Car Insurance Dispute

hawthornthwaitel

Hi all,

In January last year my partner (named driver on my policy) was accused of being involved in a collision with a parked vehicle. We disputed the claim as it hadn’t been our vehicle involved. This process took a significant amount of time, during which we switched insurance providers. When we took out our new policy we were advised that we would have to register the fault against my partner until the dispute was resolved, at which stage they would recalculate our premiums. For the last 18 months the premiums we have been paying have been based on my partner having been at fault for an accident, however in August this year we went to court on this issue and the claim was dismissed. The insurer seems happy enough to recalculate our premiums however a question has been raised as to whether or not we’re entitled to any reimbursement considering we’ve been paying significantly more for the last 18 months than we would have done if this had never happened. The insurer is obviously less keen to answer this question. But surely if they’re acknowledging that there was no fault now then they’re acknowledging that we’ve effectively overpaid for the last 18 months? Would appreciate some advice - I know it’s a strange one!

Car_54

Others with more insurance knowledge may have better advice, but ...

I would make a formal (written) complaint to the insurer. If you exhaust their complaint procedure without success, you can take it to the Ombudsman. https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumers/complaints-can-help/insurance/motor-insurance

Nearlyold

Did the Insurance company tell you at any point that they would backdate any premium reduction? 

hawthornthwaitel

Nearlyold said:

Did the Insurance company tell you at any point that they would backdate any premium reduction? 

When I was setting up the policy I called to ask whether I needed to declare it as a fault and what would happen if we won the dispute to which they said it needed to be logged but if we won the dispute the premiums would be recalculated and they could look at reimbursement however that phone call took place 18 months ago and I wasn’t a customer at that stage so it isn’t logged on any record they have of conversations with me 

Sandtree

hawthornthwaitel said:

Nearlyold said:

Did the Insurance company tell you at any point that they would backdate any premium reduction? 

When I was setting up the policy I called to ask whether I needed to declare it as a fault and what would happen if we won the dispute to which they said it needed to be logged but if we won the dispute the premiums would be recalculated and they could look at reimbursement however that phone call took place 18 months ago and I wasn’t a customer at that stage so it isn’t logged on any record they have of conversations with me 

There may be some problem with how long ago the call was but most insurers record all calls and can search for calls using things like the number you dialled from, time, date, who you spoke to etc.

Ultimately if they originally said they would refund the previously paid premiums then register a complaint including as much detail of the call that you can recall. If you are unhappy with their response, or no response is received within 8 weeks, then you can escalate the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service. They will certainly ask the insurer to provide a transcript or recording of the call and will probe if the insurer states they are unable to.  I've dealt with complaints where the call was lost due to a technology problem on our end and the FOS generally don't look fondly in these kinds of scenarios.

Car_54

The OP is now saying the insurer said they “could look at reimbursement”. That’s a lot less clear-cut than his first post.