no claims bonus lost over a phone call

natuke

Hi
I need some advice regarding my husband's car insurance. He has been driving for about 4 years, had collected 3 years of no claims bonus. However, this year one of the children managed to scratch another car by opening the cars door too fast on the parking lot. My husband paid for the scratch in cash. However, he also called the insurance company for advice - not to open a claim, but to ask if he needs to do anything else. (he is honest and a little bit naive like this )
It's time to renew the policy and they informed him that he had lost all 3 no claim bonuses over that little scratch that he did not even intend to claim for. :eek: Obviously the insurance costs went seriously up... Is there any way to negotiate/correct the situation?

Aretnap

If there was and will be no claim then his no claims bonus should ultimately not be affected (the clue is in the words "no claims") - but the fact that he's reported an accident may still push his premium up a bit even his he keeps his NCB.

That said if he (or the child) damaged another car then he doesn't get to choose whether to make a claim or not - it's down to the other driver to decide whether to make a claim against him. Of course the other driver might not make a claim - he might accept a handful of cash from your husband to get it fixed instead, or he might just say "who cares, it's just a scratch", but your husband's insurance company will assume that a claim is on its way, and will reduce his no claims bonus in anticipation of it.

If there is still no sign of a claim from the other driver after a reasonable period (I think 6 months is the norm, unless there's good reason to expect it will take longer) then his insurer should restore his no claims bonus. However it's a pain in the backside if his renewal comes in the meantime.

So he needs to check (1) has any claim actually been made (2) if not, when will they close the file and restore his NCD and (3) get them to confirm that they'll refund the difference in this year's premium if/when his NCB is restored.

If it turns out that the other driver has made a claim then it may be possible to "buy back" his NCB by paying his insurer whatever they spent on repairs to the other car - he'll have to find out how much this would be and decide whether it's worthwhile.

He can also change insurer, but he'll have to disclose the unresolved claim. He should check with the new insurer that they'll refund any difference in premium if/when his old insurer restores his NCB - and be prepared to do some legwork in terms of passing on documentation as his old insurer won't automatically inform his new one when his NCB is restored.

Retrogamer

Check with the insurance company if the incident is still open and ongoing, or if it is fully settled.

They may be trying to contact the 3rd party to ensure it is fully settled and in the process of this, they will be treating it as an "at fault claim" and NCB would be suspended until the matter is resolved.

If no money was paid out by his insurance company as it was settled in case, they should mark it as at fault claim, costs recovered (or £0) but the NCB should not be affected unless they have had to pay out.

Quentin

Retrogamer wrote: »

If no money was paid out by his insurance company as it was settled in case, they should mark it as at fault claim, costs recovered (or £0) but the NCB should not be affected unless they have had to pay out.

No.

If no money was paid out by his insurance company it will be marked as "no fault"

Insurers use "fault" to mean they paid out and " no fault" to mean they had no cost, and nothing to do with "blame"

Retrogamer

Quentin wrote: »

No.

If no money was paid out by his insurance company it will be marked as "no fault"

Insurers use "fault" to mean they paid out and " no fault" to mean they had no cost, and nothing to do with "blame"

If someone has an accident and it was their fault and their insurance company paid out, but they then reimburse the insurance company do database records get updated to reflect that incident from "fault" to "non fault"?

mattk_180

Retrogamer wrote: »

If someone has an accident and it was their fault and their insurance company paid out, but they then reimburse the insurance company do database records get updated to reflect that incident from "fault" to "non fault"?

Normally, yes.