Premium Increased After Payment Made?

macman

My motor insurance was due for renewal on 3/9/23. I negotiated and paid for the new 12 month term on 24/8/23, and received confirmation and the policy documents on 25/8/23. Unfortunately I was then the  victim of an attempted car theft on 1/9/23, only about 24 hours before the new term was due to commence. A claim was made under the earlier policy and the vehicle is under repair.
On 14/9/23 I was emailed by LV and asked to pay an additional £160 premium for the new policy, following the claim under the old policy and a subsequent review.
My understanding is that once a new policy has commenced, the premium could not be increased in that term even if a claim is made, assuming that there are no other changes in circumstances. Does this not also apply if the premium has been paid at the agreed price and a certificate issued, even though the new term has not commenced? I realise that I am probably clutching at straws here, and that the small print does allow them to do this, but I have never been in this situation before.

user1977

It’s a claim before your term started, so I expect it needs to be declared and taken into account.

DullGreyGuy

You were obliged to inform them of any claims/incidents prior to inception and they are entitled to adjust the premium accordingly. 

You are somewhat lucky, they could have said your failure to inform them was attempted fraud and as such void your policy which you'd then have to declare for life. 

macman

DullGreyGuy said:

You were obliged to inform them of any claims/incidents prior to inception and they are entitled to adjust the premium accordingly. 

You are somewhat lucky, they could have said your failure to inform them was attempted fraud and as such void your policy which you'd then have to declare for life. 

The new premium was paid and the certificate sent about a week before the attempted theft happened.
How could I be guilty of 'failure to inform' when I claimed for the incident on 2/9, a day before the new policy commenced? 

DullGreyGuy

macman said:

DullGreyGuy said:

You were obliged to inform them of any claims/incidents prior to inception and they are entitled to adjust the premium accordingly. 

You are somewhat lucky, they could have said your failure to inform them was attempted fraud and as such void your policy which you'd then have to declare for life. 

The new premium was paid and the certificate sent about a week before the attempted theft happened.
How could I be guilty of 'failure to inform' when I claimed for the incident on 2/9, a day before the new policy commenced? 

Have you read your policy about notifications? Almost certainly it will state you have to notify them of any incident as soon as practicable possible

macman

DullGreyGuy said:

macman said:

DullGreyGuy said:

You were obliged to inform them of any claims/incidents prior to inception and they are entitled to adjust the premium accordingly. 

You are somewhat lucky, they could have said your failure to inform them was attempted fraud and as such void your policy which you'd then have to declare for life. 

The new premium was paid and the certificate sent about a week before the attempted theft happened.
How could I be guilty of 'failure to inform' when I claimed for the incident on 2/9, a day before the new policy commenced? 

Have you read your policy about notifications? Almost certainly it will state you have to notify them of any incident as soon as practicable possible

I think you may be misinterpreting my post. The attempted theft happened overnight, and I informed LV of the damage the next morning, as soon as it was discovered. 

DullGreyGuy

You make your declarations as at the date of inception of the new policy, so you say I will have 5 years NCD for example when actually at the moment you fill it in you have 4 years because you'll have earned the 5th at the end of this policy. It's therefore a prediction which needs to be kept up to date. 

You are required to advise your insurers of any changes that you become aware of which will include the pre-inception attempted theft and, if you are claiming off your old policy, any impact on your NCD from what you'd predicted you'd have when you bought it. They are entitled to reprice based on this new information.

As you were still pre-inception the cost of cancellation probably wouldnt have been to high so it'd be worth double checking if the new insurer remained the most competitive with the change in claims history. Some insurers target those with a clean sheet others are more comfortable with a small number of claims on record.