Car Insurance Article Discussion

Myszka

Hello,

Can anyone help me please? My car insurance is up for renewal. I parked my car in a carpark in July and whilst shopping, someone scratched it with their car. I made a claim, but because this affected my new quote, i cancelled it two weeks later.

I don't know what to do and feel like I am being punished for making a claim and then cancelling it. I don't know what category to put it under in the accidents page. I tried 'mailicious' and no claim, but it would not accept my answer.

Can anyone help me please? I don't know what to do. Thank you.

System

Myszka wrote: »

Hello,

Can anyone help me please? My car insurance is up for renewal. I parked my car in a carpark in July and whilst shopping, someone scratched it with their car. I made a claim, but because this affected my new quote, i cancelled it two weeks later.

I don't know what to do and feel like I am being punished for making a claim and then cancelling it. I don't know what category to put it under in the accidents page. I tried 'mailicious' and no claim, but it would not accept my answer.

Can anyone help me please? I don't know what to do. Thank you.

Any accident or damage to your car must always be reported to your insurance company even when you do not intend to claim (it is reported for information only) as per the terms of the insurance policy contract.

Unfortunately, many / most motor insurance companies will normally increase your premiums for the next 3 or more years simply due to the fact that they consider you and your car to present a higher risk of future claims because of the accident / damage.
However, the premium increase should not be as much as it would have been if you had gone ahead with the claim.

You can check by doing comparative quotes on the comparison sites, do a quote with the damage reported but £0 claim amount, then do a 2nd quote with a claim amount of say £1000 to see what effect it has. (Can also do a 3rd quote without the reported damage to get an idea of the difference you would have paid before the report, but that is only to give you an idea of how much the increase has been.

fordy

OH, MY, GOD

my renewal is £1500! Last year was £350.

Zurich won't offer cover this year so we've gone to Aviva on your behalf and sold your backside down the river.

What in gods name do they expect me to do?

burnleymik

It's an incredibly tough situation, but drivers have no choice, pay the price or drive illegally.

Unfortunately more and more people are driving illegally because they cannot afford insurance, which has the adverse affect of also pushing up premiums, then add the fact that when people do have a crash/bump they are pressured to make claims and some probably do to sort of feel like they are getting something back for the amount of money they are paying for insurance, plus the fraud/scams and you have one big vicious circle with no end in sight.

It seems to me the whole way it is set up is currently one giant mess and needs a full over-haul, until someone steps in to do that, we are going to have to like it or lump it unfortunately.

burnleymik

Also, just reading a website regarding the punishment for driving without any insurance:

I have been stopped by the Police for driving without insurance. Do I face a driving ban? Driving without insurance is a serious offence which can result in an immediate disqualification from driving. A driving ban can often be in the region of 28 days but can also be substantially longer for repeat offences.
For first offences, the Court would normally impose between 6 and 8 penalty points, but no ban.
There will also be a fine which will vary depending on the circumstances and whether the Defendant was using the vehicle themselves or permitting another person to use the vehicle.
Can I receive a Fixed Penalty for driving with no insurance?

Yes. Many Police forces issue a Fixed Penalty Notice of 6 points and £200 fine

So you can see the problem... for those of us who are not worried about the law, the worst punishment is a ban from driving (you would'nt have been able to drive legally anyways because you couldn't afford it), 6 points ( 6 points in thsi day in age with all the speed traps is not unusual) and a £200 fine (which is likely to be significantly lower than your insurance). Can't see anything about jail time for the offense.

If someone couldn't afford to legally drive because of the huge insurance premium costs, the penalties for getting caught without it are not so bad.

Disclaimer: I do not know how accurate the quoted information is.

ClassAct_3

I thought discrimination on the grounds of gender had been outlawed for car insurance!!! My partner and I have used GoCompare to obtain quotes. We are 58 male and 57 female, drive the same car, have clean driving licenses and full no claims. No medical conditions, no accidents etc etc etc.... I am Employed she is Independent Means.
I am the second driver with my partner being the main driver.
When get a quote using my details (Male) it is considerably less than if we use my partners details (Female). Can someone explain why this is so ????? !!!!! :mad:

Big_Hairy_Spider

Last year we signed up with the Pru - fully comp on a Focus, clean licence, 9 year ncd = £337. The renewal this year was for £450.

As a previous poster also noted - we have also sold our soul to Aviva and their terrible reputation for service.

However, with a 20% online discount, and £70 cashback through Quidco, fully comp, 10 year ncd, clean licence = £180.

Price is a very persuasive tool

System

ClassAct wrote: »

I thought discrimination on the grounds of gender had been outlawed for car insurance!!! My partner and I have used GoCompare to obtain quotes. We are 58 male and 57 female, drive the same car, have clean driving licenses and full no claims. No medical conditions, no accidents etc etc etc.... I am Employed she is Independent Means.
I am the second driver with my partner being the main driver.
When get a quote using my details (Male) it is considerably less than if we use my partners details (Female). Can someone explain why this is so ????? !!!!! :mad:

This new European ruling does not come into force until 21 December 2012.
See : http://edition.cnn.com/2011/BUSINESS/03/01/europe.insurance/index.html

But there are many factors which effect the premium, including your employment status.

fordy

Girl from Zurich told me yesterday that they were grading postcodes not just on vehicular risk anymore, but also on the number of personal injury claims in the postcode area. That doesn't really have much to do with wether your car will be stolen, damaged or how bad a driver you are does it?

Go ahead, move the goal posts to suit your agenda.

We can't win.

charlieheard

fordy wrote: »

Girl from Zurich told me yesterday that they were grading postcodes not just on vehicular risk anymore, but also on the number of personal injury claims in the postcode area. That doesn't really have much to do with wether your car will be stolen, damaged or how bad a driver you are does it?

Of course not, but it has everything to do with how much risk the insurance company is taking on by insuring people. If they live in an area with high personal injury claims, people are much more likely to have a claim against them (or even make a claim, if they're dishonest).

Insurance companies exist to make money (if they lose too much they go bust!) so they try to cover every risk...