Getting car insurance with a claim pending with another insurer

spousedebt

Hoping for some advice.

My daughter's insurance renewal has just come through for £541 with 2 years no claims bonus (she is 19yrs old). Unfortunatly, a couple of days ago, someone changed lane without indicating and went into the side of her. They admited fault, we have dashcam footage and the damage is minor (£650 quote from local paintshop).

We logged a claim with the insurance (we really wish we hadn't now!!!) and they kicked off the claim process. Our first suprise was that we would have to pay the young driver's £700 excess but that wasn't too bad as it would be refunded when it's established that there is no fault.

We then explained that the renewal had just come through and what would we need to do about that as there is now a claim pending outcome on there. We were then told that they would need to requote but it would be with NO 'No Claims Bonus'. Again, a bit shocked but they said that the increased premiums would also be refunded once the claim was established as 'No Fault'. So again, not too bad.

Then the fun really started because the insurance (RAC Black Box) emailed to say that they would no longer be offering insurance to anyone as they were winding down their Black Box insurance arm. No policies would be renewed and it was recommended all customer go to Aviva.

So we are now in a position where we have to ask a new insurer for insurance with:
No 'No Claims Bonus'
A pending claim for which we cannot provide a Value (although we know it's about £650)
The claim will remain 'at Fault' until proved otherwise.

Quotes are now coming in at £4000!!!!! which she cannot pay. That is her whole student loan! The current case is likely to take over a year until its settled and we have a value and claim status!

I need to stress that my daughter needs the car for university. She is a paramedic and having a vehicle is mandatory as they attend sites at short notice all over and at all hours. 

So for a minor bump with cosmetic damage of £650 and no damage to the other car, my daughter is going to suffer a loss of over £3300 and have leave university because this will take over a year to resolve. How can this be right? How can the insurance company take someones future and career away just because someone ran into the side of her!

Any advice, we a desparate

Thanks

Car_54

Has your daughter spoken to Aviva, as advised?

AFAIK RAC is a broker not an insurer, and I suspect her old policy was probably underwritten by Aviva. If not, she could try whoever her insurer actually was.

swingaloo

Even if she had not wanted to claim she would still have had to report the bump to her insurer,

Sadly, even a 'no fault' will still put mean quite an increase in premiums.

Nobbie1967

If the other driver is admitting fault, why not cancel the claim with her insurer and go direct to the third party insurer. They should be able to resolve in a couple of days. I’ve always found them very keen to get it sorted. She’ll still have an accident on her record, but NCD will not be affected.

Aretnap

Indeed, if this only happened a couple of days ago and if the insurer hasn't actually started to repair the car, it shouldn't be too late to tell her insurer that she doesn't want to make a claim after all, and have them record it as an incident but with no claim made.

If the damage can be fixed for less than her excess then there is little point using her insurer anyway - she can either pay a £700 excess to get if fixed through insurance, or £650 to get it fixed at the local paintshop.

She then has a few options:

(1) Contact the third party insurer directly and ask if they will arrange the repair themselves (meaning no excess and a no-fault claim to report)

(2) Pay £650 to the paintshop and then try to reclaim it herself from the third party

(3) Chalk it down to experience and bodge the repair as best she can with a can of paint from Halfords (obviously depending on the exact damage, how fussy she is about its appearance, whether she intends to sell the car in future or drive it until it falls apart etc)

Either way she still has to declare the accident, but she will still have her NCD and can declare the accident from the start as either a no-fault claim or as no claim made from the start, which should bring her quotes down somewhat.