Issue with car insurance policy due to previous insurer

CupcakeQueen

Before Christmas 2015, our house was broken into and as a result, the car was stolen. The car was recovered but the thieves were never caught. Due to the damage that had been done to the car as a result of the burglary, the insurance company we were with at the time, decided to write the car off as the damage would cost too much in relation to the value of the vehicle. We made a claim to the company we were with at the time, for the theft and we were eventually paid out by them.
As a result of that, we went to look at getting fixed up with a new vehicle. Upon looking at various insurance policies and prices, we took out our new insurance policy with a different company to who we had previously been with. We received our document of our proof of no claims discount (as it was protected) a few weeks ago from our old insurer. We then gave this to our new insurer. However, last week, we received a letter from our new insurer stating that we were going to be getting charged an extra £120 (made up of an additional premium charge and an administration fee). We couldn't believe this! We contacted our current insurer and asked why this had happened and they said that because our old insurance company had put our claim down as a 'fault claim' as opposed to a 'non-fault claim', our new insurer had to update their system so that it matched the same as our old insurer! What I am asking is, surely our old insurance company are in the wrong here in what they have filed the claim as (fault) as it was not our fault that a burglary occurred and the car was stolen as a result of that??? Some answers would be greatly appreciated!! I don't think we should have to be paying this money as well as what we are paying for the insurance policy each month!

[Deleted User]

If the insurance company weren't able to recover their costs from a third party, then it would have gone down as a fault claim.

dunstonh

We contacted our current insurer and asked why this had happened and they said that because our old insurance company had put our claim down as a 'fault claim' as opposed to a 'non-fault claim', our new insurer had to update their system so that it matched the same as our old insurer! What I am asking is, surely our old insurance company are in the wrong here in what they have filed the claim as (fault) as it was not our fault that a burglary occurred and the car was stolen as a result of that??? Some answers would be greatly appreciated!! I don't think we should have to be paying this money as well as what we are paying for the insurance policy each month!

The insurer is correct. The "at fault" is not great wording. It means if there has been a claim that the insurer has not been able to recover the funds from another party. In your case, they have not been able to.