kids, I’m sure you have seen ‘the Incredibles’.

Do you remember when Mr. Incredible works for the insurance company and his boss pulls him in the office and tells him off for paying too many ‘Genuine’ claims because its affecting the bottom line profits of the company….:)

Insurance companies do NOT give you insurance out of the kindness of their hearts…They are in it to make money….

If they can find any excuse to raise your premium or NOT pay a claim whatever the reason ..they will….

They are in the game to make money. Simple as that, no more no less.

I suggest you do a few insurance quotes and look at cash back sites.

I’ve just renewed my insurance. After looking at the quote I did a few searches and found that my existing company was still coming up the cheapest. Not as cheap as the renewal, but still cheaper then most..

Then looked at cashback sites and found one was offering 80 pounds cashback to new customers. So I told them I was NOT renewing and took out a new policy with cashback and saved and additional 35 pounds on the renewal quote..:) All being well I managed to get a comprehensive policy for around 250…as opposed to 285 for the renewal…So even though i paid more for a new policy, it was actually cheaper after cashback.

Its worth speanding a bit of time and getting hte best possible deal...

neilmcl

OP, I take it you didn't tell the insurance company of these "incidents" when you got your original quote. I'm surprised they're still willing to accept your custom.

italiastar

Hintza wrote: »

Well they could just refuse to insure you, especially if you become a PITA.

Whats Mediterranean Flatbread got to do with insurance ?