Help!!! Car insurers ripping me off

naedanger

As others have said you need to make a formal complaint. I suggest you do it in writing. The company then need to give you a formal response and if you are still unhappy then you can take the matter to FOS.

(If you are unhappy with the FOS decision you can if you wish then go to the small claims court. However you cannot do it the other way round. If you take any legal action FOS will not look at your complaint. So you are better going to FOS first since it is free and you still have the option, if you are unhappy with the outcome, of going to the small claims court later.)

Once you have the company's formal response you can if you wish post again to get suggestions on how best to frame any escalation of the matter to FOS.

nicenic

Just out of interest, why did you stay with the same insurer for 3 years overpaying the premium? I must be missing something?

Jumblebumble

nyermen said:

Is it possible the OP's insurer feels they've correctly priced the extra premiums due to the risk profile at that point, and in fact the other party (or their insurer?) is the one potentially liable to compensate?

I doubt it
The extra premiums were surely as a result of making a claim and it being not yet established that the OP was not at fault.
You seem to be suggesting the OP will pay the same loading for a Fault claim where the insurers are out of pocket CF a Non Fault claim where the insurers are reimbursed their outlay
I see later the OP says insurers kept the excess which is indefensible unless the OP is mistaken about their insurers being reimbursed all their outlay
I had a claim with AXA where the third party came across a give way onto a roundabout and crashed into the side of our car, and then told her insurers that our car had driven the wrong way around the roundabout
As soon as a solicitor's letter persuaded them of their stupidity and they accepted liability my Excess  and the loading on our other car as a result of this was returned  immediately.
OP did they take your No Claims Bonus as well and have they refused to reinstate it.?
( not applicable to me as mine was protected)

dwsjarcmcd

Looking at the breakdown of the money you're owed, it includes a £500 excess.  Given that they've not returned this, it suggests to me that they have held you at fault.  Agree with others, a formal complaint and if it's not upheld, then FOS

Smithcom

Emilyb1984 said:

Hi, I was wondering if I could be advised on car insurance. My car was involved in an accident almost 3 years ago, accident was caught on dash cam proving I was not at fault, and was also witnessed by 2 police officers. The insurers of the guy who’s fault it was refused to pay out. So our insurance company said we’d have to put it as a fault claim so they could take the other insurers to court. We was promised we would get all our overpayment back. Now the claim has been settled they are refusing to give us a refund on overpayments, which is approximately £80 a month for almost 3 years and our insurance went up on another car by approximately £1300 over 2 years. Is anybody able to advise us, we are getting nowhere with these people.

Sorry to hear you are having problems.
You really have 3 options:
1.   Find out exactly why the premium is not reducing.   If your No Claims Discount (NCD) reduced, and is now reinstated, this should represent a reduced premium, both going forward, and going back to the date that it was reduced.     In the main, most insurers are reasonable.   They are very unlikely to simply refuse a refund if one is blatantly owed.    Escalate to a manager
2.   Escalate to a complaint with the insurer and await their official response
3.   If no joy with 1 or 2 above, take matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service (ideally, try and resolve without going to the FOS, as their timescales are pretty dire at the moment)
I would recommend that you start with #1 and fine out exactly why they feel no refund is due.  That will give you a starting place, even if you dont agree with them.
Hope this helps
Good luck