car accident-need advice!!!

[michaeljj]

can somebody put some light where i stand.

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Hi
i have complicated situation atm which is a very new to me and i dont know where i stand due to recent my missus accident. Let me show what was there:

Our cars has been insured in 3rd party Trader Insurance company called XXX for last 12 months, before we insured our car there i had 1 NCB and my Missus 3NCB, policy was taken in my name. and we were happy with it.
3 months ago Missus had accident with not her fault (motorbike hit her car,police was on place of accident - they say its not her fault etc etc, guy from motorbike had personal injuries and almost died in hospital ) car is in unworthy state and its unused since accident. - we claim it from guy insurance and claim is still in due , motorbike was apparently insured as 3rd party aswell, we just want money for car back (about 1k) ,guy claiming 11k due to personal injuries (as far i know).
Now our policy is due to renewal and XXX company asking for twice much as before due to claim in due(about 2.3k per year).
We dont want to pay that much of money and we agreed to use only 1 car which will be cheaper to insure than have Motortrade policy etc, and question is can we use our NCB or not (claim not been settled yet), or what we really should do, its really ******* me off that somebody made loads of trouble to us and we have have to pay more even wasnt our fault. What you are people thinking about that situation?

[Agent]

Try another insurer?

[Sputnik]

You need to get the claim settled and closed, Then once it is done your insurance should be a sensible price again. Provided it is proved that your wife was not responsible in anyway for the accident.

[oolon]

There is a difference between someone not being her fault and her having to pay. Insurance companies have rules about which side pays the winning formular being BOTH! After all they do not wish to fight wasting money on deciding definitive whos fault it was, when its cheaper for one side to take the blaim and on others the other one. So things like you hit the back of the car, your fault you to close come in play. So what she was doing when the bike hit her is all import, only if things like excessive speed can be proved will the defaults be over turned. You do not state what kind of accident she had so its hard to know if she is going to have to pay.

[michaeljj]

Try another insurer?

i will but question is : can we use our NCB for qoute or not?

[michaeljj]

You need to get the claim settled and closed, Then once it is done your insurance should be a sensible price again. Provided it is proved that your wife was not responsible in anyway for the accident.

accident was 3months ago, and we still dont have any agreement, few weeks ago some forms come down from our insurer,they been filled up and sent back to them, this case will be a long one i reckon so we need diffrent insurance so we can use car when recent insurance will end.

[michaeljj]

There is a difference between someone not being her fault and her having to pay. Insurance companies have rules about which side pays the winning formular being BOTH! After all they do not wish to fight wasting money on deciding definitive whos fault it was, when its cheaper for one side to take the blaim and on others the other one. So things like you hit the back of the car, your fault you to close come in play. So what she was doing when the bike hit her is all import, only if things like excessive speed can be proved will the defaults be over turned. You do not state what kind of accident she had so its hard to know if she is going to have to pay.

well from my point of view (same as police and witnesses) motorcyclist overtaking lorry and hit my missus.

[Barakka]

i will but question is : can we use our NCB for qoute or not?

Two things...
1) presumably you used one of your no claims (ie yours or hers) on the trade policy. In which case the other ncb definitely won't be affected.
2) any effect on your ncb shouldn't happen until the claim is settled. My wife had an accident that wasn't her fault and took 3 years to settle, her ncb wasn't affected during that time.

[michaeljj]

Two things...
1) presumably you used one of your no claims (ie yours or hers) on the trade policy. In which case the other ncb definitely won't be affected.
2) any effect on your ncb shouldn't happen until the claim is settled. My wife had an accident that wasn't her fault and took 3 years to settle, her ncb wasn't affected during that time.

Policy was taken on my name and i used 1y NCB from previous private car, she was named driver on that policy and she was making that claim ,she had 3y NCB from previous car. So you saying that we can still use those NCB for current quotes on new insurance isn't?

One more thing: what we suppose do with car? its in not roadworthy condition now ,on SORN, there was one guy come down to view and make pictures of car but he didn't take it, say something like: "it was 3rd party insurance so we can do whatever we like with the car"

Thanks a lot for your help people as im really confused here - never had accident and claim before.

[Barakka]

Policy was taken on my name and i used 1y NCB from previous private car, she was named driver on that policy and she was making that claim ,she had 3y NCB from previous car. So you saying that we can still use those NCB for current quotes on new insurance isn't?

One more thing: what we suppose do with car? its in not roadworthy condition now ,on SORN, there was one guy come down to view and make pictures of car but he didn't take it, say something like: "it was 3rd party insurance so we can do whatever we like with the car"

Thanks a lot for your help people as im really confused here - never had accident and claim before.

You can only use one NCB on a policy, so if you used your 1 year NCB on the policy then that is the only NCB which could be affected - NCB applies to a policy rather than a driver per se, although it is the driver that earns it.

An example might help - I bought a brand new car about 10 years ago, I already had 5 years NCB from my previous car, but the new car came with 1 years free insurance. At the end of the 12 months free insurance I had two NCB entitlements one at 5 years and one at 1 year, I could take a policy out with either NCB, obviously I used the 5 year NCB and let the other expire.

So your missus can take a policy out using her 3 year NCB which cannot be affected by the claim as it wasn't that NCB that was being used, BUT the quote may be affected by the fact she has had an accident.

It's a tricky one to call because although she's had an accident she hasn't made a claim, technically you have as it's your policy.

On to you, as the claim is not settled or decided yet I don't see how they can affect your NCB at this stage.

As for the car you can't really do anything with it as if the insurance company decide to pay out for it and consider it a write-off then it becomes their property as they're effectively paying you for it. Where is the vehicle at this time ? You might want to start bugging them and asking them what they want you to do with it, and certainly if it's costing you anything to keep it where it is then explain to them that you will also need this refunding when they decide to pay out.

It's all very complicated when it comes to insurance and all i've said may be complete rubbish, it's just based on my experiences with insurance companies in similar situations.

[oolon]

On to you, as the claim is not settled or decided yet I don't see how they can affect your NCB at this stage.

Well when a wall fell on my car, Admiral put a knock on my policy and that removed my protected NCB, and I had to fight to get them to not to do that. It was just at renewal time so they also put up my premium too! It was not who was at fault it was how likely it was that they would have to pay out. I had to say I would not be claiming unless the other party paid out. Still kind of sucks so I am thinking I will change this year, however my insurance is a business use one, just in case I have to move work stuff around, (which is quite common for a sysadmin), so finding someone good isn't so easy.