Changing Car Insurance - Storm Damaged

xDivax90x

Hi,

So I've held my license for 4 years but have only been driving for the last year. In February of this year we had freak winds which casused my neighbours wall to fall on my car and my other neighbour's car. He admitted fault straight away and said his insurance 'would pay for everything'... yeah they didn't as I suspected so I called Churchill (my insurance company) and told them I've woken up to a wall ontop of my car in the end I paid my £700 excess and my insurance had to pay to fix my car.

Last year my insurance cost me £660 and the woman on the phone said it wouldn't go that high for this year, well it's £3,231.94 so I've shopped around put in that storm damage claim and how much it cost and the cheapest I've got was with Diamond for £758

My issue is at the bottom of my auto renewal letter with Churchill it says 'Accident, claims or losses in the last 3 years: Accident - partial blame' Which isn't the case at all when I asked why they put that they said because they don't have a storm damage section just accidents and because I claimed that's what it's had to be put down as.

I have proof that my claim was storm damage (photos, witnesses, neighbours) so when I'm filling it info for quotes and I put storm damage am I at risk of being declined for insurance because Churchill have marked it as an accident just because they don't have storm damage?

Thanks in advance

Smithers37

xDivax90x wrote: »

I have proof that my claim was storm damage (photos, witnesses, neighbours) so when I'm filling it info for quotes and I put storm damage am I at risk of being declined for insurance because Churchill have marked it as an accident just because they don't have storm damage?

Hi,

Car insurance doesn't have any classification other than Fault/Loss and Non-Fault/Costs recovered. They wouldn't have put it in the (partial) loss bracket unless there was a loss.

It sounds like you made a claim on your own policy and your insurer was not able to recover the costs (for whatever reason), this means that your claim was closed as Fault/Loss claim. Therefore, when doing new quotes you will need to disclose it as such.

Did you give your insurer any details of your neighbor's home insurance? It might be worth calling your insurer and asking them for details on the claim, and see if there was any contribution made.

xDivax90x

Hi,

Churchill don't but other insurers do have storm damage as a category, yes I had to make a claim because his house insurance wouldn't pay out, Churchill have their details but I know it's going no where.

I've emailed Admiral/Diamond because I couldn't get through on the phone they've emailed back saying to put the claim through as storm damage with them as it will be fine with them?

Should I try ringing through again to ask some one over the phone rather than through email?

InsideInsurance

Sorry, dont know a single Motor insurer that has "storm" as a claim type. The fact you say you have been putting this makes the whole story seem dubious.

Looking at Diamond's own website it is not an option either. Out of the options they do have it would be Damage to Your Car and Fault unless your insurers managed to make a full recovery from the wall owner which would be highly unlikely.

xDivax90x

there's nothing dubious about my story, comparison websites such as moneysupermarket let you put storm/flood damage, Diamond came up as one of the cheapest so I've just assumed that they accept storm/flood damage. If storm/flood damage isn't a category then why do they let you put it through? I've emailed diamond as I can't get through on the phone because it's busy. I told them I've got a quote with them through a comparison website and they've told me to put it down as storm damage as that's fine with them. I'll ring them and double check once I can get through.

Assessors have been out so everyone with both insurances (his house and my car) know it's storm damage.

My question was only do I put it down as accident because Churchill have or as storm because I'm extremely confused and also If I'm able to put it through as storm/flood damage then what does the claim come up as if no one let's you put in storm/flood damage?

[Deleted User]

Your neighbour's insurance will only pay out if your neighbour is somehow responsible for the wall falling down (e.g. poor maintenance).

xDivax90x

That was his home insurers excuse, that the only reason the wind made the wall collapse was because he didn't keep up maintenance of his wall.

Nevermind, it's all said and done with now I gave up months ago about getting them to pay which is why I'm switching insurers.

FlameCloud

xDivax90x wrote: »

That was his home insurers excuse, that the only reason the wind made the wall collapse was because he didn't keep up maintenance of his wall.

Nevermind, it's all said and done with now I gave up months ago about getting them to pay which is why I'm switching insurers.

But the problem is that you have said you have proven it was storm damage. Storm Damage =/= poor maintenance.

It is not their insurers 'excuse' - it is the common law of the land- just because something owned by someone else causes damage to something you own, doesn't necessarily mean they are responsible for it.

Your own insurers were right to record it as a fault accident.