Motor insurance after an accident 14 September 2022 at 3:49PM in Motoring 15 replies 691 views

gropinginthedark

My car was a write-off, the other party has accepted full responsibility, he's pleaded guilty to driving without due care and his insurers have paid up for the vehicle (injury compensation yet to come). The other driver came round a blind bend, too fast, out of control and on the wrong side of the road 10 yards in front of me resulting in a 60mph+ not quite head-on collision 
I had renewed my insurance a few days before the accident (for £220). A few weeks later, when I bought the replacement car (very similar to the old one,  a newer model with better safety features) I contacted the insurer expecting a small admin charge for changing the details but they asked for £130, I didn't argue as the girl on the phone was difficult to communicate with - not very bright. Anyway I think my premium is very competitive and they'd been quite good at handling the incident.
6 weeks later I got an urgent request to call them.  This was to tell me they wanted another £180.  I asked why since I had a protected 20 year no claims discount and police had confirmed I was not at fault, the guy put me on hold for a bit and came back with a request for £65 which I paid because  at least it was less than £180!

So my insurance for this year adds up to about  £415. My question is have I been screwed or is it "normal" to have to pay what seems like a penalty for having the misfortune to be the innocent party in a collision?  I've not been in this situation before, other people have told me I can expect a significantly higher premium next year despite being the innocent party.

Catsacor

Which insurance company are you with ?

I've had 2 non fault claims and my premium cost did not increase.

grantday

I experienced a rise in premium too a few years ago when I got rear-ended while stationary in London traffic. It turns out that regardless of fault, making a claim in most cases results in an increase in premium albeit not as much as the at-fault driver.

Statistically, drivers who are involved in an accident are more likely to be involved in another accident at a later stage so you’re deemed a slightly higher risk. As it turns out, I was rear-ended again within the next 12 months of the last one but this time in stationary traffic on the M25 (it was a light shunt). Needless to say, I avoided the insurers on that instance.

cpbackhouse

Has everything been resolved yet and its definitely the third party insurer that has paid up for the vehicle?

I know sometimes until a case is completely closed and fully paid up (which may include your injury claim) you insurer won't fully assign blame to the third party. Not an expert but this has happened to a friend in the past.

Grey_Critic

Your car is insured with X = the vehicle written off = the insurance pays out. They have complied with the terms.

Your old insurance ended when they wrote off the vehicle and paid out and so ended the policy.

You buy another car and they start again with a new policy - The old policy does not continue

IF you have a protected No Claim Discount then that applies to the new policy.

facade

Grey_Critic said:

Your car is insured with X = the vehicle written off = the insurance pays out. They have complied with the terms.

Your old insurance ended when they wrote off the vehicle and paid out and so ended the policy.

You buy another car and they start again with a new policy - The old policy does not continue

IF you have a protected No Claim Discount then that applies to the new policy.

A half-decent insurer will allow you to transfer your policy to a replacement car, subject to an admin fee and payment of any extra charges if the policy would have cost more. It reads like this was happening, but then they changed their mind and cancelled the policy then started a new one.

Maybe the OP was dealing with a broker who didn't realise the insurer would cancel.

The bottom feeders cancel the policy. This is why a high-risk or young driver might drop a claim because they paid £2000 for their insurance last month and the write-off payment is  £2500 but they want to insure a new car, so they would be £1500+ out of pocket overall..

Flight3287462

Grey_Critic said:

Your car is insured with X = the vehicle written off = the insurance pays out. They have complied with the terms.

Your old insurance ended when they wrote off the vehicle and paid out and so ended the policy.

You buy another car and they start again with a new policy - The old policy does not continue

IF you have a protected No Claim Discount then that applies to the new policy.

The OP didn't claim on his insurance ergo his insurer didn't pay out.

Grey_Critic

facade said:

A half-decent insurer will allow you to transfer your policy to a replacement car, subject to an admin fee and payment of any extra charges if the policy would have cost more. It reads like this was happening, but then they changed their mind and cancelled the policy then started a new one.

Sorry but have come across this in the past. You cannot transfer the insurance as the original vehicle was written off, the insurance paid out and so the policy ended.

You do however still retain your protected NCD if it is a 2 claims in years entitlement

flashg67

Sounds possible that they originally asked for the difference to take on the newer car, then realised/decided to cancel the policy and ask for more money. May be too late now, but no harm is asking them to break down the costs. Many insurance companies do cancel a policy on a total loss incident, but as you'd only recently renewed, then you could argue that they should continue that policy on  the new car.
A friend successfully did this so it can be done

angrycrow

Grey_Critic said:

Sorry but have come across this in the past. You cannot transfer the insurance as the original vehicle was written off, the insurance paid out and so the policy ended.

You do however still retain your protected NCD if it is a 2 claims in years entitlement

That may have been the case a couple of decades ago but these days when the policy pays out on a total loss basis you can then add your new car on to the remaining policy. It is subject to the new car meeting the current insurers under writing criteria and is normally subject to a time limit such as 30 days to add a new car. Insurers may charge an additional premium if the new car costs more to insure 

angrycrow

It would be very unusual for an insurer to add a mid term increase for a non fault accident. 

I wonder if what actually happened here is the renewal quote was issued 2 to 3 weeks prior to renewal date. Op accepted the renewal but then had an accident before the renewal date. This would have changed the terms of the renewal requiring the op to inform the insurer of the accident ahead of the renewal. If the op failed to tell the insurers and they later found out about the accident they would be entitled to review the renewal quote to reflect the actual facts at renewal date.