Loss of no claims for being hit by debris on an Mway?

happyandcontented

Long story short my OH was driving a company car and was hit by a sheet of wood which flew off the van in front. Fortunately, it broke up on impact but as it slid along the roof of the car it caused damage. He had it fixed under his company insurance and thought no more about it.

Now, he needs to insure a car in his own name and the letter from the company to prove his no claims has the incident on it. So instead of having 12 plus years, he has only 2.

Is there any way around this as he wasn't at fault and couldn't get the number of the van which was at fault? Essentially, it seems the same as a hit and run, so will he be penalised by the insurance companies for this?

force_ten

with the insurance industry it is not about who is at fault it is about who pays for the claim

in your husbands case a claim was made against his company car insurance and they paid for the repair so that will be classed as an at fault claim

I had the same with a hit and run and no way of tracing the at fault driver so my insurance picked up the bill and i now have an at fault claim on my insurance history

[Deleted User]

happyandcontented wrote: »

Is there any way around this as he wasn't at fault

As my insurance rep once said to me, it's a no claims bonus, not a no blames bonus.

Richard53

jack_pott wrote: »

As my insurance rep once said to me, it's a no claims bonus, not a no blames bonus.

I was about to say the exact same thing. A hit and run would be treated in the same way.

Aretnap

It would be the same of a tree fell on his car or if it was damage by a fire caused by an electrical fault in his garage. NCD is reduced if he makes a claim - it has nothing to do with whether any blame tests with him. The one exception is where his insurer recovers it's full costs from an at fault third party - in which case the is no cost to his insurer and effectively he hasn't made a claim at all.

AdrianC

If he could have shown negligence by the driver of the vehicle that the sheet came from, and taken their registration at the time, then it would have come off their insurance. As it came off his, then it does hit his NCB, yes. He'd have to declare the incident either way, and that'll probably affect the premium more than the NCB.

Quentin

happyandcontented wrote: »

....Now, he needs to insure a car in his own name and the letter from the company to prove his no claims has the incident on it. So instead of having 12 plus years, he has only 2.

Is there any way around this as he wasn't at fault and couldn't get the number of the van which was at fault? Essentially, it seems the same as a hit and run, so will he be penalised by the insurance companies for this?

As you have been advised this is a fault claim as his insurer cannot get their outlay back and his ncd correctly impacted


However get him to check the wording of his policy to see how much ncd he loses after one claim


Normally you lose 2 years (from a max of 5)so he would normally still have 3 years to use at renewal


Now he understands how NCD works he might want to consider protecting it when he reaches 4 0r 5 years worth of NCD again

angrycrow

If I am interpreting this correctly the op oh has been driving a company car insured by his company for a number of years so actually has no ncb in his own name. He now wants to start a new private policy in his own name and the insurer have agreed to mirror the number of claim free years on his employers policy. He had a claim 2 years ago so is 2 years claim free.

The correct answer has already been given that it is "no claims bonus" not a "no blame bonus"

It is lucky the new insurer will allow 2 years as they are not required to.

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

The other hidden extra of claims is that although you may retain a no claims bonus, a claim also affects the base premium so a protected no claims premium may still go up - even for a no fault claim.

I found this out many years ago when my premium went up significantly when I had a car window smashed and something stolen from the car even though a glass claim supposedly did not affect my NCB.

Quentin

IanMSpencer wrote: »

my premium went up significantly when I had a car window smashed and something stolen from the car even though a glass claim supposedly did not affect my NCB.

Premiums usually go up every year (irrespective of whether or not you made any claims)


Protecting your maximum NCD means that the maximum discount is given to the loading any claims have resulted in (as well as discounting the base premium as usual)

Warwick_Hunt

IanMSpencer wrote: »

The other hidden extra of claims is that although you may retain a no claims bonus, a claim also affects the base premium so a protected no claims premium may still go up - even for a no fault claim.

I found this out many years ago when my premium went up significantly when I had a car window smashed and something stolen from the car even though a glass claim supposedly did not affect my NCB.

A glass claim probably would of but you didn’t make a glass claim you were a victim of theft.