Will there be increased annual insurance costs following a non-fault car accident.

OhWow

Following a non-fault car accident, their insurer Admiral contacted me and are paying the garage directly for the repairs. 

Admiral texted to say it won't affect my no-claims bonus, but will I have increased insurance costs following a non-fault accident? My policy is due for renewal next month.

Should I be claiming this as uninsured losses on my Legal Cover? I have Legal Cover on my car insurance policy and also with the RAC policy that I renewed the other month (as they offered it for £7.50 during my negotiating of the renewal price for RAC breakdwon cover).

born_again

Who is your insurer?
Have you informed them?

As you will have to declare this claim at renewal & that will cause a rise in costs, as per how pricing works.

OhWow

Thanks for your reply.

So I claim this rise in costs through my Legal Cover?

daveyjp

Your current insurer may use it as an opportunity to try and rinse you, but insurance is competitive so shop around.

I once had a large claim following a hit and run, but the premium the year after with a different insurer was less than I had paid the year before, yet my NCB had gone from maximum to 3 years.

OhWow

Thanks daveyjp. I have protected NCB. 

I'm a good MSEer and shop around every year on my insurance policies.

I'm just not sure if I should be using (one of my) Legal Cover car policies to claim from Admiral for uninsured losses, due to the non-fault accident causing a rise in my annual car policies?

ThorOdinson

You can claim the increase from them, but it can be tricky if you go back to them months later. You could get some quotes now as a starting point.

DullGreyGuy

OhWow said:

So I claim this rise in costs through my Legal Cover?

That will depend on if your LE provider will consider it a valid head of claim that they are willing to pursue. Your issue will be proving the evidence that any change in premium is exclusively caused by declaring a non-fault accident.

Back in my claims days we would always reject it, very few ever came back to challenge our decision. There were a handful we made token payments to but that was from the "FO" fund which they would have gotten no matter what they were being a pain in the !!!!!! about. There are some however who have claimed to have had success in making a claim for it. 

OhWow

ThorOdinson said:

You can claim the increase from them, but it can be tricky if you go back to them months later. You could get some quotes now as a starting point.

Thanks. My insurance renewal is in the next few weeks, so I'll get on to that this weekend.

OhWow

DullGreyGuy said:

OhWow said:

So I claim this rise in costs through my Legal Cover?

That will depend on if your LE provider will consider it a valid head of claim that they are willing to pursue. Your issue will be proving the evidence that any change in premium is exclusively caused by declaring a non-fault accident.

Back in my claims days we would always reject it, very few ever came back to challenge our decision. There were a handful we made token payments to but that was from the "FO" fund which they would have gotten no matter what they were being a pain in the !!!!!! about. There are some however who have claimed to have had success in making a claim for it. 

When you make a claim is when you find out just how good your insurers are. I'm putting in a claim- in writing.

Decades ago I was called by Legal Cover on my household policy, to say they rejected my claim. I requested that they put that in writing. When the letter arrived, they said they had accepted my case. 

DullGreyGuy

OhWow said:

DullGreyGuy said:

OhWow said:

So I claim this rise in costs through my Legal Cover?

That will depend on if your LE provider will consider it a valid head of claim that they are willing to pursue. Your issue will be proving the evidence that any change in premium is exclusively caused by declaring a non-fault accident.

Back in my claims days we would always reject it, very few ever came back to challenge our decision. There were a handful we made token payments to but that was from the "FO" fund which they would have gotten no matter what they were being a pain in the !!!!!! about. There are some however who have claimed to have had success in making a claim for it. 

When you make a claim is when you find out just how good your insurers are. I'm putting in a claim- in writing.

Decades ago I was called by Legal Cover on my household policy, to say they rejected my claim. I requested that they put that in writing. When the letter arrived, they said they had accepted my case. 

Agree in part on the first point, many of the claims that are declined is because people have bought the cheapest policy they can find and that low price has been achieved by reducing the level of cover. As such you could have found out to some degree how good your insurance was by reading the policy book from the outset. 

Certainly you get additional insight once a claim is actually made however there is always an element of luck too as most claims are handled by humans and each person is ultimately different. It's also what adds to the difficulty in taking other peoples opinion. For example I made a claim for a theft 20 months ago, most of it was straight forward but for one item their claims person said they could see it on Amazon for £50 so would send me a voucher for the same. I was in front of my desk at the time so checked and there was a version for £50 but the version that had been stolen was £65. I was talking to the bloke, I pointed it out, he agreed and so I got a £65 voucher. Someone else may not have checked at all and not gone back to them but instead just said the service was bad as they were short changed £15. 

There are always pros and cons of the written -v- spoken word, generally things are quicker by having a conversation but points can be missed or paraphrased poorly. Putting it in writing isnt a 100% cure for this though as a letter/email will be summarised in the claims file to avoid someone having to read the whole thing (some customers write war and peace) so can still have points missed or paraphrased badly but its easier to go back to the original if needed. 

Given you would have to submit your evidence of what increased premiums you've had to pay then ultimately part is going to have to be in writing but a conversation may kick things off quicker and clarify what evidence they suggest you provide. 

OhWow

I've called my insurer back about this non-fault claim (all sorted very quickly by the other driver's insurer Admiral) and he said it will affect my renewal premium. His first suggestion was that I contact Admiral and ask them to arrange a payment for the rise in my annual insurance premiums due to their client.

He said they only had a phone number for the solicior firm they use. I couldn't find an email address on their solicitors' website but found it on the Law Society site. I'll email them and ask what evidence they want; thanks for the suggestion.