To be fed up having to deal with the consequences and financial impact of other peoples' actions? (car Insurance/accidents)

[BigBoysDontCry]

I've been driving for 35 years, up until 6 months ago I'd never been in a car accident, newly ex H been driving for 40 years, hit a deer about 14 years ago ( i wasn't in the car) and that his only accident until 6 months ago. DS1 been driving for 6 and a half years and DS2 for 5 and a half, no accidents either.

6 months ago a van reversed in H while we were stopped waiting at traffic lights, 5 weeks ago a car rear ended me (different car) at a roundabout and this week the police hit the car (3rd car) DS2 uses while on a police chase.

So, 3 no fault accidents on 3 separate cars in quick succession. The main thing is that thankfully no-one in any of the vehicles was injured and I know we are lucky to have cars and this is what we have insurance for, but it just doesn't seem fair. The time spent on admin, sorting out insurance claims, getting vehicles fixed, being out of pocket for excesses (even though ultimately we should get that back) and the increase in insurance premiums to come. DS2 doesn't have a protected NCD as he is too young/doesn't have enough insured years. So basically he parked his car in a residents space (that he needs to pay for a permit to do) and the next day the police have jumped out their car to chase a suspect on foot, forgot to apply the hand brake and it went into the car, bumper will need replaced, we need to pay £350 upfront, he doesn't have protected no claims, and his insurance will no doubt rocket next year.

I know that's just how the system works and we've been lucky all these years, but it's just frustrating and annoying and costly.

Last year, a car came alongside us at traffic lights and rubbed the side of the car and scratched the door mirror. We reported it to the insurance company, as you should, although there was no claim made. Last year, the car insurance was about £300. This year they wanted over £1000. An incident, even with no claim, engenders an increase. Clearly it’s not worth doing the right thing.

It's so rubbish isn't it? With all 3 of ours I've been concerned with underlying damage but so far it all seems to be that the bumpers have taken the impact. The one I was in was a fair thump and luckily caught on dashcam by the car behind the one that hit me.

Everyone has been apologetic and it's been inattention rather than deliberately being careless but that still ends up being us that is out of pocket and inconvenienced.

I'm dreading the cost of the replacement insurance. DS2 is a student with no income and I own the car so that's down to me at the moment too,

None of us do a lot of miles but we don't live in an area where public transport is an option.

Completely agree. Our old car, which was brilliant and we were planning to run into the ground, was written off last year by a drunk driver who passed out on the motorway and hit us at full speed. If he'd hit us moments later he would have likely killed us. Obviously the main thing is we didn't die, but we did have to fork out for another car very quickly due to DHs job and living rurally. Insurance took forever to pay out, our premium went through the roof despite it being a no-fault claim, we lost 15 years of no claims because we stupidly hadn't protected them, and we had to use a big chunk of our savings to get the new car as the pay out for our old one didn't cover anywhere near the cost.

No claims won't change if the other party or their insurance pays

June 2023 I was hit head in by a van on the wrong side of a country lane. On a bend. I have to go to court as he is denying liability.. Utter twat. Actually in tablets for palpitations now. At time of claim I wasn't as I thought it was done and dusted. My insurers paid out within a week and I was putting it all behind me. Reliving it daily now it's still ongoing.

I hear you! I have an 8 year old car and it costs £190 a month to insure 🙄🙄

DH - had no fault accident, total write off
Both our cars where stolen in a burglary - so two write offs
DH - was legally parked in a carpark and someone crashed into him - another total write off
Me - also legally parked in another carpark, someone backed into me causing thousands of damage

All in the space of 6 years!!! Luckily the car is ours and we don’t have to pay for any finance etc, getting a newer car would mean borrowing and the insurance would come down around £20 a month.

SICK TO DEATH OF PAYING FOR OTHER PEOPLES MISTAKES!!!

It's so frustrating - a Royal Mail van smashed into me and wrote my car off a few years ago. My insurance doubled

The putting up of policies even when it's a NF is pricing people out of driving jobs. Taxi insurance is even worse than private. Even though there's cameras fitted (they supplied) they just let 50/50 go through.

@Bluevelvetsofa I absolutely support your outrage. The only thing I would mention is that car insurance has risen hugely over the last year or so regardless of incidents. I've never had a claim on car insurance but my renewal this year wasn't far off double what it was last year. Robbing bastards.

My car got hit while legally parked in a bay on the side of the road. They didn't leave a note so I just had to report it to my insurance. As we didn't know who had hit it, it went down as a fault against me (although I do get to choose the option noting I wasn't in the vehicle when I declare!)

It cost me my excess and naturally my premiums went up. I also spent a little time without my car which was a pain as I am disabled and have specific needs which the courtesy cars couldn't provide. Just a pain in the arse all round but thankfully it's over 5 years since the claim now so it's outside of the time you need to declare for new insurance.

When it happened I did post on a local fb group about it and got lots of people just saying "that's what insurance is for" and "you won't be affected as you'll have a courtesy car from insurance so it's fine" so clearly a lot of people think it's a totally OK thing to do!

@HowardTJMoon there really can’t be any justification for increasing a premium threefold. What use is a protected NCD when even a no claim results in that kind of increase.

Someone has just quoted me £900 for house insurance too. It’s a complete rip off!

These insurance companies must be some of the richest on the planet.
Most of its a rip off and all win win for them constantly
Makes me sick

I hear you all!.

It's a broken system really. The having to record all the details for the next 5 years is also such a pain. 1st 3rd party it was a work van so probably no real impact on the driver. 2nd was a young lad in his parent's old car that had so many bashes on it I doubt they'll bother getting it repaired, though obvs it will impact his insurance because of my claim. 3rd was the police so again a work vehicle that will be no impact on them.

As I say, at least in my cases it wasn't deliberate or reckless behaviour, no-one left the scene, everyone was apologetic and seemed like just decent normal folk who had a brain fart.

Completely agree.
Our car was hit, parked outside our house, but, because the drove off, the accident got recorded as 'fault' and our premium shot up.
No credit at all for the 30+ years of no claims before that.

Plus, as you say, the hassle of it all, and it being recorded for 5 years afterwards.

I know you don't want to hear this, but the car insurance companies in the UK a) are some of the most ruthlessly competitive organisations on the planet thanks to the comparison sites and b) have taken an absolute pasting over the last two years, they've lost shedloads of money.

There are some real problems with the way they deal with claims, and the huge amounts that get funnelled off to credit hire firms, which badly needs looking into, but they're not just charging loads of money for fun and rolling round in a bathtub full of profits.

I think it's a bigger problem overall. None of us want the hassle of going round multiple garages getting quotes for the work needed, especially when it wasn't our fault, so therefore they use repair groups or firms that will do the repair, pick up and drop off the car, often include hire car etc and it's often a licence to print money. The insurance company don't care as they are claiming it from the other insurer or more likely, they see which company owes who what at the end of the year and square up. So the big repair groups are in on it and as it's all wooden dollars essentially, the people producing the parts start charging £££ too. Everyone is adding on a wee bit here and there, as consumers we want it as seamless as possible as we are all busy and before we know it, premiums are up and we are unhappy.

I understand it and know why it happens, it's just the immediate impact on your pocket and the inconvenience when you've done nothing to deserve it that just feels so unfair.

It's not like "an act of God" type thing where a storm rips your shed to bits or a cow falls on your roof etc. It feels like some random stranger has done something stupid and yet it's left to you to deal with the consequences.

My opinion for what its worth is that there should be some sort of payment that an at fault drivers insurance should have to make to cover the general hassle of being the injured party.

That of course and more serious consequences for driving like a twat.

That's not true.

Someone crashed into us last year. They admitted liability. Our premium actually went down by a few pounds this year.

Correct, but no fault claims / accidents still affect your premium though.

This is the first year of DS2 having insurance in his own name so that he could start building up his no claims but they gave him credit for the fact he's been driving over 5 years as a named driver with no claims. He will therefore not gain a discount this year to use next year I presume?

We had 3 cars, 2 belonging to me which the boys used. One that they shared but insured in DS1s name and the other insured in my name with all of us as named drivers on the other cars. DS2 lives in a different city for uni so didn't use the cars as much. I also used DHs car.

DS1 and I are happy to share 1 car really as our work patterns are opposite so DS2 took the other car away this year so I put the insurance in his name.

@Willyoujustbequiet the insurance company told us that any incident, whether a claim has been made or not, affects the premium. It wasn’t a claim, just for information.

I was told the same thing re reporting a potential claim that you then don't go ahead with. Such as say a scratch on a wing mirror that subsequently turned out to be buffed with polish or something.

Even if you don't claim on an insurance policy, because you are now a higher risk of the thing happening again, they can put your policy up.

Because that wing mirror is apparently just waiting to be scratched again and next time they may not be so lucky and it could need replaced...

It's disgraceful but that's how it is.

Our good friend is an insurance broker and he's a multi millionaire.....