Some of you may remember in May 2017 I got knocked off my pedal bike after being hit by a car coming on to a roundabout. Driver was charged by police with careless driving and finally in May of this year I got compensation for bike damage and for my injuries.
Car insurance renewals from Directline came in for our cars and it’s a good £150 dearer than last year. Got some quotes and Admiral was cheaper, completed the quote etc process but wouldn’t take a payment, instead a message to call them which I duly did.
Turns out there is a record on the insurance database of my accident and as a result my quote would be increased by over £100. I argued this was a no fault accident on a pedal bike and how could this be used against me but got the stock, scripted answers.
I am wondering if the DL renewal has also taken this into account? Interestingly every quote I did, at the question referring to previous claims, the wording did not suggest to me that a pedal bike claim needed disclosed.
Is this worth complaining about or is it just another of these stats that the ins companies use to increase premiums? Has anyone ever seen proof of the one they usually use that even if you have been in a no fault accident it then means you are more likely to be in another accident?
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>> Is this worth complaining about or is it just another of these stats that the
>> ins companies use to increase premiums? Has anyone ever seen proof of the one they
>> usually use that even if you have been in a no fault accident it then
>> means you are more likely to be in another accident?
>>
Don't know how far complaining would get you Bobby, the one time this was tried on me a few years back, again a no fault accident all costs recovered etc, I found another insurer who did not take such things into account.
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I would try Aviva -Esure pushed my premiums up by £150 in 2017 - Aviva was below 1/2 the renewal premium.
I would speak to DL & threaten them with ombudsman - 3rd party charged, you were on pushbike for heavens sake & the innocent party - why hike your premium?
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A road accident of any types clearly a material fact as far as a motor insurer is concerned and non disclosure won't have helped.
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The trouble with speaking to them is that you are not talking with the decision makers. Even if you ask to speak to the call centre person's manager he is only the call centre manager.
I'd make a written complaint, but not hang around too long waiting for a reply before going to the Ombudsman. Companies don't seem to like hearing from their Ombudsman.
You could try www.resolver.co.uk/ - I think I saw it recommended on Martins Moneysaving site - I tried it once with no luck but many seemed to have success.
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You must go back to the insurers of the car driver who hit you and get the increased premium out of them - and for the several years to follow.
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LV offered me a reduced premium this year - effective 1st October, in fact.
However I realised that I had a large increase last year, which had slipped under my radar somehow, so I haggled and got just over another 20 quid off this years premium.
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Just an update - Directline (my existing insurer) confirmed that the increase in renewal had nothing to do with my pedal bike accident and they would not be interested in this.
Admiral finally spoke to the relevant database and had it confirmed that mine was a pedal bike and therefore they did not include this in any quote info.
Having said all that , I ended up getting ridiculously cheap quotes from Quote Me Happy and have went ahead with them.
Honda Civic inc business use - £263
VW Beetle - £159
Total of £422 for the two cars compared to £700 odds with Directline!
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Hope the cover is good - cheap cover is great until you need to make a claim and find they are useless.
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>> Hope the cover is good - cheap cover is great until you need to make
>> a claim and find they are useless.
>>
People often say that, but is there any way of telling in advance how good they are going to be in the event of a claim? Is there a published rating list somewhere?
If not, then down-rating because of low price is no more logical than assuming a higher price equates to better service.
Interesting response that bike insurance record doesn't count and doesn't need to be disclosed. Is that general?
Companies often appear to be deliberately vague on the "any other insurance claim?" question.
Is there a disclosure cross-over between different types of insurance - motor, cycle, household, laptop, spectacle, public liability?
Last edited by: Cliff Pope on Sun 7 Oct 18 at 09:30
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>> Interesting response that bike insurance record doesn't count and doesn't need to be disclosed. Is
>> that general?
>> Companies often appear to be deliberately vague on the "any other insurance claim?" question.
>> Is there a disclosure cross-over between different types of insurance - motor, cycle, household, laptop,
>> spectacle, public liability?
If I were involved in a no fault bike accident then I wouldn't expect to have to tell my car insurer. Nor would I if there were a claim on my 3rd party insurance for the bike. Or for that matter when I dropped something in the bathroom basin and smashed it. Different of course if the proposal/renewal asks about other insurance.
Bobby's bike accident was presumably on the Motor Insurance Database because he claimed from the offending driver's policy. I'd expect that to capture information on non fault third parties as part of it's fraud detection function.
I've had a similar experience to Bobby's when seeking quotes from Admiral group companies (Eg Elephant). Not only did they find a no fault accident I'd forgotten to add they also linked my daughter, a named driver, to a claim in May 2012. They admitted link was indirect. We think it was her boyfriend's car that was involved in a minor shunt outside his student house in Southampton. At time of event she was at her own Uni in Sheffield
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>>I ended up getting ridiculously cheap quotes from Quote Me Happy
As I said Bobby, try Aviva (owner of QMH) - I pay Aviva £172 Comp for a CRV, up £10 on the previous year but still much less than any other name insurer.
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Yeah FB I had tried Aviva after your earlier post but they were dearer.
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>>Or for that matter when I dropped something in the bathroom basin and smashed it.
I had a bizarre discussion with my broker on my house & contents insurance. I was broken into whilst I was on holiday once upon a time, and the burglar alarm telephoned me. When a friend got there later, there was a notice on the front window stating that the place was being squatted. I called the insurance company from abroad for advice, and caught the next flight home. If they had intended to squat it, they obviously didn't find it comfortable enough, and had left through their broken window. Which I repaired for a fiver's worth of glass and a three pound lump of putty.
Come renewal time I was invited by my broker to record all accidents and damage to both house and contents over the previous year. I asked what the deminimis level was, and was told £nil. So I began to list the wine glasses, the mugs etc. that had been more expensive than the broken window. It got a bit silly... and he dropped it - and the wine glasses....
Last edited by: Mapmaker on Sun 7 Oct 18 at 12:10
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Very little point in recommending an Insurer because you have got a good deal from them. No two proposals will be the same and Insurers will vary their rates from day to day in order to achieve a balanced portfolio. For example if the find they have too many older drivers the will increase the rates to avoid attracting further business from that quarter. Same consideration would apply to location and car grouping.
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The question was how do you tell which companies are efficient and cooperative in settling insurance claims, not whether it is worthwhile recommending companies on the basis of their premiums.
Or are you suggesting that companies vary their level of customer service depending on whether they are getting too many claims? :)
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I was simply responding to the post recommending a particular Insurer on the basis of costs.
Claims service is an unknowable. Other people’views are subjective and can be ignored. My strategy for selecting an Insurer is to select the company offering the cover I want at the lowest premium and review annually.
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The data comes from experian icache and comes from multiple sources, including the media, answers from comparison sites and all the tweeks and changes in answers.
www.experian.co.uk/blogs/latest-thinking/identity-and-fraud/how-and-why-experian-created-the-icache-and-the-benefits-it-offers-insurers/
Last edited by: Shiny on Sun 7 Oct 18 at 19:06
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I hope the don't provide the information to the same outfit that keep ringing me about the accident I've been involved in (but haven't) :((
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>> I hope the don't provide the information to the same outfit that keep ringing me
>> about the accident I've been involved in (but haven't) :((
Funny thing is, when they phone and say "about your accident"
I say "Yes? the one where I hit a school bus"
they ring off.
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Insurance hike due to pedal bike accident - commerdriver
