Car insurance no claims discount not being recorded correctly

[9GreenBottles]

I've spent some time this afternoon renewing my car insurance by using comparison sites. There were a few questions where I had to go with the highest figure given (number of years driving licence and no claims discount). Decided which quote I wanted, clicked to buy and read the insurers version of the details, saw that I had to call them directly if I had attended a Drivers Awareness Course so I did, and we had to go through the whole rigmarole of checking all the info again.

The bit that got me was being asked whether I could provide proof of my 10 years plus claims discount and I said that my latest renewal says I only have 9 whilst in reality I have 24 years NCD because insurance companies appear to make stuff up, or only record up to a certain number of years no claim bonus. I was asked if I had any other evidence, and luckily (having thought this was a bit off before) I've kept my insurance renewals for a number of years, and this time last year a previous insurer had quoted 16 years NCD on my renewal letter.

The agent then said "Well, we'll record that as 15 years then because we only count up to 15 years NCD".

AIBU to think that insurance companies should record accurate information rather than what they are prepared to quote on the basis of?

YANBU, some companies only give up to a max of 5 years, so you could potentially miss out on a lot of NCD if they just record it as '5+ years'.

NCD is usually capped at 9 years, so whatever you put in over and above that gets reduced to 9. You're getting the maximum discount if you have 9 + years basically, any more won't make a difference.

usually capped at 9 years- but other companies have different policies, so if you move companies you could 'lose' some. It should either be universally capped at the same level or companies record your actual number of years AND the actual discount they give you.

I can accept the capping, but it's then being asked to prove what you have - as the policy I've gone for will supposedly allow up to 15 years and I was asked if my renewal letter said 9 or 9+ years ("because it could make a difference"). As CrohnicallyPregnant said, if I'd had a policy that only recorded up to 5 years and no alternative proof immediately to hand, then I could be stuffed or inconvenienced trying to piece together the information from previous insurers.

I think the thing that really gets me are the double standards; if you fail to mention something, they could refuse to pay out, but they keep dodgy records because they don't allow you to provide completely accurate information. I just noticed that my renewal has a completely incorrect driving licence date on it as well.

YADNBU
I have 30+ years no claims and each time I do comparisons it changes.
Last year someone hit my car whilst parked, left me an apology and their details.
I notified my insurance company, and then ended up withdrawing the claim as DP managed to fit a new bumper etc
Now they have it on file as an unresolved claim, even though it was no fault and no cost to them, and admit it shows on computer as withdrawn claim.
This has stopped me changing insurance companies, and meant I could not go on DS insurance, as they loaded his premium due to this!!

That's awful Jace! And they will probably ramp up the price for you into the bargain for the accident and not being able to move insurers. For years I was with the same insurance company, and every renewal I went through a comparison site and was given a significantly lower renewal price.

It sometimes makes me wonder how much I would pay on a repair rather than claim on insurance touches wood

YANBU AT ALL
This makes me really angry every time I renew.
I can prove 30 odd yrs of No Claims, but hit the same thing "Oh, we only discount for 5 yrs", but if you have to make a claim (we were hit last year by someone who drove off - no-one was in the vehicle when we were hit), all of a sudden they want to reduce it down to about 3 years!!!
Gives me the rage.

That's sickening, and even if you had protected your NCD, they probably just put the premium up anyway.