Car insurance renewal: ‘Open incident’ has suspended my no claims discount
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GuildfordRob
Posts: 1 Newbie
RANT:
3 months ago I had about a 1 mile an hour ‘touch’ between my car and another car (in front of mine) in a traffic queue. The other driver wanted to exchange details. When I got home I called my insurer to be on the safe side, and in case some fabricated claim was later submitted. I checked and was told this wouldn’t affect my renewal unless there was a claim. And I thought nothing more of it.
Fast forward three months and I’m shopping around for new car insurance (after Admiral tried to increase our two car multi-car policy by 85%!) - when I discover that there is an ‘incident’ on my records. And also discover that my 21 years no claims record now says just 3 years.
Admiral tell me that, although the other driver never contacted them, me having contacted them has created an ‘open incident’ which will remain open for six months. And until then my no claims discount is ‘suspended’. (Although why it’s then 3 years not 0 years also makes no sense).
To add insult to injury, my new insurer - although beating Admiral - says it can’t protect my ‘3 years’ no claims, and if Admiral will issue new proof of 21 years no claims after the six months have elapsed they’ll refund me the difference between the current quote and what it should have been, BUT they won’t then allow me to protect 21 years. The only way to do that will be to cancel ‘in year’, get a refund, and then take out fresh insurance with protected discount.
Just more evidence of the many tricks the insurance industry uses against law-abiding, rule-following consumers. Is this a known phenomenon? One that MSE or anyone else is campaigning on? Otherwise, this is just a rant. Unless anyone can advise on other ways to challenge all this?
Thanks.
3 months ago I had about a 1 mile an hour ‘touch’ between my car and another car (in front of mine) in a traffic queue. The other driver wanted to exchange details. When I got home I called my insurer to be on the safe side, and in case some fabricated claim was later submitted. I checked and was told this wouldn’t affect my renewal unless there was a claim. And I thought nothing more of it.
Fast forward three months and I’m shopping around for new car insurance (after Admiral tried to increase our two car multi-car policy by 85%!) - when I discover that there is an ‘incident’ on my records. And also discover that my 21 years no claims record now says just 3 years.
Admiral tell me that, although the other driver never contacted them, me having contacted them has created an ‘open incident’ which will remain open for six months. And until then my no claims discount is ‘suspended’. (Although why it’s then 3 years not 0 years also makes no sense).
To add insult to injury, my new insurer - although beating Admiral - says it can’t protect my ‘3 years’ no claims, and if Admiral will issue new proof of 21 years no claims after the six months have elapsed they’ll refund me the difference between the current quote and what it should have been, BUT they won’t then allow me to protect 21 years. The only way to do that will be to cancel ‘in year’, get a refund, and then take out fresh insurance with protected discount.
Just more evidence of the many tricks the insurance industry uses against law-abiding, rule-following consumers. Is this a known phenomenon? One that MSE or anyone else is campaigning on? Otherwise, this is just a rant. Unless anyone can advise on other ways to challenge all this?
Thanks.
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Comments
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You had an incident, you were to blame and reported it to your insurer
So of course it is on your record and should be disclosed to all insurers you approach for quotes over the next year's depending on how long a history they ask for.
Get your new insurer to confirm in writing to you they will refund the premium difference back to the start of the policy before you buy.
Although you have 21 years NCD most insurers maximum is 9, and wanting to protect it now is truly shutting the stable door too late!
If you do get your NCD reinstated then it's your call whether to go to the expense of cancellation in order to protect it or just wait till renewal.
It is the norm for insurers only to allow protected NCD from the inception of the policy
Whenever you are unhappy with your insurer the route to go down is a complaint in line with their complaints procedure.
Then if you are unhappy with the reply or they ignore you for 8 weeks you can escalate to the FOS for their adjudication at no cost to you0 -
So OP you didn't protect your no claims discount before the accident? if you didn't you only have yourself to blame to save on a few quid"It is prudent when shopping for something important, not to limit yourself to Pound land/Estate Agents"
G_M/ Bowlhead99 RIP0 -
I had an open claim during the time of my renewal. There was no issue with my no claims record as I had protected it at the time of the accident. My insurance did go on the basis that it was a fault claim even though at the stage it wasn't decided who was at at fault.
I don't understand why you think you are being 'scammed' you didn't protect your no claims you can't expect to whilst there is an open case. It is like being burgled without house insurance, ringing up for insurance the next week and expecting them to cover you for the robbery.
I can understand why you are miffed as there is actually no claim the other party didn't report it but they still could do yet. If you hadn't told your insurance and they did report it you would be an worse situation.
Just pay the increase keep your record clean for the next year and then you can start to protect your full no claims if the other party don't report in the time frame.0 -
GuildfordRob wrote: »RANT:
3 months ago I had about a 1 mile an hour ‘touch’ between my car and another car (in front of mine) in a traffic queue. The other driver wanted to exchange details. When I got home I called my insurer to be on the safe side, and in case some fabricated claim was later submitted. I checked and was told this wouldn’t affect my renewal unless there was a claim. And I thought nothing more of it.
Fast forward three months and I’m shopping around for new car insurance (after Admiral tried to increase our two car multi-car policy by 85%!) - when I discover that there is an ‘incident’ on my records. And also discover that my 21 years no claims record now says just 3 years.
Admiral tell me that, although the other driver never contacted them, me having contacted them has created an ‘open incident’ which will remain open for six months. And until then my no claims discount is ‘suspended’. (Although why it’s then 3 years not 0 years also makes no sense).
To add insult to injury, my new insurer - although beating Admiral - says it can’t protect my ‘3 years’ no claims, and if Admiral will issue new proof of 21 years no claims after the six months have elapsed they’ll refund me the difference between the current quote and what it should have been, BUT they won’t then allow me to protect 21 years. The only way to do that will be to cancel ‘in year’, get a refund, and then take out fresh insurance with protected discount.
Just more evidence of the many tricks the insurance industry uses against law-abiding, rule-following consumers. Is this a known phenomenon? One that MSE or anyone else is campaigning on? Otherwise, this is just a rant. Unless anyone can advise on other ways to challenge all this?
Thanks.
I think you're been very unnecessarily cynical.
A third party (generally speaking) has 3 years to make a claim for injury. 6 years for damage. So it's not unfair that the insurer is keeping the file open for a short while to see if anything develops.
You chose not to protect your No Claims Discount. Hence it has been reduced to 3 years on the insurer's scale.
If you read the policy wording, you will see that No Claims Discount reduction is done on a scale. If the insurer's maximum allowance is 5 years, then the discount will be reduced to 3 years.
Most insurers will not protect No Claims Discount mid-policy. You have to wait until renewal date. There are fair reasons for this, insofar, as it would encourage No Claims Discounts to be protected for potentially known reasons. Also, most insurers will not protect non-Maximum No Claims Discounts.
Were you not offered Protected No Claims Discount at last renewal date?
The insurance industry has a number of issues which the public can be upset at, but I think you may be backing the wrong horse here.
Good luck with your campaign
DM0
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