Insurance premium increases

[M4rkp]

boring title I know - but bear with me.

There has been much talk of fake whiplash claims bunking up the cost of insurance - however I have just realised another little 'scam' that is potentially knocking up the cost of premiums.


Last weekend I was unfortunate enough to have my A4 reversed into in a car park - I was not in the car - it was a bystander who witnessed it. The witness came upto me and pointed out a young girl getting out of a Corsa about 100yds away - she moved her car away from mine when she realised.
I looked at my bumper and it had been sratched and pulled off its mounting - nothing major - just annoying.
I started to walk over to her saying " excuse me, you have just hit my car, can we have a chat?" - she jumped into her car and sped off - unfortunately I was in the middle of the road which was her only exit. She drove straight at me. Never even attempted to stop. I had to jump out of the way.
It was a busy car park and broad daylight with lots of people around.

Anyway - reported her to the Police with her reg number - they found her and cautioned her and passed her insurance details to me.

To be honest - if she would have held her hands up and said " oops sorry, my bad - not paying attention" I would have probably let it go - I'm sure she didn't do it on purpose - she just panicked.

This is the part that got me thinking:

I rang my insurance company and spent 20 mins on the phone with them.

After talking to the insurance company I then spent the next 3 hrs ( I kid you not) - talking to a claims company about compensation - when I told them that I wasn't even in the car so I have no injury I was told that doesn't matter - I have been in an accident so I was due compensation - trauma of having my car damaged, inconvenience of having to sort out paperwork etc etc - loss of earnings.....but all this is ok because its claimed back from the other side.

Then got a call from a repair centre asking when they could pick my car up for repair.

Immediately got a call from a company asking when they could deliver my courtesy car. They asked me what car I wanted - I replied I don't care as long as it gets me from A to B - They said I was entitled to a car of similar spec to mine - I said I didn't mind - just get me a small car, petrol,diesel,manual,auto I DONT CARE.

Anyway my courtesy car arrived last night.

Brand spanking new metallic blue Mercedes C250d auto estate with EVERY bell and whistle you can imagine.
It has 77 miles on the clock.

I rang the company to check that this was right - they told me I had been inconvenienced because of a non fault accident and I was entitled to it.

I asked 'off the record' how much this is costing - £143 per day!!!!!!!!!!! and its actually a hire car as opposed to a courtesy car.

I have already been told by the repair garage that they will not even look at my car until 5th Jan - so that's £2002 in charges before anything happens - its possible that there could be £4k in hire charges before the cost of repairing mine ............the A4 probably isn't worth £4K

So there are people reading this think - shut up and just enjoy driving it, don't get me wrong its a great car, I just think its OTT...and all they keep saying is don't worry its not going to cost you anything - we will recover the costs from the other side.......but surely, arnt we ALL on the 'other side' when it comes to insurance companies?

Surely behaviour like this HAS to increase premiums for everybody?

just a small rant.

Mark

[sinbin5t]

I agree with you, it HAS to bang premiums up as it could not work otherwise !

[Hanuman]

Early 2015, my 100 was rammed in a hit and run. I have been plagued since with calls about all the things you mention.

The car was on a classic policy at the time, so not my main car. It didn't stop them then, nor since. A series of individual claims handlers, even 18months after its all been sorted, pushing
-whiplash claims. I wasn't even in the car, but this seemingly is irrelevant.
-courtesy car. It wasn't my main car, as per the terms of the insurance.
-Distress, inconvenience

And it carries on. UK phone numbers, ostensibly, but some of them are clearly overseas, reading from a script. Some of them have been outright rude and aggressive.
One prat even had the temerity to make a statement along the lines of 'I'm only trying to f***ing help you, you ungrateful prick!' Before hanging up. The reason for his outburst? I'd asked him to clarify who he was working for, and how he obtained my details.

A common characteristic of most of these calls is that they so rapidly and unclearly say the name of the company, then launch into the sales pitch.

The source of the info they are using, surely will only have been one of these-

My insurance broker. Classicline.
My insurance underwriter. Equity.
Her insurance company.
The police.

Once again proving that the UK insurance industry is not fit for purpose.

The main reason for insurance now is to not be 'uninsured'. New case in point. An advertising banner on a professional forum that I visit, leading to a whole website, with films and everything, regarding the risks and penalties of being uninsured.

The very worst of most bureaucracy now, where the only thing that matters is that the paperwork is right.