Car Insurance Premium Hike even though it's a no-fault claim

richard_millward

Hi,

My Hastings Direct car insurance recently came up for renewal. They sent me the renewal quote of approx £200 which I accepted.

The renewal date was beginning of November. The renewal quote letter came about a month earlier.

My wife had an accident on 30th October and we started a claim with Hastings. They have now closed the claim as no-fault of our own and the third-party have accepted liability. All good so far.

On 17 November, Hastings wrote to us. The important part of the letter is
"We have recently received notice that a claim has been registered on your policy dates 30th October 2015. Due to this claim an additional premium of £74.57 has been generated on your policy."

In their covering letter they have the audacity to write "on this occasion we have not charged our adminisration fee of £25!".

So, let me get this straight. Our car was stationary. A third party hit us, accepted liability, as did the insurers.

Yet we are now financially penalised by Hastings to the tune of £74.57. I suspect for the next 3 years our premium will be higher.

I called them. They said "statistically we are now a higher risk of another claim". So basically, they accept the no-fault claim, yet they penalise us too.

This absolutely stinks to me. The actions of a bad driver cause my own premium to increase through no-fault of my own.

Surely this just smacks of profiteering? Has anyone else challenged such an increase successfully?

I was hoping my extra 'legal costs' cover would help - maybe the third party will pay this? But no. That's far too much common sense. They cant help either.

TSx

Unfortunately, a lot of insurers still do this - not all though - your best bet is to use a comparison site for next year - it's probably not worth cancelling now with the cancellation fees that will entail but you might want to have a look anyway.

Hastings don't have a great reputation anyway - but they're not alone in doing this. You can make a formal complaint and then escalate to the ombudsman but as pricing is a commercial decision for Hastings to make, it is very unlikely they'll uphold a complaint.

Quentin

The renewal offer you got prior to the claim was based on you completing the policy year with no material changes.

Your wife's claim meant that all bets were off as far as that renewal price was concerned. Hence the premium increase.

Most insurers ask for your history over the previous 5 years (includes Hastings), but shop round at renewal for the best deal

superbigal36

You can now claim direct from the 3rd party insurers for your additional costs though.

I had 2 similar non fault claims direct from 3rd party and was waiting for a potential renewal hike. Fortunately my insurer did not have any increase for the non fault claims. (I did test the system as anonymous).

OnanTheBarbarian

In other news Hastings Profits are up 19%

richard_millward

I don't understand. My solicitors said they won't claim for this from the third party. How did you do it superbigal36

[Deleted User]

I claimed for the policy cost increase too. Your solicitors work for you, instruct them to recover the loss from the at-fault party's insurance. Make them aware that you will be claiming for increased costs next year when you renew too.

Don't take no for an answer.