Admiral attempting to charge me an extra £908 for not declaring a no fault inicdent.

vacheron

Hi all.

Any advice appreciated on where they stand in the legality of this demand from Admiral car insurance which I received on Monday .

I've summarised the events to avoid pages of detail but can elaborate if requested.

• I was involved in a low speed minor bump on the 3rd of August 2015 where I was hit from behind while stationary at traffic lights.

• Minor damage to my car (bumper scratches) and the other driver accepted full responsibility.

• New insurance with Admiral was taken out on the 7th of August while discussions between myself and the other driver (actually the other drivers dad) were still taking place to find the best amicable solution for everyone.

• The other drivers dad wished to pay my garage directly for the repairs (so no claims were ever made).

• My garage (an authorised large Mercedes main dealer) told me their "no fault repair system" would take care of everything and there was no need to inform my insurance company.

• Prior to this I have never made a claim or caused an accident in 25 years of motoring, 42 years old with a 24 years of protected no claims discount.

• On Monday out of the blue I receive an e-mail from Admiral stating that they have become aware of a no fault "incident" (note "incident" not "claim" as there was none from either party) and are therefore intending to charge me an additional £908 on top of my original policy premium which was originally only £273 (so a 432% increase!).

• They decided to notify me of this almost a year after the incident and just 3 weeks before my policy is due to expire and have given me 3 weeks to pay in full.

While I appreciate in hindsight that I should have probably informed them (despite what I was told by my official franchised Mercedes dealer). I am contesting the amount of the charge. Comparing Admiral online quotes for this year with and without the incident added only increases the premium by about 10%!


I also accept that if I had made a claim they they may have had the right to refuse to pay, but do they have any right to attempt to charge me a 432% uplift retrospectively on a policy that is nearly expired and on which I have never made a claim?

I would appreciate any advice regarding this. I have already drafted a letter in the event that I need to appeal, however I am intending to ring them first, but the number given isn't open outside of working hours!

Rest assured I'm not going to do or say anything rash which may get my policy cancelled. But I do believe that they way Admiral have gone about this and the amounts claimed are bordering on extortion!

Quentin

It's the franchised dealer you should be training your sights on for giving you dangerously bad advice.


(Though you are ultimately responsible for agreeing that what you told your insurer when taking out the policy was the truth)

Ask them to itemise the extra premium they are now wanting and take it from their reply.

dunstonh

While I appreciate in hindsight that I should have informed them (despite what I was told by an official franchised dealer).

It is important that you recognise that you were in the wrong as that is what it boils down to.

I am contesting the amount of the charge. Comparing Admiral online quotes for this year with and without the incident added only increases the premium by about 10%!

You would expect to have to pay an amount that is higher. The amount seems a lot relative to the premium but you have increased your risk by failing to disclose an event which was only recent. That would suggest fraud rather than accidental forgetfulness on your part. Not saying it is. But how it looks. So, a non-disclosure event may well be factored into their risk pricing.

But I do believe that they way Admiral have gone about this and the amounts claimed are bordering on extortion!

Although you dont hold the moral high ground on this either.

I would point out to them that the quotes on their website come to whatever figure it is and ask them why the increase is so much greater. Do this as part of a complaint. Then see what that outcome is.

vacheron

Thanks both for the comments so far.

Quentin: I agree, and will be contacting the dealer who did the repairs as well.

When I took out the policy last year no decision regarding the claim had been made (though I agree that the accident had occurred at that point), however I didn't know if the other party was going to claim or pay direct as I hadn't got the quotes back by then.

dunstonh: I can accept a higher amount, I can accept a higher than usual amount as policy change administration has to be paid for, but £900 to change a policy to add an incident that all the consumer websites are stating a 30% "worst case" premium rise? (and that is for a no-fault claim, not just an "incident" as in my case.

GingerBob_3

This just goes to prove what low-lifes insurance companies are.


My question here would be how did they find out about this "incident"?


Where does this stop? A while ago I accidentally backed my car into another vehicle. It was the merest touch and no damage to either car. Should this be declared, !!!!!!?

vacheron

GingerBob wrote: »

This just goes to prove what low-lifes insurance companies are.

My question here would be how did they find out about this "incident"?

I can only imagine that the repair shop must have registered the repair on some kind of database, in which case the information I was given regarding there being no need to declare it was most certainly incorrect. No idea why it took almost a year for them to contact me though.

GingerBob wrote: »

Where does this stop? A while ago I accidentally backed my car into another vehicle. It was the merest touch and no damage to either car. Should this be declared, !!!!!!?

Well if my theory above is true then you will only be penalised if you have your car repaired by a legitimate repairer.

If you decide to fix it yourself there will be no record.... nor will there be if you use some dodgy back street garage.... or if you decide not to repair it at all.

I bet that will do wonders to reduce the amount of unsafe vehicles on the roads.

GingerBob_3

vacheron wrote: »

I can only imagine that the repair shop must have registered the repair on some kind of database, in which case the information I was given regarding there being no need to declare it was most certainly incorrect. No idea why it took almost a year for them to contact me though.

Well if my theory above is true then you will only be penalised if you have your car repaired by a legitimate repairer.

If you decide to fix it yourself there will be no record.... nor will there be if you use some dodgy back street garage.... or if you decide not to repair it at all.

I bet that will do wonders to reduce the amount of unsafe vehicles on the roads.

Probably CUE (Claims and Underwriting Exchange). You should ask them on what basis they have done this?

zen135

The garage most likely involved the other driver's insurer here to pay for the repair under their "no fault repair system".

Are you sure that the other driver paid the garage directly?

MataNui

If you had made a claim Admiral would not have paid out. So haw can they justify charging you for insurance they would not have provided? Personally i would tell them to Foxtrox Oscar.

JimmyTheWig

MataNui wrote: »

Personally i would tell them to Foxtrox Oscar.

Then Admiral will cancel the OP's policy.
And when they try to take out a new one they will have to answer "yes" to "have you ever had a policy cancelled?".
Not a good move.

JimmyTheWig

vacheron wrote: »

dunstonh: I can accept a higher amount, I can accept a higher than usual amount as policy change administration has to be paid for, but £900 to change a policy to add an incident that all the consumer websites are stating a 30% "worst case" premium rise? (and that is for a no-fault claim, not just an "incident" as in my case.

You need to read what dunstonh said, especially:

dunstonh wrote: »

You would expect to have to pay an amount that is higher. The amount seems a lot relative to the premium but you have increased your risk by failing to disclose an event which was only recent.

In other words, Admiral are seeing you as a higher risk as you are "the sort of customer who forgets to mention something important when applying for insurance".
Maybe they think that if you have an accident that you'll forget to mention that the pain in your neck had gone by the end of the day and claim for whiplash that lasted a week.

Is there a box to tick on the comparison website that tells them you are "that sort of customer"? I'm guessing not, so you can't get a like-for-like price.

Obviously we know the story behind what happened and have no reason to doubt the truth. So we know that you're not "that sort of customer". But they're not necessarily going to believe that. Which, unfortunately, means you're stuck.