Driving another car on your insurance

[boycie98]

I have fully com insurance, with no other named drivers. My insurance policy clearly states that no other drivers are covered by my insurance. My daughter has fully com insurance on her car & her insurance cirtificate clearly states that she is insured to drive other cars but with 3rd party cover only. Her car is in the garage being serviced,so I let her use my car. She has a minor accident, stops , gives the 3rd party her name & insurance details. I let my insurance know what has happened. 9 months later, I get my renewal notice & find that my daughters accident has been entered on my renewal notice as a fault claim & despite having maximum, protected no claims bonus, my premium has increased by over £450. Are they allowed to do this?

[woofgang]

have you asked them about this?

[New Judge]

Presumably they made a payment to the Third Party as a result of your daughter's accident.

Whether this is the sole cause of your increased premium is hard to say, With the protection you have your NCB should not have suffered by its loss, but all motor premiums have increased by about 30% this year.

[New Judge]

But, of course, I should have read the question properly. No cover was available under your policy so no payments could have been made. I think you need to ask your insurers the reason for the increase and aslo get them to remove from their records the reference to the accident your daughter had which was, after all, no concern to them.

[gingejbee]

"all motor premiums have increased by about 30% this year" . Both of my cars are covered by More Than and BOTH premiums were LOWER this year - have I been just very lucky?

[boycie98]

I have asked them about it & they say they will investigate & let me know within a maximum of 8 weeks. A 30% increase would have been about £150, which I was expecting, but£450 was a bit of a shock.My premium nearly doubled. My problem is I have to pay the increased premium on the 23rd of Feb & I cant even change insurance companys, unless I tell them about this claim, which would result in a much higher premium.

[zzz111]

" I let my insurance know what has happened." Says it all. Its a no claim not a no blame/pay discount. Your insurance company incurred admin costs dealing with your notification i.e. a claim cost..
Somewhat baffled why you contacted your insurance company - given that you clearly acknowledge that your daughter had no insurance or relationship with them.

[boycie98]

When your car is involved in an accident ,whoever is driving, the 3rd party would give the registation details of your car to their insurance company. They would then check the national car insurance database, & my name would come up as the insurance holder for the car. The way the system works, as I understand it, is that my insurance company would settle the claim & then claim back all their costs, including any admin costs, from my daughters company, so the total cost to them would be zero. This is apparently an arrangement between all insurance companies to keep costs down. Me informing them was just letting them know in advance, what they were going to find out anyway. The situation at the moment, is that for one accident both my daughter & I have had a claim registered against us, putting both of our premiums up. If I were to insure my car twice & claimed twice for the same accident, I would be prosecuted for fraud. Whats the difference?

[wishy123]

I think you have been misinformed. You did exactly the right thing in letting your insurer know what had happened, as they would undoubtedly have been contacted by the Third Party in any event, even if your daughter gave her insurance details to the other driver. However, what your insurers should have done would be to tell the TP that they have no interest in the incident and invite them to pursue the claim against your daughter's insurer. If that insurer can confirm to your insurer that they are handling the claim against your daughter, your insurer should be able to close their file as a 'non-fault' incident. That should have happened well before now. If this error by your insurer puts you at a financial disadvantage, the Financial Ombudsman Service (your insurers are duty bound to provide you with their details, or just google it) will order them to compensate you.You do have to allow them up to 8 weeks to make a final decision on your complaint, but hopefully they will try to resolve it more quickly. As soon as you have their final decision, you can go to the FOS if you are still unsatisfied.