Word of warning - Only contact your insurance if you are sure you will claim!

[Stoofa]

OK, it's insurance renewal time.

Last year it was a little over £400 and this year Admiral have sent me a renewal for £845 which I of course find criminal.

I used the "compare" sites and found plenty of quotes around the £420 - £450 mark, so you'd think it was straight forward, either move on or get Admiral to match. So I gave them a call and quoted them the Elephant.co.uk quote I had in front of me.

The nice lady went away and came back telling me I hadn't told Elephant everything about my situation and that is why the quote was so much lower.

In January last year I had a run-in with a white van driver. It was a 50/50 situation however he drove off without leaving details.

I contacted my insurance to basically ask for advice. No claim was every made, either by myself or the other party.

However it was an "incident" and although it is listed as a "Incident only, notification made. £0, no claim" it added £200 to the elephant.co.uk quote, taking me up to £633 - which Admiral would match.

I decided to try a few others and on each occasion, when mentioning the "no claim incident" it added around £200 to the quote. There is no point me lying about it, the "incident" will now be on the central database and would get me in trouble should I need to make a claim.

So, the moral of this story is simple - only contact your insurance company if you've got any kind of intention of actually claiming. As I have to declare this "non incident" for the next 5 years, it's going to end up costing me around £1000 during that time!

[BossFox]

It's terrible, but that's what they do! :(

[anewman]

Crikey. It's part of the terms and conditions of your insurance that you inform them. I guess it could work against you should the other party decide to contact their insurance company, even if at the time they seem happy to not go through insurance.

Funny you mentioned an Elephant quote to Admiral, they're basically the same company just trading under different names - hence why they knew what details you gave. Last time I had a much cheaper quote than Admiral they wouldn't match it, but would offer to reduce their price.

[j0hn]

I got hit by an ambulance on emergency call the day after boxing day. I reported this to the police and, on their instruction and under the assumption the ambualance's insurer would contact my insurer, I notified my insurance company (Elephant). I assume this will somehow load my premium.

[fikes75]

I got hit by an ambulance on emergency call the day after boxing day. I reported this to the police and, on their instruction and under the assumption the ambualance's insurer would contact my insurer, I notified my insurance company (Elephant). I assume this will somehow load my premium.

Yes you will be penalised for someone else being at fault.

I had someone run into the back of me a couple of years ago and on renewal i was penalised because of this ,when i asked why they basically said i put myself in the position to be involved in an accident,as in if i had taken a different route that day it would not have happened which i think is ridiculous but they will find any excuse to load up your premiums ,now i will have to pay extra because of someone else's mistake.

[vRS Carl]

If you start mentioning Court to the insurance company then you can get them to re-instate your full no claims. Your not at fault and should not be penalised. Unless the insurance company can prove that your now a higher risk than any other motorist on the road because someone hit you then they will find it very difficult to maintain that charge.

I know someone who had to go through that process and got all his no claims etc re-instated.

I recently had someone reverse into my car whilst it was parked up and informed my insurance company. I have it in writing from them that i will not be penalised when it comes to renewal as long as no financial claim is made against me (which it hasn't) so that might be something worth remembering.

Insurance Co's annoy me with the way they work as they do anything to try and make money out of you. It might be worth speaking to the insurance ombudsman for advice.

I certainly wouldn't sit back and let them take £200 extra a year off me!

[Stoofa]

If you start mentioning Court to the insurance company then you can get them to re-instate your full no claims. Your not at fault and should not be penalised. Unless the insurance company can prove that your now a higher risk than any other motorist on the road because someone hit you then they will find it very difficult to maintain that charge.

I know someone who had to go through that process and got all his no claims etc re-instated.

I recently had someone reverse into my car whilst it was parked up and informed my insurance company. I have it in writing from them that i will not be penalised when it comes to renewal as long as no financial claim is made against me (which it hasn't) so that might be something worth remembering.

Insurance Co's annoy me with the way they work as they do anything to try and make money out of you. It might be worth speaking to the insurance ombudsman for advice.

I certainly wouldn't sit back and let them take £200 extra a year off me!

There was no "No Claims" lost. My renewal form includes a "proof of NCB" which shows 11 years.

This is purely on the "No Fault/No Claim/No money exchanged Hands" incident I had.

We basically had a 50/50 altercation on on further investigation neither of us decided to take anything any further - if he hadn't driven off without giving me details then this would never have happened as I'm sure we'd have just said "OK, lets leave it at that" and gone on our merry ways, neither of us even bothering our insurance companies.

As he drove off I phoned them for advice over anything, no claim was ever made, but in their eyes it was an "accident" and so I get penalised.

Mention this one incident to any insurance company and my £430 quotes become £630.

[vRS Carl]

Ok that makes more sense now. It will be easier for me as i claimed off the woman's insurance and just informed mine as a matter of courtesy as per the small print.

If mine goes up i will be taking legal action as i'd like to know how being reversed into suddenly makes the car more magnetically attractive to other cars

Have you tried the likes of Adrian Flux, Greenlight, Sky etc to see if they can give you a better deal?

[Stoofa]

I hope that your incident won't increase yours.

However my "incident" is listed under the "Non-fault, NCB not affected" category and that I fear is exactly the same category yours will be listed under.

Being "hit" in the eys of the insurance company does make you more likely to be involved in an accident, as crazy as it sounds.

You can shop around, however like me you will have to mention the incident for the next 5 years even though you were not at fault and your NCB is still there.

I hope things go find at your renewal time, but I can see you coming back and having exactly the same problem as me

[vRS Carl]

Shall find out in June

[Farnz]

It's all done on correlations - they're not actually interested in causation; hence them losing in the EU courts over the differential pricing for men and women (they were asked to prove that there were sex-linked differences that didn't go away when you controlled for factors like what sort of cars different people choose to drive, and couldn't).

People who are involved in accidents are more likely to be involved in future accidents; some of the people caught in this drag net are perfectly safe drivers who could not have avoided the accident short of not driving - something like being rear-ended by an ambulance while you're waiting at a red light, because the ambulance driver immediately behind you got an emergency call, and hit the gas before they looked or turned on their blues and twos.

Others are the type who do things like brake for the junction at the last minute (effectively doing an emergency stop for every junction), and get rear-ended by someone who hasn't noticed the junction ahead, and wasn't expecting you to brake that hard. Still the fault of the driver behind for not keeping a safe distance, but the driver in front is driving in a way that causes accidents - this time, it wasn't their fault, but later, they might find themselves skidding through the junction, as they misjudge the last minute, and this accident is their fault.

Insurance doesn't (and probably can't) collect enough information to tell the two apart, thus penalising the first class of driver; they certainly can't ask you, because if you are the second type of driver, you will still claim to be the first type.

Oh, and be careful with not telling your insurers; 90% of the time, they won't find out if neither side claims. The other 10%, they'll invalidate your insurance and pass your details to the police for prosecution, as you "failed to disclose a material fact".

[vRS Carl]

I'm pretty sure it says in the small print of all policies that you must inform them. It certainly has on all the companies i have used as i shop around each renewal time to get the best quote.

[Snowey_vRS]

I had the same my car was hit in a car park in 2010 £200 worth of damage the third party paid all fees but coz I rung my insurance for advice as the third party done a runner I now have to put it done as a non fault incident and I now when my renewal was due last week I had trouble finding a price sub £500. I'm 30 with 11 years protected no claims I have never crashed its just this guy that hit me know loads my policy up :(

[Stoofa]

I had the same my car was hit in a car park in 2010 £200 worth of damage the third party paid all fees but coz I rung my insurance for advice as the third party done a runner I now have to put it done as a non fault incident and I now when my renewal was due last week I had trouble finding a price sub £500. I'm 30 with 11 years protected no claims I have never crashed its just this guy that hit me know loads my policy up :(

Who did you go with in the end?

I'm 36, 11+ years NCB. Single non-fault accident living in the lowest risk postcode. I'm getting quotes around £620.

Now that is on a £200 excess (£100 compul, £100 vol) but even upping that a little doesn't make much difference.

You said you had trouble finding sub-£500, did you manage to find one at that price in the end?

[anewman]

Oh, and be careful with not telling your insurers; 90% of the time, they won't find out if neither side claims. The other 10%, they'll invalidate your insurance and pass your details to the police for prosecution, as you "failed to disclose a material fact".

My understanding was the way it worked is you are simply refused insurance, then you have to declare this fact when trying to buy insurance and are loyally screwed over whenever you get a quote. I'd have imagined they wouldn't pass your details to the Police as it would be a Civil matter, as opposed to criminal, I'd have thought?

[Farnz]

My understanding was the way it worked is you are simply refused insurance, then you have to declare this fact when trying to buy insurance and are loyally screwed over whenever you get a quote. I'd have imagined they wouldn't pass your details to the Police as it would be a Civil matter, as opposed to criminal, I'd have thought?

Your current policy is invalidated at the moment of cancellation. The police are notified, so that if you continue to drive, they know you're driving without insurance.

And yes, you get the fun of having to declare that fact when you buy new insurance, with all the pain that entails.

[Stoofa]

I sit here and know just how easy it would be to get some insurance without mentioning this "incident".

As I've said - there was no claim, no money exchanged hands and as far as I'm concerned there isn't a claim to declare.

However at the same time I know that should I be involved in an accident things will turn nasty - so I'm going to have to suck it up for the next 5 years.

It's making a £200 difference this year, I can only hope that as the "incident" gets older so the penalty on my premium will get lower.

I've been driving for 19 years and in that time I've never had any points on my license and only been involved in the one "incident" I've listed - yet I get royally screwed!

Justice - I think not.

[blackspaven]

Who did you go with in the end?

I'm 36, 11+ years NCB. Single non-fault accident living in the lowest risk postcode. I'm getting quotes around £620.

Now that is on a £200 excess (£100 compul, £100 vol) but even upping that a little doesn't make much difference.

You said you had trouble finding sub-£500, did you manage to find one at that price in the end?

Good god, that sounds horrendous!

I'm 36 with 10 years ncb, and 2 years ago some tart at work reversed into my car while I was upstairs but admitted hitting me. Told my insurance company (Hastings, I think) about it but left it, and when it came to renewing my insurance I didn't say anything cos I'd claimed on hers so didn't think about it. They came back a few weeks later and asked about it to which I told them quite simply, and they told me to carry on the policy it'd cost me £150 extra cos of non-disclosure, but I could cancel the policy... but i'd lose £70 from the time i'd been with them... TWO WEEKS!!

So have the same non fault as you, and have 3 points for doing 36(!) in a 30 zone a few years ago (but it comes off this year).

Anyway, THIS year (september) I expected a high renewal for the same reason and ended up paying... £372! Less than what i'd paid last year before the sting! It's with Zenith through The Insurance Factory, and that was found on one of the search websites like Meerkat. I think my excess is £400, but I don't drive like a bellend, ergo i'm not planning on being the cause of an accident, so i'm not too worried about that.

Admitted, it's a 1.8t L&K not a vrs, but still a bargain!

Edited 4 January, 2012 by blackspaven

[hertsnminds]

This is also happening with house insurance. We had to ask advice last year after the snow damaged our roof, insurer sent out an assessor and they found the builder to be at fault. However we now have to declare the incident even though there was no loss to the insurance company.

Just part of the cat and mouse game that the insurance companies play with the regulators. You change the regulations we will find a way around them.

[Stoofa]

I'm now just waiting for Sky to get back to me.

If their quote is competitive with Admiral and then the 20% "member of Briskoda" discount might really help!

Fingers crossed and all that.

[mdon]

Well I've just claimed on my insurrance as someone ran into my car, I got all his details and the claim has come off his insurrance as my car was parked. Admiral have said I don't need to declare it and I can assure you I won't. I think the thing is with the OP is that 1, he was driving and 2, it was 50/50 blame so although he has not claimed and his NCD has not been affected its still been class as him having a collision. Just my opinion!

Also I have a fault claim but admiral say I only need declare it for 3 years?

Also I have

[Stoofa]

I have hit the Jackpot!!!

I decided to try a few of the insurance companies direct - instead of relying on the comparision sites.

Filling in a quote from Aviva I got a response of £285!

So, I followed it through and o course found numerous features I wanted to add.

So, I changed the vol excess from £350 to £150.

I added guaranteed enhanced loan car

I added foreign travel cover

I added Protected no claims

I made sure legal protection was still on there.

Clicked recalculate............£401.05

So I gave them a call and made sure the quote was right.

The nice man confirmed that my one "Incident from February, non-fault" was listed. He also confirmed that all factory fitted options were included and didn't have to be mentioned as modifications - that was only things I'd had fitted afterwards.

So I mentioned my Multi-Function steering wheel, he said that added nothing.

Quick look at Quidco and they are currenly ofering £50 for car policies for the next 3 days.

So that is my insurace for £350 for the year!!

£530 less than the original renewal from Admiral and £280 less than their revised quote!!

I like you Aviva!

[vRS Carl]

Do they cover modified cars (remaps, brakes etc) or is it purely just cosmetic mods etc?

[JohnRS]

That is ridiculous.

I'm also with Admiral and I was reversed into by someone coming out of a bay. I went through a local solicitors who informed my insurance. They called and said it will be recorded. I asked if it would change the renewal and i was told "maybe" - it shows as an incident. I asked why and I was told its a "risk factor", how someone hitting me makes me more at risk. Mines due in July so I'll see, I won't be happy if it goes up due to this.

[blackspaven]

Well I've just claimed on my insurrance as someone ran into my car, I got all his details and the claim has come off his insurrance as my car was parked. Admiral have said I don't need to declare it and I can assure you I won't. I think the thing is with the OP is that 1, he was driving and 2, it was 50/50 blame so although he has not claimed and his NCD has not been affected its still been class as him having a collision. Just my opinion!

Also I have a fault claim but admiral say I only need declare it for 3 years?

Also I have

Re-read mine: I wasn't even in the car park when it happened to me!