No claims bonus issue

iwishiknew

I'm just in the middle of a very frustrating argument. I'm trying to move my motor insurance but the no claims bonus that I received states that I have only 1 years no claims bonus but also states that I have a 55% discount. When I rang to check this with them, they said that this equates to 6 years +. The new insurer has rejected this stating that I have only 1 year showing on the NCB statement. The icing on the cake is that it is the same company backing the policies for the old and new.
To me this seems like sharp practice, to make it as difficult as possible to move insurance. Why will they not state the correct number of years on the NCB!
I'm now having to stick with the old insurer but I'm not going to next year. I'd also like to take this further.... would the insurance ombudsman entertain an issue like this?

Liam McPoyle

iwishiknew wrote: »

I'm just in the middle of a very frustrating argument. I'm trying to move my motor insurance but the no claims bonus that I received states that I have only 1 years no claims bonus but also states that I have a 55% discount. When I rang to check this with them, they said that this equates to 6 years +. The new insurer has rejected this stating that I have only 1 year showing on the NCB statement. The icing on the cake is that it is the same company backing the policies for the old and new.
To me this seems like sharp practice, to make it as difficult as possible to move insurance. Why will they not state the correct number of years on the NCB!
I'm now having to stick with the old insurer but I'm not going to next year. I'd also like to take this further.... would the insurance ombudsman entertain an issue like this?

How long were you with your most recent insurer?

I'd guess 1 year.

Its standard industry practice tbh.

You were with a company for 1 year, 2 years etc so that's all they will verify that you are claims free however they do allow you the benefit of the maximum.

This is something that all insurers (that I'm aware of) do and that is acceptable across the board so the ones you are switching to are being dicks.

theteal

I've changed insurer almost every year (Ireland & UK last 10 years) and my NCD has incremented every year - I've had to scan the doc in at the beginning of each policy.

Liam McPoyle

Funnily enough in had this EXACT query today.

Driver was with us for 5 years and when she came to us she had two year NCD.

Our standard ncd went out with her renewal which stated "the above has 5 years ncd which represents 50% on the point of scale"

Her new insurer wouldn't accept that as they had quoted her on the basis of 7 years and wanted to charge her an additional €100 as the bonus had 5 years on it instead of 7.

I simply issued a letter saying "this policy has been in force from x to y and this driver is entitled to a 50% ncd which represents 7 years claims free driving"

If they dont accept that then its tough titties for the customer as we can do no more.

I've also flagged the issue with the underwriting manager ie that some insurers are requesting proof of more than 5 years ncd, with a view to getting a standardized procedure in place to counteract this before it becomes a major customer service issue.

IMO the company that are doing this are going to cause a lot of problems for a lot of customers and insurers.