Post accident car insurance premiums

[Bonefishblues]

6 weeks wait before an Ombudsman will look at something BTW.

[JakobW]

I was under the impression that being in an accident could raise your premiums even if it wasn't your fault, because, statistically, if you've been involved in a crash you're more likely to be in another.

[Bonefishblues]

I was under the impression that being in an accident could raise your premiums even if it wasn't your fault, because, statistically, if you've been involved in a crash you're more likely to be in another.

Post at 18.16 refers

But yes, you're completely right.

[JakobW]

I was under the impression that being in an accident could raise your premiums even if it wasn't your fault, because, statistically, if you've been involved in a crash you're more likely to be in another.

Post at 18.16 refers

Ha, this is the internet - you don't expect me to *actually read threads* before posting, do you?
(In fact I somehow skimmed past your point, sorry...)

But yes, you're completely right.

Ah, now that's more like it...

[thelawnet]

Hi,

I was knocked off my bike in 2017 by a car that tboned me.

Their insurance settled last year after the police prosecuted the driver.

My car insurance is now due and they have put up my premium as a result of my insurance claim.

My insurance goes up every year, hence I change insurers. How do you know the increase is as a result of your claim? What is the size of the increase?

[simonhill]

Just heard that this will be discussed on Moneybox on Radio 4 at midday. Repeated tomorrow evening. Also on iplayer or whatever the BBC call it now.

[Postboxer]

I often wonder whether the statistics really just show that the honest people who report all accidents and turn down the offers from other drivers to avoid using their insurance companies are the ones more likely to report any accidents they have when they are at fault.

[rmurphy195]

Hi,

I was knocked off my bike in 2017 by a car that tboned me.

Their insurance settled last year after the police prosecuted the driver.

My car insurance is now due and they have put up my premium as a result of my insurance claim.

Advice? Morally it's wrong, but is it acceptable?

Apparently if I was a pedestrian and I got hit by a car, made a claim, my car insurance would also go up.

I'm puzzled - did you claim off your car insurance for a bike accident? How do you know its connected to the claim?

Shop around. My car insurance every 2 or 3 years goes up by a whacking %age, followed by me calling them and querying it, then me shopping around for quotes elsewhere. It might be just coincidence that yours has gone up.

I've had, over the years, a number of no fault car insurance claims (well, about 6 over the last 50 years!), and every time I got my excess back - which is a question on proposal forms when you admit to being involved in a claim in the past 5 years. This is regained by various means, but always, to my insurer, I send a note asking for assurances that my NCD won't be affected "irrespective of any knock-for-knock agreement". This means I can answer the questions about claims/accidents in the last 5 years in a positive way

My premium with Saga went up about 30% a few months after having a claim such as yours settled (hit by a vehicle while riding my bike, never went near my car insurer), never occurred to me that there might be a connection. I just shopped around and insured elsewhere - with a company (a well known one) which was 30% cheaper than Saga and has not increased premiums at all in the 2 renewals since, a record I think! Saga never knew about the bike claim, nothing to do with them, so it couldn't have been connected. Background checks?- they all do them, and my new insurer didn't penalise me for it, or at least never said so (neither did Saga).

[Bonefishblues]

I often wonder whether the statistics really just show that the honest people who report all accidents and turn down the offers from other drivers to avoid using their insurance companies are the ones more likely to report any accidents they have when they are at fault.

There's no requirement to use insurers in the case of an accident and choosing not to do so in a particular situation has nothing to do with honesty.

[Postboxer]

I often wonder whether the statistics really just show that the honest people who report all accidents and turn down the offers from other drivers to avoid using their insurance companies are the ones more likely to report any accidents they have when they are at fault.

There's no requirement to use insurers in the case of an accident and choosing not to do so in a particular situation has nothing to do with honesty.

Apart from when it is a condition of your insurance to notify your insurers of any and all accidents, so there is a difference between using the insurance or not and informing them of an accident or not. Not informing them of an accident allows you to then not declare an accident on a subsequent insurance application and that is fraud.

[Bonefishblues]

I often wonder whether the statistics really just show that the honest people who report all accidents and turn down the offers from other drivers to avoid using their insurance companies are the ones more likely to report any accidents they have when they are at fault.

There's no requirement to use insurers in the case of an accident and choosing not to do so in a particular situation has nothing to do with honesty.

Apart from when it is a condition of your insurance to notify your insurers of any and all accidents, so there is a difference between using the insurance or not and informing them of an accident or not. Not informing them of an accident allows you to then not declare an accident on a subsequent insurance application and that is fraud.

Is that a standard condition of insurance?
ETA
Actually forget the question, I know the answer*. But as I say, choosing not to use them is a different matter, and has nothing to do with honesty, at least not in my case. We could have a good discussion about the integrity of a company which wanted to go 50-50 on a completely no-fault accident and which seemed genuinely nonplussed when I told them that I did not want to pursue a claim.

*But I bet many don't.

[Mares]

Hi all.

Thanks for your answers.

To respond to some of your points:

My insurers were not involved at all.
I claimed off the third parties car insurance through a solicitor .
When we renewed insurance and said no accidents, they said ”but what about the one on the ”database” for me in 2017”. They were not interested as to the circumstances.
Apparently no matter what the circumstances (pedestrian, cyclist, driver) if you claim against a car it goes on your personal record in the database.

Thanks for the advice, I will follow up with that.

[Mares]

And what really does bug me is that the 17 years no claims I accrued on my motorcycle, amounts to nothing for a car. No one would let me transfer it.

And the reason.

It's a different type of vehicle so its not relevant to a car.

[Airsporter1st]

Time to shop around.

You should be doing this every year anyway as insurers give the best deals to new customers and rely on existing customers not shopping around. The online comparison sites make this a relatively simple process.

]

True - but on the odd occasion that I have done this, they’ve dragged their heels over providing proof of NCB.

[Airsporter1st]

And what really does bug me is that the 17 years no claims I accrued on my motorcycle, amounts to nothing for a car. No one would let me transfer it.

And the reason.

It's a different type of vehicle so its not relevant to a car.

I once (in the days of proper brokers) got full NCB. because I had been driving a big tanker for several years. What the broker ‘forgot’ to point out to the underwriters was that it was a half million tonne ship!