Car Insurance

[alan30]

My daughter recently had a quote for �480 for car insurance from Bell. When she went back a week later to pay she was told it had gone up to �660 due to an incident she had reported 2 years ago. Her partner, named on the policy, was driving and was side swiped at a roundabout. Initially it was to be claim against the other driver and it was reported to her insurance company. The other driver decided to settle without going through insurance and paid in full for the repairs and my daughter informed her insurers. Bell now say they treat this as an incident as she is more likely to have an accident hence the hike in policy price. I don't understand this as a no fault claim on a policy does not result in an increase in premiums. She was not in the car at the time of the incident. I can't see how she is more likely to have a further accident. If she hadn't reported it she would have brokent eh terms of her policy so it seems like a no win situation. With hindsight she may have been better to have pursued a claim at the time and got it recorded as a no fault incident? Anyone else come across this? I might add that she has given the same details to other companies and not one has raised an issue.

[gary9074]

I had an incident when a woman steamed past a Give Way traffic island while I was approaching and knocked my wing mirror clean off. We both informed insurance companies, but spoke later and she offered to pay for the new mirror glass, and mentioned that her insurance had gone up because she told her broker about the incident. However, I buy my insurance online, and most companies now only ask if you've had "Any claims or convictions in the past 5 years", of course I tick "No", because we never claimed.
I know of an elderly man whose bumper got badly scuffed while parked in Tescos, and the other driver left no details. He reported this to his insurance company, and even though he didn't claim, his premium went up significantly, because he was now considered "A higher risk".
I sometimes wonder why we bother with car insurance, the ones to don't have it (around 20-30% of us apparently) always get away with it. And any insurance company's solution to any incident is 50/50, to avoid using the legal cover we pay for. Ridiculous. At least we get free Tax-Disc holders...

[Panic Button]

You are too honest. Don't volunteer information that they won't find out about.