does anyone have experience of making a 'no fault' car insurance claim?

[CassianAndor]

A young joyrider crashed into the back of my parked car the other day. My insurer has said it is a 'no-fault' claim and thus won't affect my no claims bonus but I have no discovered that they will still take it into account when renewing and my premium might go up. They are unable to tell me if it will or won't.

Does anyone have experience of this - did it increase your premium?

(I am claiming against my own insurance - the boy wasn't insured (only 15) and the motorbike was stolen.)

Yep, twice
Pedestrian punched my car when I was driving and caused nearly a grand of damage. I was on a free insurance deal with my brand new car and it didn't protect your no claims so I lost all of my no claims and my insurance went up I was absolutely raging when he paid me £100 in £5 instalments

Rear ended on the motorway. I paid the £400 excess and the driver (business van) never responded so it was 6 months before I got the excess back. My insurance went up but not as much as the first incident

Admiral. Someone drove into the back of me. They admitted full liability within 2 weeks through their insurance to to the police, 4 months later I still haven't got my excess back. Insurance went up about £400 on a family policy as at renewal I had an unresolved claim.

Admiral have been appalling and Admiral Law had my case for 6 weeks without even allocating a handler despite the fact the other driver had admitted full liability several weeks before they even received it and it should have been simple.

That happened to me with an unresolved claim. I really really think that the way car insurance is managed need a total overhaul. The whole business is so shady. You never know what the Hell is going on. Mine was genuinely no fault, driver admitted liability and my insurance quotes doubled for nearly a year!

pumpkin thanks for all your help on this. Admiral rang me yesterday and confirmed I had legal cover and also that they will be pursuing the insurers of the motorbike (if it is insured!) and hopefully I should get my excess back.

I also put in a complaint that I might end up with higher premiums because of this - I've been with them for a while, never had an incident and this is how I could be rewarded for my loyalty.

Yip 2 no fault claims in one year and mine went up £100 which was about 40% increase!

I'm really shocked about this and so sorry to hear everyone's rubbish experiences! The insurers have us over a barrel!

Glad I could help , I would chase Admiral regularly, like every month, to ask them what the present position is as they aren’t the best. Also make sure you hear from the legal reps as you will need to send your excess receipt to them.

With regard to the premium - surely the insurer has criteria for putting a premium up due to a claim? So they know that X kind of claim results in a Y% increase? No?

The insurance tables change all the time. They're probably the most responsive data set out there. For example, you're a 31 year old female with 9 years driving experience, no previous claims, you work in a call centre, you live in Tottenham, you drive approximately 9k miles a year. You get insurance today and your risk factor is low.

Tomorrow the data tables refresh and there's a sudden increase in 31 year old females reporting accidents. Co-incidently there's been an increase in the number of insurance claims in the Tottenham area. Suddenly your risk factors jump to medium. Nothing has changed from your perspective but the company now sees you as a different type of customer.

The reason they can't predict if a no fault claim will go against you, is because they can't predict how all the other data points about you will perform between now and renewal.

To add to the complexity, insurance companies put different weighting on risk factors. So one insurance company will shrug their shoulders at 31 year old females having an increase in accidents whereas another might place a lot of emphasis on this and raise premiums excessively because of the perceived risk.

The company really aren't being vague or unhelpful. It's literally something they cannot predict.

They can predict whether or not they choose to penalise a loyal customer, though. They can choose that right here right now. My research shows me that Admiral, over and above other insurers, are known for raising the premiums on this basis. That's their choice.

They say it's based on probability. It's shown once you've had an accident your more likely to have another 🤷🏻‍♀️ regardless of fault.

sounds like a money-making wheeze to me.

I didn't have an accident. A joyrider crashed into my car. I wasn't even in it!

CassianAndor they really can't though because that again is based on data going into the business. One year they might have a very low number of no fault claims costing them money. Another year there might be far more than projected meaning they've lost too much money from these types of claims. The renewal costs will be based on whether it's a high cost/low cost projection for the company at that moment in time. It's very little to do with you as an individual, it's all about the data you represent to them.

The call centre people don't have access to that data, they just respond to what the computer is telling them.

As with all insurance companies, loyalty isn't important.

One of mine was the same, they crashed into my parked car when I was in the house. Insurers just like to make money out of us sadly!

Jenna oh yes, it's not the call centre people's problem and they have been very good and helpful and understanding.

But, as far as I can see, Admiral as a company have chosen to increase the premiums of people with no-fault claims, in a way that other insurers have not. So if they do so I shall simply move to one who has chosen not to do this. Which will be a bloody hassle to sort out while we're both at work full time.

Admiral are not simply at the mercy of the market. It's a good excuse though!

Yes, my insurance premiums went up, even though we settled outside the courtroom with the other driver's insurance company, who paid up - the other driver admitted liability all along!

Admiral are not simply at the mercy of the market. It's a good excuse though!

It's not market forces. It's their own risk assessment of cost vs risk. This changes regularly based on factual data. No excuses, that's the insurance business model and each insurance company works with it in the way that best suits them and their profits

This is why it's pretty pointless to speculate if an incident will increase premiums.

I don't work in insurance and for the most part I think insurance companies have a stranglehold on us and are utterly despicable in some cases

My husband had someone drive into the back of his car in the last insurance year. The renewal price came through £150 lower than previously. Despite the accident his risk profile didn't increase for his insurer but when we did a price comparison it did for an awful lot of insurers. My sharing that doesn't help you unless you're a male of the same driving experience, in the same car, in the same postcode, with the same job, with the same mileage etc

I just wouldn't waste any time being cross about something that's an accepted and heavily regulated business model.

No claims discounts are (kind of) a swizz, because they don't affect the actual premium, they are a % discount on the premium cost. So if the premium goes up, even if you have protected the discount, the price you pay will still rise. Here's an example.

Year one - premium = £100, no claims discount (protected) = 60%, price paid = £40

Year two - premium = £200, no claims discount (still protected = 60%, price paid = £80.

Your NCD stayed the same, but the price you paid still doubled. This is why it is a swizz, because it doesn't stop your premium rising, but only kind of a swizz, because it does still save you a wodge of money.

Your premium is based on the level of risk you pose - specifically the risk you pose to the insurer that they will have to pay out. One of the key factors they use to determine this is whether you have caused them, or any other insurer, to pay out in recent times. If you have, then your premium will go up.

If your insurer has to pay, then regardless of who actually caused the accident, it will be classed as a fault claim. Having the fault claim makes you higher risk, so your premium will rise (offset by whatever NCD you have).

The only way this would be treated as a no-fault claim would be if your insurers were able to reclaim the cost paid to you from either the bike's insurer (unlikely - if it was reported stolen, they would have no liability) or ride (unlikely - 15 year old joyriders are unlikely to either their own valid insurance or have the funds available).

So yes - if no one can refund your insurer what they pay to you, your premium will rise*, because the claim will be against you as a fault claim and you will be regarded as higher risk.

*unless, as a pp noted, something else has changed in your circumstances or the way that your insurer calculates risk that offsets this. Unlikely but possible.

I really, really hate insurers.

@QuantumWeatherButterfly, if the bike is stolen but is insured Admiral can get their money back from that insurer under the Road Traffic Act. EG - If your car was sitting on your drive and was broken into and subsequently stolen and was then driven by the thief into someone elses property your insurer would pay for the damage to the property. Crazy - but that's insurance for you !

I had legal cover and also that they will be pursuing the insurers of the motorbike (if it is insured!) and hopefully I should get my excess back.

You don't, you have access to Admiral Law a company that they own.

Good luck, mine was no fault and not settled in 4 months. 6 weeks to even allocate a handler to the claim as I didn't want to pursue personal injury. Full liability admitted by other person. Police attended.

It is such a con. Admiral should be upfront about the legal cover that they sell. It really isn't.