Lost 4 years no claims bonus getting pebble chip fixed on Windscreen

Luckycharm

During the summer Autoglass were heavily advertising get your chips fixed on your windscreen. Anyhow I had a chip for about 2 years not too big and not spreading. I was at the shopping centre one day and happened to just park beside an Autoglass marquee. I got talking to the guy and asked how much it was he said the insurance companies cover this as part of your policy.
It was only a little enough chip so said will get it done. It took about 15 mins and thought nothing more of it.
Anyhow get my insurance quote for next year in today and see I have lost nearly 5 years no claim bonuses because of getting this chip fixed cost €125 (which is pretty extortionate). Anyhow now my insurance is much higher this year!! Probally my own naviety but if I had known this was going to count as a full claim then I would not have got it done.
Has anyone else had this experience, Can I pay the €125 and get back my 5 years no claim discount- I am fuming!! Losing my no claim discount for something so Trivial!!

colm_mcm

Did you actually have windscreen cover on the car?

Hagar

Hook, line and sinker. You just have to admire the insurance companies. Excellent revenue genarator.

Darragh29

I heard of one insurance company ringing up a customer who had claimed for a little over 1K in damage to a 3rd party vehicle. The insurance company was offering to basially sell her back her no claims bonus!!!

They were putting it to her that if she refunded the insurance company the amount that they paid out on the above claim, they would reinstate her no claims bonus, you couldn't make it up!!!

Luckycharm

I just found my policy - I upgraded my car during the year and obviously my premium went up which I paid. Anyway in Section 2 - under glass breakage it says - broken or damaged windscreen, windows or sunroof glass- it says Covered.
This would mean I am covered would it not and I should not lose my No claims bonus? I tried to ring them but they are closed for Xmas so cannot speak to them till monday.

mickdw

Ive had a couple of windscreens done over the years. What I notice re no claims bonus is that they list the windscreen as a claim on you history but it has no effect whatsoever on premium even without claims protection.
I often wondered though if I was to move company would the windscreen claim hurt me bigtime?
I would ring the insurance company and tell them to at least match last years quote or else you are off. Get the cheapest quote you can from some other company first and refer to it.

Hogzy

If it says your covered that means they will foot the bill if the windscreen needs replacing! What you need is a "No claims discount protection".

I think how insurance companies operate is a disgrace. You pay them monthly to cover anything that might happen(over time that money amounts to alot) im 21 driving 4 years and in total over that time i say iv paid funds of about €6000 for insurance on various cars, iv never claimed but if i were to claim tomorrow for about €1000 my premium would go up resulting in the copany getting even more money! I think insurance should be paid into a fund that can be redemable on death to your family if you never use that fund!

mickdw

Hogzy wrote: »

If it says your covered that means they will foot the bill if the windscreen needs replacing! What you need is a "No claims discount protection".

I think how insurance companies operate is a disgrace. You pay them monthly to cover anything that might happen(over time that money amounts to alot) im 21 driving 4 years and in total over that time i say iv paid funds of about €6000 for insurance on various cars, iv never claimed but if i were to claim tomorrow for about €1000 my premium would go up resulting in the copany getting even more money! I think insurance should be paid into a fund that can be redemable on death to your family if you never use that fund!

And if you were unfortunate enough to need to claim, would you be happy have a premium of about 15,000 a year? because if your plan was to be used, people who never claim would not be contributing to the pot so basically you would have to pay for your own claims.

AlanD

You need to understand your particular policy inside out since not every policy is the same. Many people assume they are. As someone already said, windscreen cover will only mean that they will foot the bill, but in your case a claim is a claim which counts, no matter how small.

So the policy you need is one where windscreen claims do not affected your policy, plus if you have a NCB to protect you should have either step back NCB protection or full NCB protection. It adds to the cost of your policy, but is worth having.

AlanD

Hogzy wrote: »

If it says your covered that means they will foot the bill if the windscreen needs replacing! What you need is a "No claims discount protection".

I think how insurance companies operate is a disgrace. You pay them monthly to cover anything that might happen(over time that money amounts to alot) im 21 driving 4 years and in total over that time i say iv paid funds of about €6000 for insurance on various cars, iv never claimed but if i were to claim tomorrow for about €1000 my premium would go up resulting in the copany getting even more money! I think insurance should be paid into a fund that can be redemable on death to your family if you never use that fund!

It's not really how insurance works.....you could have an accident with the resulting claim costing the insurance company hundreds of thousands of euro so your 6k paid in won't cover that, so other people's premiums help pay for it along with their investments and so on. You pay based on the likely risk of the group you belong to.......it's never personal, but group based which is unfortunate, but it's how insurance works.

Hogzy

mickdw wrote: »

And if you were unfortunate enough to need to claim, would you be happy have a premium of about 15,000 a year? because if your plan was to be used, people who never claim would not be contributing to the pot so basically you would have to pay for your own claims.

Never said it was perfect... Im just saying that insurance is a rip off!!!! The above comment was a bit of a rant!:rolleyes:

elexes

what company ?

did you sign anything saying that you were allowing the windscreen to be fixed under your own insurance resulting in a voide on all previous years ncd

in work were with fbd they have no limit to the ammount of times that you can have your windscreen replaced.

lucky for us as weve had 8 windscreens replaced in the last 12 months .

Luckycharm

It is Axa. I have no claims discount cover - it says years since last claim 0 years so this basically limits me being able to change company. I had a cheap car robbed and burnt out in Feb 04 - payout €1700 which is down as a claim which is fair enough. I have been driving over 15 years have 0 points and (touchwood) have not even had a bump/accident so annoyed at losing no claims over something so small.

maidhc

Luckycharm wrote: »

It is Axa. I have no claims discount cover - it says years since last claim 0 years so this basically limits me being able to change company. I had a cheap car robbed and burnt out in Feb 04 - payout €1700 which is down as a claim which is fair enough. I have been driving over 15 years have 0 points and (touchwood) have not even had a bump/accident so annoyed at losing no claims over something so small.

Humm, I needed a windscreen last year. I claimed off Axa on the last day of cover and after I had switched insurers. I felt i was within my rights and wanted to make sure they would not do exactly what they have done to you.

ninty9er

How Will A Claim Affect My No Claims Discount?
How your no claims discount is affected differs depending on the type of policy and type of claim. Depending on this your no claims discount may be untouched in the case of fire, theft or windscreen claims, stepped back (reduced) or removed completely. It is normal practice for your no claims discount to be removed while we are investigating a claim even if we have not paid anything out. Our claims staff will be happy to advise you in the event that you are unfortunate enough to have a claim.

Fine tooth comb are 3 words that come to mind.

Luckycharm

ninty9er wrote: »

Fine tooth comb are 3 words that come to mind.

That is very ambigous on the axa website- how much would it cost in general to get the whole windscreen replaced?

Steve

Luckycharm wrote: »

It is Axa. I have no claims discount cover - it says years since last claim 0 years so this basically limits me being able to change company.

Hang on, you said in the first post that your premium went up, is this because of the car change or the ncd loss?

They can't increase the premium because of a claim regardless of whether you have ncd protection or not.

Luckycharm

My premium went up orignally from new car. But the premium is up from last year on the last year premium on the new car. Also I have that Axa credit card which allegedly gives you money off your premium the more you spend etc don't see that.
My main point is if I want to change company it looks like I have claimed for last year for this which will obviously go against me getting new quotes.

ninty9er

Luckycharm wrote: »

My premium went up orignally from new car. But the premium is up from last year on the last year premium on the new car. Also I have that Axa credit card which allegedly gives you money off your premium the more you spend etc don't see that.
My main point is if I want to change company it looks like I have claimed for last year for this which will obviously go against me getting new quotes.

If your premium went up when you changed the car, it's obviously going to be more expensive for a whole year than the balance on the remainder of last year's.

Just because your premium went up, doesn't mean you didn't get credited with another year NCB.

Luckycharm

ninty9er wrote: »

If your premium went up when you changed the car, it's obviously going to be more expensive for a whole year than the balance on the remainder of last year's.

Just because your premium went up, doesn't mean you didn't get credited with another year NCB.

I changed early enough after getting last years policy - I have worked out the cost for the year - anyway I will ring them next monday to sort it out. My main issue is that if I go looking for another quote can I say I have 4 years no claim bonus as that will make a big difference to my quotes over €300 when doing a couple on-line.

Steve

Luckycharm wrote: »

My main point is if I want to change company it looks like I have claimed for last year for this which will obviously go against me getting new quotes.

Ah, ok. Unfortunately they have you over a barrel with that one. It's a clever feature of modern insurance policies and very few people realise the implications of it (i.e. if you claim, you effectively can't change companies for the next five years). If it's a genuine claim such as a crash then it's normally financially worth it but in your case it does indeed seem to be a con.
I wish I had better advice on what to do about it, maybe write to the financial ombudsman (who regulate the insurance industry) and ask their opinion? I'm not sure.

ninty9er

Luckycharm wrote: »

I changed early enough after getting last years policy - I have worked out the cost for the year - anyway I will ring them next monday to sort it out. My main issue is that if I go looking for another quote can I say I have 4 years no claim bonus as that will make a big difference to my quotes over €300 when doing a couple on-line.

So did they put 0 years NCB on the renewal, or did you just assume it's gone because the price went up?

This is different from "0 years since last claim"

Keith C

Just reimburse the €125 you'll get your NCB reinstated. Instead of bashing insurance companies you should be having a word with the autoglass people for saying its guarenteed free under your ins policy.
Also another reason your NCB is gone, did you have a minor tipp at all during the year, Someone may have taken you reg number & be trying to claim against you for damages, (its been known to happen)

Think the lesson of this is to know what your covered for before you claim on the word of a saleman (autoglass) that ins company will pay for it.

Darragh29

They shouldn't even be allowed to take your NCB from you over a windscreen claim. It should be set out in legislation that NCB can only be removed on the basis of a claim that is down to error or fault on the part of the policyholder. Clearly having a chip on your windscreen is no relection of the driving experience or ability of a driver, which is what a NCB is meant to recognise and reward. If I had an insurance company treating me like this, it would be the last cent they would get from me.

Here's what to do OP, pay them their 120 Euro, get your NCB reinstated and then transfer your insurance to another provider. That's what I'd do anyway and let them go f*ck themselves...

PeakOutput

right i used to work for axa

if you dont have windscreen cover or 'extra benefits' on your policy then a windscreen claim will effect your bonus and if you pay back the 125euro then you will get your bonus back

if you do have windscreen cover on your policy then the most likely reason is the claim has been opened but was not processed and closed before the renewal notice went out. therefore the system hasnt been told yet that its just a windscreen claim and to allow the no claims discount. renewal notices are sent automatically as far as i know.

somewhere on the renewal notice it says weather or not you have any claims active if you dont then the person processing the claim just forgot to allow the bonus

this is reversible in a few minutes and i wouldnt worry too much as this is probably what happened.

if you dont have windscreen cover then i dont know why you would expect not to lose your no claims discount after making a claim


also iirc axa step back your bonus by one year for a claim that dosnt involve any other parties so if its gone from 5 years you either had more than one claim this year or something has gone wrong somewhere along the line

axa opens again on monday as far as i know

PeakOutput

Darragh29 wrote: »

They shouldn't even be allowed to take your NCB from you over a windscreen claim. It should be set out in legislation that NCB can only be removed on the basis of a claim that is down to error or fault on the part of the policyholder. Clearly having a chip on your windscreen is no relection of the driving experience or ability of a driver, which is what a NCB is meant to recognise and reward. If I had an insurance company treating me like this, it would be the last cent they would get from me.

Here's what to do OP, pay them their 120 Euro, get your NCB reinstated and then transfer your insurance to another provider. That's what I'd do anyway and let them go f*ck themselves...

emmmmm no

a no claims bonus is there to reward you for making no claims. leaving aside special offers or extra features every insurance company in this country will affect your ncb over a windscreen claim.

edit; also axa provide the best cover on the market at the moment and the best customer service so changing to another company is only ****ing yourself over unless you are desperate to save a little money

i can see insurance complaint threads becoming quite prolific over the next year or so as the insurance companies are in trouble so the days of cheap insurance are over and people are going to feel so hard done by the companies as they fight to survive

Keith C

Darragh29 wrote: »

Here's what to do OP, pay them their 120 Euro, get your NCB reinstated and then transfer your insurance to another provider. That's what I'd do anyway and let them go f*ck themselves...

id guess your about 17 with that attitude :rolleyes: & probably milks a claim to "screw those rip off ins companies" ** shakes fist**

Keith C

PeakOutput wrote: »

i can see insurance complaint threads becoming quite prolific over the next year or so as the insurance companies are in trouble so the days of cheap insurance are over and people are going to feel so hard done by the companies as they fight to survive

agree 100%, rates have started to go up already, gonna be hard for people to swallow as everyone has been used to bluffing/getting lower premiums matched or better'd for last few years.

Our man in Havana

Protected NCB is a scam pure and simple. If you claim on a protected NCB you still cannot move insurers as you are considered to have no NCB if you attempt to move insurers. All a protected NCB does is lock you to your existing insurer for up to five years from a claim.

Whilst your NCB may be "protected", your existing insurer is free to raise your premium as much as it likes and you won't be able to move.

Buyer beware as they say.

DRice

mickdw wrote: »

Ive had a couple of windscreens done over the years. What I notice re no claims bonus is that they list the windscreen as a claim on you history but it has no effect whatsoever on premium even without claims protection.
I often wondered though if I was to move company would the windscreen claim hurt me bigtime?
I would ring the insurance company and tell them to at least match last years quote or else you are off. Get the cheapest quote you can from some other company first and refer to it.

yes thats what i would do aswell, if its only 125 quid they might try to hang on to you. then again it depends on who you get on the phone

Darragh29

Keith C wrote: »

id guess your about 17 with that attitude :rolleyes: & probably milks a claim to "screw those rip off ins companies" ** shakes fist**

I'm nowhere near 17 for a start. Now explain this to me... Who on earth would anyone buy windscreen cover if they actually thought that in the event of them using the cover, they would be forfeiting their no claims bonus???

BTW, I never had a claim against my policy and never had to claim off someone else's policy, so you're talking pure rubbish there with that...