Logging an Minor Incident has affected my No Claims

podgemonster

Just looking for some advice.

Last August I moved insurance in which the underwriter is RSA carrying 9 years of NCD from my old insurer. In September while sitting in traffic a car dinged into the back of me, changed lane and drove off. The damage was about €150 to fix which I paid for myself but since the driver drove off I went to the guards to report them (had the Reg Plate). Guards advised also to contact his insurer which also happened to be underwritten by RSA.


Eventually I ended up on the phone talking to an RSA person who wanted to make a record of the incident. I was completely honest and disclosed my own policy number, car reg etc... The Guards eventually told me (about 2 months later) the person who dinged my had gone back to Brazil and they asked did I really want to take it any further so I wrote it off as a bad debt and moved on.


And now this week I received my renewal notice.


My premium has doubled from €625 to €1171. Also the letter contained a NCD cert saying I have achieved a NCD of 0% for the year and 0 year no claims. The letter stated (1) incidents had been recorded on my vehicle in which €0.00 had been paid out.


Has anyone encountered this before?
Can they penalise me for an incident in which no claim was made?
When looking for another insurer online do I have to state my No Claim Discount is now 0 years?


I have contacted RSA and they said they'd look into it but the way I was brushed off on the phone, I am not confident anything will be done.

Liam McPoyle

Just ring them and tell them it was notification only, you only notified it as you were obliged to under the policy Ts and Cs and that as nothing was paid out by them then it should not be noted on your NCD.

If they do not agree tell them you wish to make a formal complaint, that should put the skids under them.

SeaFields

Same thing happened to me a few years ago. My car was hit while parked by a rented car driven by a tourist Decent amount of cosmetic damage done. I contacted my own insurance and asked how to proceed but the rental company said get a quote and they'd send a cheque to pay for it. All was sorted without any involvement by anyone's insurance.

At my next renewal, big increase because of the "claim". I sent them an email directing them to remove the claim from my records as it wasn't a claim and to send a revised quote for renewal. They did both fairly quickly.

CeilingFly

Write to them, tell them to remove the incident and restore you ncb and if its not actioned within 7 days you will make a formal complaint to the financial ombudsman.

They'll restore it immediately as firstly they are 100% wrong and secondly an ombudsman complaint costs them money in terms of reports and staff time and they have zero chance of winning.

K.Flyer

This is why people are afraid to say a word to their insurers over minor incidents, because the insurer will then try to use it as an excuse to void the NCD and jack up the price of the renewal.

dev100

K.Flyer wrote:

This is why people are afraid to say a word to their insurers over minor incidents, because the insurer will then try to use it as an excuse to void the NCD and jack up the price of the renewal.

podgemonster wrote:

Has anyone encountered this before? Can they penalise me for an incident in which no claim was made? When looking for another insurer online do I have to state my No Claim Discount is now 0 years?

I know of 2 incidents . As soon as you log an incident whether you think it's either your fault or someone else's fault . They automatically put a mark on your account until it's resolved .

A work colleague had a van roll back into him and the insurance company put his insurance up until it was resolved now that's a long time ago but I'd say ita still the same

Another guy had a car crash into him on a motor way and it was accepted the other party was at fault and his insurance company him to claim off then and they would then chase other party's insurance to recoup money . Biggest mistake he ever made ended up couldn't change insurance as he had claimed and the insurance company loaded him premium for the next few years.

Henry Ford III

If you've a full ncb for years you'll have earned 0 ncb. In the premium calculation is there an ncb applied?

podgemonster

Update:

Got a new quote posted out which now included my NCB discount.

I guess the system is so automated things like this happen. This issue was initially closed but I guess some other tag was needed. It was fairly unsettling experience but glad I can now afford to insure my car. Thanks for the responses here. This forum is very helpful.

UrbanFox

Glad to see that got sorted as insurers can make your life very troublesome when they get wrapped up in their IT and other systems.

Read only this weekend of similar problems in the UK where even a basic enquiry to your insurer would be logged in a central database and actually used against you in relation to renewals and quotes as an apparent justification for increasing your premium.

I have found that most insurers seem alright but where the system says "no" you can have a mighty struggle to get some common sense to bear.

What utterly infuriates me is that, as others pointed out, you are obliged to report incidents under the terms of your policy and to be sure that they are declared before renewal. If you do not report your policy could be void for non disclosure.

Heads the insurers win, tails you lose