Privilege insurance - recovery o/s

BiggaThanBen

My wife had an accident in June 2014 - she was stationary on roundabout when another car hit her car from behind.
She is insured with Privilege, so did the other driver.
There wasn't much damage done to her old car, only a small dent on the bumper, so we decided not to for the repair and only claimed for child carseat replacement.

We've got our excess back as well, as it was a no fault accident.

Now, 8 months later I am trying to renew her policy and the quote I am getting is more than twice higher than it used to be. I spoke to customer services and they said that recovery was still o/s on that case, which was affecting the quote.

Had a conversation with Recovery department and they said the other driver hadn't notified them yet and that I should accept the higher quote and then, when they investigate and close the case (within a month or so) I would get a refund. I am just concerned if nothing was done for 8 months, what stops them delaying it for another year.

The thing that annoys me, is that it wasn't our fault by any merits, the other driver had insurance policy with the same company and now we are being punished while he probably gets away with it. 8 months later he might not even have a car or insurance and Privelege wouldn't be able to recover the costs, leaving the claim o/s forever and us paying much more for the years to come.

I stayed with Privilege for around 10 years ( 2 cars + home insurance) as they always had the lowest quotes and processed the claims efficiently. Around 6 years ago I had a write-off due to snow-related accident, no other parties involved - the claim amount was 30 times higher and they couldn't recover it from anyone - still my insurance premium didn't change much, maybe 3-5% increase for a year.

Now, instead of £220 I used to pay for my wife's car insurance I have to fork out £550 and then, I guess, my own renewal will also be affected by this as a named driver.

I would leave Privilege all together after this experience, but the recovery o/s claim will still be there, increasing any quotes I may try to get.

What would you recommend doing in this situation ?

Also, in worst case scenario, is it possible to repay back to Privilege the claim amount and change the status to "no claim made".
It is just does not make any sense to get £250 for a carseat replacement and then pay £330 x 2 more for insurance for several years

Any help appreciated.

InsideInsurance

Log a complaint.

Insurers have specific processes to deal with "blue on blue" incidents to avoid issues of not acting in an appropriate way (ie deciding liability in the way to give them the lowest payout) but that does mean they do literally send letters to themselves.

Privilege will notionally recover the outlay from the third party's policy. Given its all the same company they do stop short of sending themselves a cheque. It makes no difference if the TP doesnt have the vehicle or has since switched insurer as long as the policy was in good standing on the date of the incident.

They should have already registered the claim on the other policy and done so as a TP notified incident which then triggers the process of trying to get in contact with their insured and get their version of events. Privilege have clearly dropped the ball by allowing the thing to go on 8 months without having even started that process and hence a formal complaint is more than appropriate.

BiggaThanBen

I will surely do, but what is the best thing to do now, I need to renew in 3 days and they say it may take 1 month to investigate.

It looks like a common practice these days, - http://www.theguardian.com/money/blog/2012/feb/15/car-insurance-no-fault-claims-elephant. She advised of shopping around, but recovery was made at the time of renewal in her case.

Would notifying them but not claiming change anything, I would also like to know how to deal with this in the future, I only had 1 write-off before and no small accidents ever.

dacouch

Have you physically received the payment back for your excess?

InsideInsurance

What NCD are they showing on your renewal notice? Have they reduced it for the ongoing claim?

If they have then you have more issues as other insurers are much less likely to allow you to increase the NCD once the issue is resolved than staying with them and renewing.

If the NCD is still what it should be either because it was protected or reinstated then you're free to shop around but when relevant you need to declare that there is an open claim.

BiggaThanBen

dacouch wrote: »

Have you physically received the payment back for your excess?

Yes, in September 2014. They paid the first instalment (without excess) in August.

BiggaThanBen

InsideInsurance wrote: »

What NCD are they showing on your renewal notice? Have they reduced it for the ongoing claim?

NCD is 10+ years, and it was protected, so no change there.

BiggaThanBen

InsideInsurance wrote: »

you're free to shop around but when relevant you need to declare that there is an open claim.

If I buy it from another insurance company and Privilege closes the claim 2 months later, will it be likely that the new insurer will refund the difference due to this change ?

Quentin

Explain the circs to your chosen company before buying and ask them to agree to adjust your premium if you get your ncd reinstated and refund you back to the policy start date.

If they agree ask them to confirm this in writing.

InsideInsurance

BiggaThanBen wrote: »

If I buy it from another insurance company and Privilege closes the claim 2 months later, will it be likely that the new insurer will refund the difference due to this change ?

Its more likely than increasing the NCD.

Once you find the cheapest insurer/ broker for you its worth having a word with them before buying. It may be that if you are otherwise a very low risk that the difference between an open claim and a settled non-fault claim is very small and the return premium may even be less than the admin fee for notifying them of the change.

BiggaThanBen

Update: got the claim recovered and difference in premium refunded.

Still not happy, the premium increased from £228 to £375 (after refund) = 65% increase in 1 year for no major reason.

We did change our car to one a few groups higher, but if I put the previous car details in the current quote the difference is only £30, all other details are the same.

And claim recovered / no claim change doesn't affect the premium at all.

Is it worth pursuing this by logging a complaint ?

p.s. Just checked my own car's quote for the next year and it is coming cheaper by almost 10%, something is definitely not right with that policy...