Insurance doubled for no reason!!

Flaccus

So got home this evening to find my insurance renewal from my broker. Last year I paid 530 through Hibernian. The renewal is for nearly 1,100 with Hibernian Aviva and in small lettering under the heading "Reason Why" they say "As a Multi Agency Inermediary we have rebroked your policy and having regard to your circumstances as advised to us prior to inception and subsequent to that date and taking into account your current policy and pricing we find that the policy attached is most appropriate for your needs"

What the hell does this mean ? If I go onto Hibernian's online site I can get quoted 560, around 430 on 123.ie.

When I rang the broker last week they told me I had a claim open which was nonsense and they rang Hibernian and confirmed I was correct. I had reported a fender bender in a carpark on the 19th Dec. but there was no damage, and only reported it in case the other party tried to claim which clearly they did not.

Could this be something to do with Hibernian now being Hibernian Aviva and they are just tossers ?

Needless to say my broker is feckin crap too when they don't even make an effort to find me a decent quote. Plus they charge a hidden 30 euro fee and don't even include it in your quote or notify you. I had to find out about it from Hibernian last year.

Anyway, assuming I go with another broker and this doesn't get ironed out, what's the quickest way to cancel a direct debit/auto renewal of insurance. Letter to bank and ring them up as well ?

Will be ringing them in the morning. Fuming at the moment.

thanks

Anan1

As you say, best thing is to cancel the DD with your bank and go with 123.ie.

Top Dog

Avoid the broker and go directly to the insurer - whether that be Hibernian or 123 or whoever. With so many companies dealing direct and online these days, its rare that a broker saves you much - or at least thats been my expierence over the past few years.

Sponge Bob

What exactly did you report that time , did you 'cause' an accident however small ???

Flaccus

I reversed at about 1km into a car behind me in a car park, barely touched it. No damage to either cars but the aul fela who owned the other car was standing a few feet away and saw it, and screamed blue murder. Got very aggressive, took down my insurance details, wouldn't give me his name etc.. I got his insurance details, told my broker in case he made an outrageous claim. They put me onto a crowd called MIS who deal with claims, informed them of the same. This was on the 19th Dec. Next thing I know a week later, Hibernian and MIS are sending out claim forms which I ignored. Last week when I rang my broker, they said I had a claim open, but when they rang Hibernian for me, they came back and said they had nothing on file. Maybe the guy did make a claim and it just got processed, Hibernian paid it, and never told me ? Or maybe it's this Hibernian-Aviva merger and they decided to screw me. They didn't even bother sending out the no claims bonus form which I am sure my new insurance company will want. Anyway, ringing them at 9am tomorrow. Can't understand how my premium can double like that.

Sponge Bob

Jeez man you did half the right thing perfectly , and then you never sent the form back in in order to PROTECT YOUR OWN INSURANCE COMPANY from a vexatious or fraudulent claim by the obnoxious second party .

Finish that paper work FFS , if in Galway go to their office in Knocknacarra with it .

Flaccus

Why ? I didn't want to give the feckers ammo to hike my premium up ? Sure the guy on the phone in MIS told me not to worry and said they will log it in case yer man does claim. He said nothing about filling in forms. If the other guy claimed I'm sure my insurance company would be onto me. Next thing stupid claim forms show up from MIS and Hibernian. Hibernian already confirmed they have nothing on file with regards to claims last week though. I'll get to the bottom of it tomorrow.

Do you think it's possible I didn't follow up with their claim form that they decided to double my premium just like that ?

TychoCaine

Dude, phone Hibernian direct and ask them to issue a quote, and make sure they know the whole story. That way you'll know once and for all what the status is.

Sponge Bob

Problem is that the accident report form and the claim form may be the _exact same form_ and at the end of it you state that you are claiming nothing , send in no estimates and then sign it .

That is a report and not a claim by virtue of the fact that you ask them for nothing .

the good news is that you are legally entitled to go to any OTHER insurance company and state that you have not claimed in the past year at this PRECISE moment in time .

Now you dug that form out and looked at it .....what do you reckon yourself ??

zilog_jones

Flaccus wrote: »

Or maybe it's this Hibernian-Aviva merger and they decided to screw me.

Flaccus wrote: »

Could this be something to do with Hibernian now being Hibernian Aviva and they are just tossers ?

The takeover happened nearly ten years ago, they only decided to change the name now.

Flaccus

Thanks.

After speaking with a friend who is more up on these things, I think what's happened (possibly due to me not sending in the form) is the broker logged an open claim on their system which fed into hibernians last week and I automatically got screwed. Will ring broker tomorrow, ask what's going on and explain it was a nodamage incident which i reported in case of a vexatious claim (which is true) and ask them to sort it with hibernian and go from there. Probably have to send in that form but I have till the 15th at least. Will also ask them to send out my no claims discount form which I think I am legally entitled to anyway. Apparently their policy is not to send it out to direct debit customers Amazing if my premium got doubled even though noone claimed.

Sponge Bob

Next time NOTHING happens Flaccus log into your gmail , write a detailed email to your lawyer saying what happened , exactly , and save it to drafts without ever sending it .

It is a verifiable contemporaneous note kindly timestamped by google for you ( California Time ) .

If you need to take it any further you go into your broker , log in , and show it to them in your drafts and let them print it out and staple it to an accident form .

Of course if the note in drafts says there was no damage to either car and that helps explain why you told nobody at the time , K!

But you made a note of that while your memory was fresh on it , attaching a picture of your bumper before saving it would have helped at that point too.

Scottie99

Anan1 wrote: »

As you say, best thing is to cancel the DD with your bank and go with 123.ie.

+1

TychoCaine

Anan1 wrote: »

As you say, best thing is to cancel the DD with your bank and go with 123.ie.

Come on! Firstly never just cancel a DD without notifying the company. The bills will just keep racking up as you need to formally cancel these things and it'll have to be paid in the end. You should only cancel a DD as a last resort if you follow the proscribed cancellation process and they keep billing you anyway.

Secondly, regardless of all the hoohaa that went on since, the fact remains that Flaccus was involved in an accident, even though there was no damage. Failing to disclose the fact to 123.ie or any other insurance company/broker may result him being left high and dry if he needs to make a claim. Even if they only ask you if you've had any claims, there's always the "failure to disclose at the time any other relevant facts may result in cancelation of policy...." catch-all clause in every policy.

Flaccus

I actually did disclose everything to my broker who told me to ring MIS (their claims handler) and I explained everything in absolute detail. The upshot was they told me to forget about it and they would keep an eye on it and as of last week my broker told me no claims were made against my insurance (they rang Hibernian). I'll find out what's going on tomorrow anyway.

As for the direct debit, I am full paid up until the 15th Feb, so currently owe hibernian zilch. However after the 15th Hibernian automatically start taking money again for this year. I even have my new Insurance disc as of today. They are so confident I'd accept the quote, they just send it out as a matter of course. If it comes to cancelling the direct debit, I'll notify my broker by phone and in writing, I will notify hibernian in writing, my bank by telephone and writing, and also cancel it via online banking.

I wonder what are the chances that hibernian/broker could say to me that since I notified them of this nondamage accident they have to leave it as an open claim until the other party contacts them first and as a result the quote stands. That being the case, could they refuse to post me out my no claims bonus form ?

Triangle

This happened me a few years ago.
I eventually got onto the insurance company and told them to close the claim.

The just of it is that you oepned the claim and you can request it to be closed.

My NCB letter said i had an open claim even though some idiot ran into the side of my car!!!

Flaccus

Hope it's that simple. Of course I never opened a damn claim....I just reported a nodamage incident in case the other party made a vexatious claim.

Will report back here tomorrow. Thanks everyone for their advice.

Flaccus

Just got off phone to broker...explained about quote doubling since last year, and the "no damage incident". They contacted Hibernian and it turns out because I reported an accident to them, Hibernian see that as an "open claim", even though noone has actually claimed, but they were expecting a claim from the 3rd party all the same and as a matter of procedure suspended my no claims bonus. Hence the crazy renewal quote.

Fortunately the broker got Hibernian to agree to close the claim and said they will reinstate my full no claims cert and send it out me as soon as they receive it from the insurance company. They also confirmed that this incident is not regarded as a claim by Hibernian and when asked by other insurance companies, I can say I have had no claims. It's up to me whether I want to say I had an accident, albeit one where no damage occurred. Currently am relucant to do this for obvious reasons.

Unfortunately, the best quote the broker could give me today was 560. Am getting 434 from 123.ie including 8% surcharge for direct debit plus full no claims protection. So it's good bye to the broker as he couldn't match it. In case Hibernian try to renew my direct debit on the 15th, I rang my bank and cancelled it. Also sent a registered letter to the broker, the insurance company and even the bank requesting the same. Just to be sure. Probably overthinking the situation.