Insurance Premium went UP with no claim made

maximus000 · 9 June 2017 at 4:40PM

Hi to all reading this thread.
I recently received a letter from my car insurance company informing me that my premium went up £430 due to changes in my insurance details. I phoned them and was told that I phoned my previous insurer back in 2015 informing them my car was scratched by another car while stationary. They now got details of that call and will be raising my premium even though I didn't claim any money because the repair was only about £75.
Now I remember the situation from back in 2015 when I phoned my previous insurance company and I remember asking the agent what will happen if I want to claim and what will happen if I don't claim? He explained that If I want to claim my insurance premium will go up and I will loose some of my NCB, and if I won't claim the premium will stay intact. I thanked him for all the information he gave me and told him I won't be claiming as the fix is very cheap anyway.
What should I do now? Clearly he wasn't honest with me saying the premium won't go up even if I don't claim? Or is it because I'm now with different insurer? Extra £430 is a lot of money

BeenThroughItAll · 9 June 2017 at 4:58PM

Your premium didn't go up when you didn't claim in 2015.

It's gone up now because you reported an incident in 2015 and then didn't tell your current insurer in 2016/17 or whenever you bought the current policy.

Your insurer will have asked if you have had any incidents, or accidents in any vehicle, regardless of fault and whether a claim was made, or something along those lines - the T&Cs of your insurance will also make it clear that you should report any incident regardless of whether you intend to claim.

By failing to notify your current insurer that you'd had an incident (of which a record on the CUE database exists) you were (deliberately or not) potentially committing insurance fraud.

Bottom line is, you're lucky they've continued to cover you at an increased premium and not just cancelled your policy, or you'd be in a whole lot more pain for the rest of time when any future insurer asks if you've ever had a policy cancelled and then hikes your premium.

maximus000 · 9 June 2017 at 5:34PM

I see... I better pay them the extra £430

And what about the dishonest agent on the phone who didn't inform me of future implications regarding the phone call?

Iceweasel · 9 June 2017 at 6:05PM

maximus000 wrote: »

I see... I better pay them the extra £430
And what about the dishonest agent on the phone who didn't inform me of future implications regarding the phone call?

'Dishonest'? - but he didn't tell you anything at all which was untrue.

The problem you have now was caused solely by you not declaring it.

There is a possibility that if you had declared it, your policy would not now be being hiked by £430.

System · 9 June 2017 at 6:06PM

maximus000 wrote: »

I see... I better pay them the extra £430
And what about the dishonest agent on the phone who didn't inform me of future implications regarding the phone call?

Your premium didn't go up so he wasn't dishonest. Technically only dishonest person here is you for not declaring an incident/accident when you took out the subsequent two years insurance.

EdGasketTheSecond · 9 June 2017 at 10:25PM

yeah but £430 for a non-claim is taking the p*ss. My sympathies are with the OP and the current insurer is taking advantage of a technicality to rip him/her off. Take it through their complaints channel and then the ombudsman; reason: that the increase is extortion; no claim on insurance was ever made and £75 scratch repair doesn't equate to £430 of extra risk!

iolanthe07 · 10 June 2017 at 10:36AM

In order to keep headline premium rates down, especially important these days with the advent of comparison sites, insurers will use every trick in the book to sqeeze more money.

Strider590 · 10 June 2017 at 11:58AM

You could look at this more objectively, if your car got scratched then you probably parked it in a higher risk location.

People who park all over the kerbsides, just to be closer to the store, or park next to trolley bays, next to 4x4s, vans, old people cars or cars with child seats, or park opposite junctions, or double park, they voluntarily park their cars where there is an increased risk of damage.......

So playing the devils advocate, should I have to pay just as much when I make a point of parking my car in safe locations???

arcon5 · 10 June 2017 at 3:03PM

If you declared it i suspect the actual amount wouldn't have been much more than the original price. But now you've failed to declare they don't like that and your paying a heavy price for your dishonesty.

The operator didn't tell you that you don't have to declare it to other companies, you answered a clear questionly falsely.

Get quotes online for insurance with the correct details and if the difference in price is small it might be cost effective cancelling the policy instead and changin over, obviously suffering some charges

maximus000 · 11 June 2017 at 11:56AM

Thank you all for your answers :beer: I've learned my lesson now. Will not make the same mistake again

Insurance Premium went UP with no claim made

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