Car insurance soars after non-claim

Electro_Magnet

I'm writing on behalf of my mother, who has car insurance with M&S motor insurance. A few months ago she hit her wing-mirror with a bus and the bus driver took her insurance details. My mother, a bit panicked by the incident, reported it to M&S insurance. (she said their customer service was awful.) The representative she spoke to told her that the incident would be recorded for 3 months, and that would be all. The bus company never made any claim.

Today my mother's car insurance is up for renewal and the quote has risen by over £200. Shocked, she rang M&S insurance to ask what has happened, and another very unhelpful rep told her that this incident is now permanently on her insurance record.

She believes that by self reporting the minor incident she has completely invalidated many years of no-claims bonus, and is imaginably very angry and distraught.

Can anyone shed any light on what has happened here and if this is normal practise? An article on This is Money "Honest-drivers-hit-insurance-penalties" suggests that this is a growing problem. Has she really lost many years of no-claims bonus, even though a claim was never made and there was no intention of making a claim? Will this be an issue even if she moves to another insurer? Was she right to report the incident, or should she have stayed quiet?

Thanks

arcon5

She'll have the declare the 'accident/incident' for 5 years (or however long they ask for - comparison websites for example typically want a 5 year history).

If no claim was made by her or the bus company her no claims remains in tact - as no claim has been made on her policy. She'll only lose some if a claim was made on her policy by whoever. Although worth getting her NCB 'protected' to avoid this in the future.

Tell her to get quotes elsewhere (she'll have to declare the incident though) and no doubt her premium will return to a reasonable level.
Renewal quotes almost always seem to be an attempt to screw over the gullable and lazy.

Electro_Magnet

Thanks acorn5,

I've taken a look at her paperwork and the incident is listed as 'accident damage' on her current quote - although both she and the bus driver agreed there was no damage incurred. However her current quote does say that she has retained her no-claims discount.

Just wondering, surely she would have been better off if she never mentioned this whole non-incident to her insurance company in the first place?

Quentin

Electro_Magnet wrote: »

Thanks acorn5,

I've taken a look at her paperwork and the incident is listed as 'accident damage' on her current quote - although both she and the bus driver agreed there was no damage incurred. However her current quote does say that she has retained her no-claims discount.

Just wondering, surely she would have been better off if she never mentioned this whole non-incident to her insurance company in the first place?

There was damage according to your op (wing mirror)

You are right in that if she was happy that no claim would come from the bus company and was happy to pay all her repair costs then she would have saved some premium loading.

Though not to report would be a breach of her policy conditions and the bus report to their insurers would have included her details.

InsideInsurance

So, has the renewal documents got her old NCD on it or 3 years?

Presumably she was at fault for the accident?

M&S car insurance is a rebadge of the insurance broker Budget, its not hard to find reviews of them

Electro_Magnet

Hi Quentin, it was my mother's car's wing-mirror which hit the bus. No damage was incurred on the bus and there was minimal damage to my mother's wing mirror. She was not seeking to claim any money from the insurance.

So it seems she was correct to report the incident to her insurance. I'm surprised that her insurance premium has shot up so dramatically, considering she did not make a claim. As far is she is aware the bus company never reported the incident as there was no damage to the bus. She never heard any more about the incident.

Hi InsideInsurance, in the new renewal documents they have stated that she retains her 9-year NCD. It seems she was at fault.

We will look into a comparison site tomorrow as acron5 as suggested, hoping that this 'incident' won't pump up the premiums of other insurers too much.

missile

minimal damage is that a bit like being a little pregnant?

marlot

If there was no claim then I suggest getting M&S to downgrade it to 'information only'.

Quentin

Electro_Magnet wrote: »

Hi Quentin, it was my mother's car's wing-mirror which hit the bus. No damage was incurred on the bus and there was minimal damage to my mother's wing mirror. She was not seeking to claim any money from the insurance........


It seems she was at fault......

As posted previously, the incident was correctly recorded as "accident damage" (ie your mother suffered a "loss"), and not as a "claim"


Where has she seen the word "fault" in all this?


If they have said "fault" anywhere on her renewal notice regarding this, then that does need correcting.


("Fault" regarding a claim refers to the insurer having to pay out and not get recompensed off a third party - but in your mother's case had they paid out then she would have lost some NCD - as she hasn't, this was a no fault "loss", as she made no claim for the damage caused to her car)

InsideInsurance

marlot wrote: »

If there was no claim then I suggest getting M&S to downgrade it to 'information only'.

Cannot comment for Budget but certainly insurers I've worked with have no "information only" option on their system. They simply register a claim and then close it non-fault straight after (or leave it open for 6 months if its a to blame incident to see if the TP approaches).

As to the OP and their premium increases, I would wonder if the call centre agent is just blaming the incident rather than admit that their computer just gives them a number each year and they arent privy to how its made up so cannot separate the impact of the incident -v- any other movements in premiums.

SilverSaloon

Her insurance sees her as higher risk now. She may not have claimed but she still was involved in an accident that was her fault...

if you are not going to claim, then best to just not mention it to your insurer. (although you should, legally)

I'd shop around now - never go with the renewal anyway, regardless as its almost always way over what a new policy will offer elsewhere.

many insurance companies will not take a non-fault claim against you, some will. but in this case it was her fault but no claim was made which makes it tricky as she has to now declare a fault claim for the next 5 years for a wing mirror she never actually got fixed by them...