Comfort Insurance don't tell them anything

[fjmike]

Went to insure my car today and was told that the insurance would be dearer because Norwich Union had put a claim mark from 2005 with the reg number of our motorhome. This black mark was there because I had dutifuly told them about a minor incident with an Italian caravaner who side swiped my wing mirror whilst I was parked up, no lasting damage just a slight scuffing on the back of the mirror.I thought it wise to tell my insurance company (Comfort) the details just in case the Italian made a claim as he did seem to make a big fuss even though it was his fault. Anyway no claim was made so I thought that was the end of it until today, tried phoning both Comfort and Norwich Union who both blamed each other and stated that there was no claim made and no money exchanged but that they could not / would not remove the black mark. I think it extremely poor that these insurance companies insist that you tell them about any incident then record it as a claim and penalise you. The moral of this would be TELL YOUR INSURANCE AS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE

[twooks]

make sure you tell them enough to avoid voiding your cover in the event of a claim, you are invariably the loser if you do not mention something you later rely on .. etc etc etc

 

B-)

[Tony Jones]

I wonder how it would work if ... after an "incident" which you don't expect a claim for, you wrote everything down in a dated letter, as if about to claim, but then inexplicably forgot to send it off.

If they later told you they'd received a claim, you could send them the letter with a covering note apologising for the oversight!

But of course, it would be quite inappropriate for a man in my position to condone anything that even looked like dishonesty .... wouldn't it?

 

Tony :-D >:-) 8-)

[twooks]

or - you sent it - they didn't receive it -

the classic line - 'it's in the post'

not that I'd ever use that excuse *-)

 

B-)

[michele]

Tony am I thick or what Just say it..

i dont understand if he wrote a letter and they say they had a claim and then you produce the letter! Surely they would just say you had post dated it .. or foward dated it ....explain again please ...

 

How can they get a claim if you never claimed in the first place..

Feel sorry for you Flmjk because they are big buggars to take on.

Just shows what you get for being honest! NOTHING.

 

[fjmike]

michele - 2007-05-17 6:07 PM

Just shows what you get for being honest! NOTHING.

 

This is what annoys me the most as I was being honest. Whos the idjit that said "honesty pays" , obviously not when dealing with insurance compaanies

[Tony Jones]

michele - 2007-05-17 6:07 PM

 

Tony am I thick or what Just say it..

i dont understand if he wrote a letter and they say they had a claim and then you produce the letter! Surely they would just say you had post dated it .. or foward dated it ....explain again please ...

 

Of course you're not thick - and don't ever let me see you saying that again!!

You're right that a letter produced later doesn't prove anything, but the point is you'd have written it at the time, so you wouldn't be relying on your memory. The worst you'd get from your insurers for not posting it sooner - especially if you're very apologetic - is a slap on the wrist and "don't do it again."

T x

[Basil]

Hi fj,

 

No consolation but for your information a similar thing occured to me. My 4x4 was vandalised in the road outside the front of the house, keyed front to back on the nearside. I thought that it was going to be an expensive repair and so advise the insurance company to set the wheels in motion for a claim (and to find out what to do first claim I had ever made). In the end the local Ford main dealer from whom it was purchased took pity on me and I ended up only paying £100 for the repair. As the excess was £350 I obviously phoned and cancelled the claim with no money being paid out by the insurance company.

Sure enough come renewal time sorry sir your premium has been increased because of your claim. I will not repeat here what I said but to cut a long story short you may have to go to the insurance Ombudsman via the complaint procedure shown in your insurance documentation to get the claim mark removed, it can be done. You may also have to pay the increased premium in the interim but make sure you send a covering letter stating that you have been marked in error and you will expect a full refund of the difference when you have finalised your complaint to the ombudsman.

By the way the offending company was Norwich Union, the left hand doesn't know what the right hand does in that company and most of its backroom is outsourced to India and they are as much use as a chocolate fireguard.

 

Bas

[Brian Kirby]

Similar happened to us with a car Mike.  It seems fairly standard insurance company practice, though I think it is un-warranted when no claim arises, since they never return the extra premium they've taken.  However, insurance is all about risk, so when the claim free driver advises a potential claim his risk profile alters and the premium is adjusted up for a bit.  I think it took three years before ours reverted to its previous level.  Annoying, isn't it?

Of course, if you don't notify, and there is a claim against you, the insurer can get even more stroppy, and may even refuse to insure you.  Difficult to change to another company as well, then, because they won't co-operate.

Not sure how far Tony's tongue is into his cheek, but I do think his suggestion is potentially dangerous.  If you were to do as he suggests, the immediate interpretation the insurer would probably draw was that, whatever you said, the letter had only just been written, but had been pre-dated.  I think they'd take a very dim view of that, and might consider it something a bit akin to fraud!  You'd have a hell of a job trying to prove otherwise.  Whatever, I don't think it would help at all come renewal time!

I think if your own vehicle suffers no damage at all, and the other party is at fault, you say nowt.  If abroad, unless an international claim form is completed and signed by both parties, and pictures or similar taken as evidence, it is not unreasonable to assume the other party doesn't intend claiming.  What would be his evidence that your van was involved, as opposed to a tree?  Had you not been there at the time, how would you have known the incident had arisen?  Someone may damage their own vehicle by being careless, and just pick out your numberplate to claim against.  That claim would be totally false, and you couldn't advise your insurer about that, could you?  In the end, it is an uncomfortable judgement whether to notify or not, but if the damage was entirely caused by, and is suffered by, the other party, or is minor and likely to be repairable within your excess, I think it better to say nothing.  After all, the obligation is to notify them of potential, or actual, claims, not everything that happens to your vehicle. 

Just a final thought, but you don't say if you exchanged  insurance details with the Italian.  If not, although he could cite your registration No, the fact you were both present and didn't exchange details, seems to indicate he didn't intend claiming.  In that case, it may be worth a further call to Comfort to see if a notification given under those circumstances has the same implications for your premium.  You could try saying that on reflection, you think you may have ben a bit over cautious, and the notification was inappropriate.

You were honest, and you acted properly.  Honesty is the best policy, but no one ever said it was the cheapest!  I'm afraid you've just been rather unlucky, and the best thing to do is move on and chalk it up to experience.

[Brambles]

FJ,

Have shown your initial post to my wife who is an experienced Insurance Clerk. Her comment "Rubbish". Insurance companies cannot do that as no money was paid out.

"He needs to phone the insurance company and insist he speaks to an Underwriter, not the handlers, no ifs, no buts, must speak to Underwriter"

Well! hope that helps you, as she is insisting Insurance companies cannot do that if your story is accurate and no claim was made.

 

Jon.

 

[Guest Syd]

Slightly off topic but still covering Insurance,

 

I made my claim to our insurers on 19 April 2007 and it has taken me until now to get them to respond.

 

They only responded because I insisted on having the telephone number of their complaints office from the snooty bigot who took my call in the first instance, he gave me the incorrect number anyway.

I'm with the Co-op.

 

Oops, should have said "I was with the Co-op"

[John Keats]

I've found the cheapest Insurance procedure is to avoid making a claim at all unless the cost is extreamly high. It will cost you (in lost revenue) say £300 at least over time.

 

Plus it will mean your credentials are never blotted for the future.

 

Remember even if its not you're fault you may have been able to avoid the damage and by not avoiding it may mean your a higher risk driver.

 

JK

[John Keats]

PS to my last

 

"Even a small claim will cost you £300"

 

JK

[twooks]

poetically put JK - welcome to oaal

 

B-)

[davoscar]

 

It is a dangerous strategy not to tell stuff!  Insurance companies contracts are what they call "uberimae fidei" that means "of the utmost good faith".  If they can show that any information is withheld from them (however seemingly trivial!) they will just nullify any claim.  Your'e stuffed! Sorry about the the jargon its the Bank Manager in me who keeps raising his head even though I 'escaped' 17 years ago!      David

 

[Ivys]

How much time are you allowed to notify your insurance of a possible claim?

[Brian Kirby]

Roger

You are not allowed time.  I think you will find you are required to notify an incident "as soon as reasonably possible".  Check your policy.  This basically means immediately, allowing for the circumstance of the incident.  That is to say there are various legal formalities that take precedence, if injured you must get that attended to, and you need to find a working phone.  That apart, the notification should be your next highest priority.  However, this will to some extent be coloured by severity: truly minor incidents, or mere notifications, can probably be given less urgent status.  However, none even of these should be allowed to wait several days, or even weeks, until your return to UK from abroad.

[Jasper]

I've just insured through Comfort Insurance and found them to be excellent. They were less than half the price of insuring through Camping Caravan Club that I have been with (without a claim) for 14 years. I did contact CCC but the underwriters refused to even consider looking at the possibility of reducing my premium (now that's what I call a poor service).

I did declare a claim on my other vehicle insurance 3 years ago when it was hit whilst parked and unoccupied. Although Comfort noted this it did not affect my policy.

I'm afraid I couldn't fault Comfort.

Jaz

[enodreven]

Hi,

 

I think when you apply for insurance they ask if you have had any ACCIDENTS in the last so many years, nothing to do with claims and i would suggest that you tell them everything ?? just in case the other person has reported it even if no claim was intended as insurance compaines share this information and if you leave them a way out they will take it.

 

I notice that you seem to only be worried about the accident being held as a record did it affect the premium ?? if not i really don't see the problem ?

 

 

[PeterAndPatCue]

 

Concerning the recent article headed ‘Comfort – Don’t Tell Them Anything’

 

‘Tell your Insurers as little as possible’ I feel I should be allowed the right of reply.

 

 

 

Following reading the article I carried out a full investigation and would like the opportunity of putting the record straight. There is not a black mark on the claims underwriting record as a result of action by either Comfort or their Insurers

 

 

 

The situation is as we understand it that the Client concerned applied to Admiral Car Insurance to insure a car some two years plus after an incident to their motor home which occurred in Italy. It would appear that the incident had not been disclosed to these particular Underwriters of Admiral Car Insurance when they first quoted and it came to their notice due to a claims underwriting exchange check. Due to their strict underwriting criteria they then requested a load. It has nothing to do with a black mark being put against them by Norwich Union. It is simply that the client had been involved in an incident, which cannot be denied. It was reported to us on 5th August 2005 and we dealt with it accordingly. The claim has been filed away as ‘no claim being made’ and ‘no money exchanged’.

 

 

 

Consequently it is not a matter of removing a black mark. There is no black mark. It is merely that an incident occurred and, regardless of the fact that it was reported or not and was minor and at no cost, that particular Underwriter of the insurance carrier though Admiral Car Insurance has taken the view that they should impose a penalty. Clearly you have your own option as to whether or not you want to accept the quotation.

 

 

 

In the meantime the client has renewed their Motor Home Insurance Policy with us in Sept 2005 which was not loaded when it was renewed. And presumably also with their new insurers in 2006

 

 

 

I trust that the above explanation has helped to clarify the concerns.

 

 

 

Yours faithfully

 

 

 

Peter Cue

Managing Director

 

WHICH MOTORCARAVAN AWARDS WINNER

 

INSURANCE PROVIDER OF THE YEAR 2006 AND 2007

 

[Brian Kirby]

Which just shows there is always more than one side to any coin!  Thanks for taking the trouble, Peter.

[Don Madge]

Peter,

 

Thanks for that, it's nice to get some feedback and the record put straight.

 

It's a pity a few more companies don't do the same.

 

Don

[Brambles]

3 things you should not discuss in a public place.. sports, politics, religion, now we have a 4th.. insurance.

(lol) (lol) :-D

[Brambles]

So to clarify what is being concluded here. Is it you will not get penalised for mentioning an incident where there is no claim, but will be penalised for non disclosure?

J.

[twooks]

enodreven - 2007-05-18 4:33 PM

 

Hi,

 

Never assume anything if you want to know ask ??

 

 

 

so, are you still in La Rochelle, and what's the weather like ??

 

B-)