Car insurance renewal questions

arciere

My car insurance is due for renewal on the 6th January. Until last year, my insurer (esure) would send me the renewal quote 30 days before that date, but apparently they have now changed it to 18 days. In the meantime, I am trying to get quotes from other insurers, but I'm having some difficulties.

I currently have two claims (one in August last year, one in September this year). The one from last year I thought was fully closed as non-fault, but when I spoke to esure last week, they told me that they had to re-open the case because the third-party paid them twice, so now they need to return the extra-money. They confirmed that my NCD will not be affected.

The second claim is still unsettled, but esure have confirmed that this one also won't affect my NCD as it was a non-fault accident (my car got smashed into while it was parked) and the other insurers have accepted full liability.

I have also requested a NCD certificate from esure, which states that, currently, I have 2-years of bonus.

My question is: when requesting quotes from other insurers, provided that nothing is communicated to me in the meantime, can I state that, when the renewal is due, I will have 3 years worth of NCD? If the two claims have not affected my current NCD with esure, is it safe to assume that, unless told otherwise, I won't be losing them?

DE_612183

I think you still have to disclose the accidents ( whether they are no-fault or not ).

DullGreyGuy

arciere said:

My question is: when requesting quotes from other insurers, provided that nothing is communicated to me in the meantime, can I state that, when the renewal is due, I will have 3 years worth of NCD? If the two claims have not affected my current NCD with esure, is it safe to assume that, unless told otherwise, I won't be losing them?

If you've categorically been told by eSure that you won't then your certainly shouldn't... we certainly stood by our promise even if a claim subsequently went sideways and didn't end up being non-fault however the declaration of the status of the claim would have to be honest (ie customer could still claim 3 years NCD but would have to declare 1 fault claim).

Certainly the former claim is just an admin job to refund excess monies so no chance of it closing fault or impacting the NCD. If the TPI have already confirmed liability on the second then there is low risk on that one. 

bluelad1927

DE_612183 said:

I think you still have to disclose the accidents ( whether they are no-fault or not ).

But that wasn't the question. You can declare accidents and still retain a no claims discount

The OP is asking can are they safe to say that they have 3 yrs NCD with "unresolved" claims that are assumed non fault.

I think that unless you can be 100% sure then it's probably not safe to assume anything when it comes to insurance companies

arciere

DE_612183 said:

I think you still have to disclose the accidents ( whether they are no-fault or not ).

Yes, that was implied.

arciere

bluelad1927 said:

DE_612183 said:

I think you still have to disclose the accidents ( whether they are no-fault or not ).

But that wasn't the question. You can declare accidents and still retain a no claims discount

The OP is asking can are they safe to say that they have 3 yrs NCD with "unresolved" claims that are assumed non fault.

I think that unless you can be 100% sure then it's probably not safe to assume anything when it comes to insurance companies

Yes, I agree with the 'being safe'. In which case, what should I do? Declare the two claims and change my NCD to 0 myself, even though the certificate I have says I currently have 2 (3 in January if nothing changes)?

Insurance company warn you every 5 minutes that they have databases and cross check whatever you tell them, which is fair enough. Then why don't make this process more automated, so you tell me how many NCD years I've got, based on my details?

DullGreyGuy

Quote on what you believe the answer to be and save the quote and don't buy until you have your renewal from eSure (which you'll want anyway as they may be cheaper than others you are seeing). The renewal notice from eSure will confirm what NCD they are basing on and as long as it matches what you quoted for then you are safe to proceed and buy.