New Car Insurance Policy - Extra Charge???

ColinA

Took out a new car insurance policy today with the AA.

I used MSE to get the best price and was very pleased.

I paid for the new policy 20 days ago.., and no issues...

Two days ago I got an email from them saying that my car had been involved in an accident / claim back in 2020, and I owed them another £37..

As far as I was aware, I've never had any accidents or claims in the last 20 years or more.

A phone call to the AA and they said my car was involved in a claim back in 2020, and that this had been flagged up with my then-insurer, ESURE. 

The AA said if I could get a letter from ESURE confirming no claims or anything had happened they would get it removed.

I rang ESURE and they said that there was an "information only" flag on my account from 2020, and they were surprised the AA even had it on their system. 

This related to another ESURE customer's son, scaping my parked car in a local supermarket. I had informed them of this, but myself and the other driver sorted it all out between us, as it was a minor mark and we were both ESURE customers, so no point in a claim etc..

ESURE sent me a letter which I forwarded to the AA which stated, “no claims had been made on the policy number” and as far as they were concerned there were never any, as it had been resolved by myself and the 3rd party, privately and outside of the insurance company.

Simple problem, sorted out between the two of us privately in 30 mins. I contacted ESURE at the time to ask if this would be an issue and cause me any problems in the future and I have an email from them saying there were no issues as no claim had been made and it would never be a problem, so I never thought any more of it..

Also, worth mentioning that my 2021 insurer never mentioned it, and last year's insurer, Hastings Direct never mentioned it.

I forwarded the letter from ESURE to them, and they said “The claim information that we have recorded does already show that the claim was closed and non-fault and no payments made, the incident still needs to be noted and the additional premium is still due”

This seems mad… No claim of any description was made and that was confirmed by ESURE, and I would argue, weight was added to that by my last two insurers as they never considered it as “nothing” happened..

Are we saying that if back on 2020 I had contacted ESURE to ask them the time.., they would have recorded that as “information” on my account…, and by that the AA guidelines is considered a “flag” on your account..? – No claim happened, end of story..

I have had no option by to fork out £37 on top of my policy for something that never happened and wasn’t my fault in the first instance..

Are there any Ombudsman-type bodies that I can go to in order to get this reversed, or challenged..?

Peter999_2

Statistically wise, you are now more likely to have a claim then you were before.  The whole of the insurance system relies on statistics to calculate premiums.        Unfortunately, no-one will be able to cancel this charge for you.

ColinA

Thanks, Peter, I guess the question is, why was it not an issue for ESURE or HASTINGS DIRECT, but it was a problem for the AA... All happened over 3 years ago too... 

dunstonh

ColinA said:

Thanks, Peter, I guess the question is, why was it not an issue for ESURE or HASTINGS DIRECT, but it was a problem for the AA... All happened over 3 years ago too... 

It was not an issue as esure as they knew about it already.

Some insurers will increase their premium on nil payout claims.

 I contacted ESURE at the time to ask if this would be an issue and cause me any problems in the future and I have an email from them saying there were no issues as no claim had been made and it would never be a problem, so I never thought any more of it..

It remains a declarable claim though (incident = claim in insurance speak)

Also, worth mentioning that my 2021 insurer never mentioned it, and last year's insurer, Hastings Direct never mentioned it.

Maybe they found it and it never made a difference to their premium.  Maybe they didn't find it.

I forwarded the letter from ESURE to them, and they said “The claim information that we have recorded does already show that the claim was closed and non-fault and no payments made, the incident still needs to be noted and the additional premium is still due”

That is correct and logical.

This seems mad… No claim of any description was made and that was confirmed by ESURE, and I would argue, weight was added to that by my last two insurers as they never considered it as “nothing” happened..

But there was an incident. Which equates to a claim.

Are there any Ombudsman-type bodies that I can go to in order to get this reversed, or challenged..?

There is nothing to challenge or reverse.  The FOS is not a pricing body and if the insurer decides it wants to load the premium on an incident then it is their right to do so.      If you had declared it correctly, then the price on the comparison site (or other distribution channel used) would have reflected the correct premium.   However, you failed to disclose correct information to the question asked and it happens that the insurer you bought with happens to charge a bit more in that scenario.

No wrongdoing here.  Just a bit of misunderstanding.

400ixl

The question you were likely asked was whether you had had any accidents or claims over a certain period. You may not have made a claim, but you did have an accident which has to be declared regardless of any claim being made.

Therefore they are correct and you should have declared this when answering the question.

Be glad they have spotted it now and given you the chance to rectify rather than cancelling the insurance due to non disclosure which would cost you a lot more than the £37 for many years.

One to take on the chin really.

bluelad1927

ColinA said:

As far as I was aware, I've never had any accidents or claims in the last 20 years or more.

Then proceeded to state that you were in fact aware of an accident

This is just a simple misunderstanding  by you of the wording of a question

There is no requirement for an Ombusman. Consider yourself fortunate that your insurance hasn't been cancelled. If the AA hadn't brought it to light now you can bet they would have found it if you had needed to make a claim on the policy

DullGreyGuy

So you were involved in an incident and have been failing to declare it?

It wasn't a problem for Hastings because they failed to detect your fraud, they equally would have had issued if they'd done checks and found details of the incident. The fact the AA is more thorough isn't a bad thing for the majority of customers that are answering the questions about incidents honestly. 

Just to remind you, the AA ask:

In the last 5 years, have you had any accidents, losses or insurance claims which involved a motor vehicle? Please answer 'yes' even if you weren't to blame, or a claim wasn't made.

Having caught you having falsely not declaring the incident they are entitled to reprice the policy based on the correct information. In fact you are fairly lucky as some other brokers would have added a £50 administration fee on top of the £37 additional premiums.

Don't want it to happen again in the future? Answer the questions correctly. It certainly could have been worse, if they had decided that it was a reckless non-disclosure they could have voided the policy which you'd then have to declare for life. Most that have had this done end up paying double or triple premiums and generally only for lower quality products.