Car Insurance Doubled Please Help

m344

Hello everyone,

A year ago (last May 2022) I was in a car accident on a roundabout. Another driver from the left hit me. He told his insurers I was in the wrong lane (right) trying to get into his (left). In fact he was trying to get into the right lane as he was going right. After we exchanged details he got back onto the roundabout and kept going right -I got a picture of him getting back on when according to his story -that was his exit hence him being in the left lane.

My premium renewed in June and was reasonable. Now May 2023 my premium has gone up over 100% and is circa £3000! I literally do not have the money but also they are not doing anything to try and settle this claim. I've called all year and I literally have to do this to get them to chase the other insurer. Today they literally asked me to send the photos again. They've had them since May last year! Given that you give way to the right on a roundabout and that he was not telling the truth and I have photos. Is there anything more I can do to get this recorded as non-fault? I don't have the money for the new premium price and need to get this settled asap. Cannot get rid of the car as it's leased and cannot insure anywhere else as the price are just as bad due to the unsettled status. I was also injured during this accident so really annoyed Churchill is dragging their heels.

DullGreyGuy

Unfortunately roundabout accidents often end up 50/50 because people are bad at describing them, in most cases both parties allege the other drifted into their lane and each story is as plausible as the next. Rather than roll a dice on who the judge believes the insurers avoid the legal costs by agreeing to the split liability. This wont help you though as "fault" means they couldnt recover all their outlay and a 50/50 settlement means they can only recover 50% and have to pay 50% of the other side's. A settled 50/50 claim will have the same impact as an open claim for most insurers.

As to trying to speed matters up, it really depends on the delay. Have the third party insurers acknowledged the claim? Have they confirmed no indemnity queries? Have they advised their stance on liability? What were the next steps agreed between the insurers?

It sounds like your insurers arent confident enough in your case to want to risk going to court, even if they go and win they still cannot recover costs and so prefer to try and deal with it out of court.

[Deleted User]

Get a dash cam. No help now but it often resolves this kind if thing more quickly.

For now shop around on comparison sites or try a broker.

retiringtoosoon

People who are involved in accidents tend to be at increased risk of having more accidents. Learn to be a better defensive driver

motorguy

m344 said:

Hello everyone,

A year ago (last May 2022) I was in a car accident on a roundabout. Another driver from the left hit me. He told his insurers I was in the wrong lane (right) trying to get into his (left). In fact he was trying to get into the right lane as he was going right. After we exchanged details he got back onto the roundabout and kept going right -I got a picture of him getting back on when according to his story -that was his exit hence him being in the left lane.

My premium renewed in June and was reasonable. Now May 2023 my premium has gone up over 100% and is circa £3000! I literally do not have the money but also they are not doing anything to try and settle this claim. I've called all year and I literally have to do this to get them to chase the other insurer. Today they literally asked me to send the photos again. They've had them since May last year! Given that you give way to the right on a roundabout and that he was not telling the truth and I have photos. Is there anything more I can do to get this recorded as non-fault? I don't have the money for the new premium price and need to get this settled asap. Cannot get rid of the car as it's leased and cannot insure anywhere else as the price are just as bad due to the unsettled status. I was also injured during this accident so really annoyed Churchill is dragging their heels.

Get to a solicitor ASAP and have them push this for you.

My son was in a similar position a few years back and the insurance cos were going to settle for a 50/50 even though the other party wholly came in to my sons lane.  The solicitor handled it all and got it sorted out. 

Dont rely on your insurance company's representation to do this for you - they are only interested in it costing as little as possible for them, rather than getting the right outcome for you.

DullGreyGuy

motorguy said:

m344 said:

Hello everyone,

A year ago (last May 2022) I was in a car accident on a roundabout. Another driver from the left hit me. He told his insurers I was in the wrong lane (right) trying to get into his (left). In fact he was trying to get into the right lane as he was going right. After we exchanged details he got back onto the roundabout and kept going right -I got a picture of him getting back on when according to his story -that was his exit hence him being in the left lane.

My premium renewed in June and was reasonable. Now May 2023 my premium has gone up over 100% and is circa £3000! I literally do not have the money but also they are not doing anything to try and settle this claim. I've called all year and I literally have to do this to get them to chase the other insurer. Today they literally asked me to send the photos again. They've had them since May last year! Given that you give way to the right on a roundabout and that he was not telling the truth and I have photos. Is there anything more I can do to get this recorded as non-fault? I don't have the money for the new premium price and need to get this settled asap. Cannot get rid of the car as it's leased and cannot insure anywhere else as the price are just as bad due to the unsettled status. I was also injured during this accident so really annoyed Churchill is dragging their heels.

Get to a solicitor ASAP and have them push this for you.

My son was in a similar position a few years back and the insurance cos were going to settle for a 50/50 even though the other party wholly came in to my sons lane.  The solicitor handled it all and got it sorted out. 

Dont rely on your insurance company's representation to do this for you - they are only interested in it costing as little as possible for them, rather than getting the right outcome for you.

Why have you not mentioned how much the solicitor cost him? As this is a small claims court action this will be a cost the OP will have to cover themselves and will be unrecoverable from anyone. Can be false economy to pay a solicitor £5,000 to try and avoid a £1,500 premium increase (half of which is probably unrelated to the claim anyway)

macman

That increase could largely be down to loss of NCB, if not protected.

GDB2222

Have you tried changing to telemetric insurance? You might have to drive very carefully in order to make savings, but it might get you back on the road.

Car_54

GDB2222 said:

Have you tried changing to telemetric insurance? You might have to drive very carefully

And why would that be a bad thing? Shouldn’t he be doing that anyway?

Krakkkers

Just read on a frugal living website that renewing insurance in February gets a cheaper quote?

m344

DullGreyGuy said:

Unfortunately roundabout accidents often end up 50/50 because people are bad at describing them, in most cases both parties allege the other drifted into their lane and each story is as plausible as the next. Rather than roll a dice on who the judge believes the insurers avoid the legal costs by agreeing to the split liability. This wont help you though as "fault" means they couldnt recover all their outlay and a 50/50 settlement means they can only recover 50% and have to pay 50% of the other side's. A settled 50/50 claim will have the same impact as an open claim for most insurers.

As to trying to speed matters up, it really depends on the delay. Have the third party insurers acknowledged the claim? Have they confirmed no indemnity queries? Have they advised their stance on liability? What were the next steps agreed between the insurers?

It sounds like your insurers arent confident enough in your case to want to risk going to court, even if they go and win they still cannot recover costs and so prefer to try and deal with it out of court.

Completely understand that but this is where it gets weird. They were sure and advised me of this on the phone many times. They literally said verbatim from the information presented they class the other driver as at fault and would take this to court. No new info has been presented from the other party since so I'm not sure how they have u-turned.