Some advice about car insurance please...

marko400d

marko400d

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mark
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my car insurance is up for renewal.
a scooter-driver bumped into my car (stationary at the time) causing
a small dent in the bonnet of my car. i claimed through the insurance as
it was 3 months old (from new) and i wanted to do things by the book.

my insurance company told me that the witnesses (friends in my car) could
not be relied upon for their statements. the insurance company have written to me (twice), the last time (march) to tell me they were trying to trace the scooter driver (despite me giving
them the name of the boy, his address, mobile phone numer and reg number of his bike)

basically i think they want to progress it as a knock for knock thus claiming both our excesses in the process.

i have heard nothing since march and my fully comprehensive insurance is up for renewal.

would anyone kindly give me advice on the action i should take (ie should i go with a new insurer or not?). i would be most grateful

thanks again
mark
 
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perhaps youre not getting any response cos you drive a robin reliant?
 
i shall file that reply in the not very helpful pile :lol:
 
well at least I replied :)

Must be someone kind and helpful (other than me) who has similar experience? :)
 
I'm no expert but it seems to me that you aren't getting very good service from your current insurers so, for that reason, I would, personally, look elsewhere for your future insurance. I would have thought that they would have been jumping through hoops to help since your policy is due for renewal. If you want to proceed with the claim though, you'll need to finish your year with the current insurer - ie. don't cancel the policy and go elsewhere before the term is up if you pay monthly.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Why are your friends not reliable witnesses?
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oh i was told that because they were in the car with me, they didn't count as witnesses! i couldn't believe it at the time, but they confirmed it to me!
 
From what I remember of car claims, you would need independant witnesses, i.e passers by and not people who know you or in the car with you.

Knock for Knock suggests they can trace the scooter driver. This basically means, they will pay the scooter excess and they will pay yours. Knock for knock is only used when the fault of the accident can not be fully placed with one or the other.

If they can't trace the scooter, then you will lose your bonus. Unless you are protected!

As suggested above, as long as you are not cancelling on the renewal date and not before you would be ok. However, the new insurers (if you can get cheaper) would only be able to give you a quote based on your bonus at the time of the renewal. So if you lost 2 years cos of the accident then this is what you would be getting quotes for and what your renewal would come up as.

If the (excess + increase in premium) is greater than the cost of the repair...consider withdrawing the claim and pay the insurers the cost of repair. (not sure if they will accept this though!!) You will then have your bonus back and free to search for better insurers! *EDIT* This would only be doable if the other party is NOT claiming from you!

Hope this helps!
 
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I'd be chasing my insurers hard. As things stand you will be down on your ncb AND getting a weighting for making a claim.

I would be verifying the address details you were given them making a formal complaint that they have not progressed things. Get in touch with the ombudsman and ask your insurers for details of their complaints procedure.
 
thanks fellas.
any others with any similar experiences?
 
You haven't heard anything for 3 months. Maybe give them a call? Find out if the claim is still open.
 
30psi, i would but i know what would happen. it would take ages to get through (costing money) and when they answered they would just say "we haven't heard back from him yet") i would get very annoyed and they would say "it's not our fault, we didn't crash into you!" (which they did when i called them). sorry to be so negative. i think i'll renew with someone new and complain to the ombudsman
 
Thing is I can't really see what there is to complain about. They'll ask you if you've tried to be pro-active in chasing the insurer and what responses you got. Has your car been repaired yet? You never know, the claim could already be closed.

As for going with a new insurer they will ask you whether you have had any accidents (fault or not). They will then ask whether there are any outstanding claims.

Who is the insurer out of interest?
 
sorry, maybe i'm not being clear.
i refused to have my car repaired UNTIL the other party admitted responsibility to my insurers. my insurers are first direct.
 
if your car hasnt been repaired yet, try chasing the bloke yourself. get a quote for the repair, then give him a call. he may want to settle out of insurance and pay you the cash, you then take this to the garage and pay for repairs. then close the claim witht he insurers.

if we are talking bout a small dent, without borken paint, perhaps try giving dentmaster a call and see what they quote. but in all truth, it sounds like your excess is probably more than the repair
 
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marko400d said:
sorry, maybe i'm not being clear.
i refused to have my car repaired UNTIL the other party admitted responsibility to my insurers. my insurers are first direct.
Click to expand...

Ah, that does change things. I'd still chase them but Id also check what they consider the status of the claim to be.

Consider small claims against the driver - did you make a police report?
 
protected ncb only maintains your ncb. it doesnt stop your insurance going up. Although many people think that it does. you will still get hit with the increased weighting due to a claim.

thats why I dont have an ncb - I think its a bit of a con.

edit : oops! Spot the error.:$
 
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who? said:
protected ncb only maintains your ncb. it doesnt stop your insurance going up. Although many people think that it does. you will still get hit with the increased weighting due to a claim.

thats why I dont have an ncb - I think its a bit of a con.
Click to expand...


what being given a reduction in insurance costs for a few years claim free driving is a con????????


i presume you meant "thats why i dont protect my NCB"
 
oops.

quite right, Sir!

I knew what I meant. Is it my fault that the rest of you are failing to be psychic?
 
Did you pay for legal expenses cover when you took your policy out, if you didn't unfortunately it's not your insurance companies job to chase your claim for you, if you do have legal expenses cover they should appoint a solicitor to chase the scooter rider for you.

the way it works without legal expenses cover is you claim on your insurance, then you send a letter to the other parties insurance company saying you hold him responsible for the crash because of A B C, if they agree they'll reimburse your insurance excess which you then show to your insurance company, they then reinstate your NCB

If you have legal cover a solicitor does all this for you but you have to claim, if you don't it's up to you to recover your NCB yourself

the question is whether the small amount of damage is worth the claim, in any case you'll have to declare you've had an accident to any potential new insurer for the next 3 years.

Your best bet is to write to the other party stating you hold him responsible for the accident and see what he wants to do.
 
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I would be hounding the insurance company like mad. So what if it costs you a few quid in phone calls, its gonna cost you even more if it is not sorted. I always take the three strikes approach.

1st call the general helpline and ask the person to help/progress. Then if no response after a couple of days move on. 2nd time call the helpline again but this time demand that something is done and tell them when you will be calling again so they know they are on a deadline. 3rd, On the return call (couple of days later) if there is still no info then demand to speak to somebody senior. Then repeat the process. The most important thing is write down names of who takes the call and times/ dates. Saying you spoke to x on y day means there is an audit trail.

Good luck

EDIT: Having seen the post above all this is presuming its the insurance companies job to chase the other party.
 
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MG TF 135 said:
I would be hounding the insurance company like mad. So what if it costs you a few quid in phone calls, its gonna cost you even more if it is not sorted. I always take the three strikes approach.
Click to expand...

I too agree. I don't understand why a phone call hasn't been made
 
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