No claims bonus & theft

jaws104

Hi,

My car was recently stolen and now going through the motions of claiming. I'm wondering what the knock on effect will be, as I will be shopping around for insurance in December when i finally get a new car

johnos1984

You will have a claim showing on your history but it will not affect your NCB or premium.

I know because my car was also stolen in the past

oldyouth

johnos1984 wrote: »

You will have a claim showing on your history but it will not affect your NCB or premium.

I know because my car was also stolen in the past

It will affect your NCB and your claims history unless you have your bonus protected or you are with one of the few insurers who will ignore theft claims. Even then, it may prevent alternative insurers quoting at renewal time.

It's a No Claim Bonus, not a No Blame Bonus

johnos1984

oldyouth wrote: »

It's a No Claim Bonus, not a No Blame Bonus

:rolleyes:

In my case, I was insured with Axa.

The NCB was unaffected as it wasn't my fault and there was nothing I could do about a gang breaking into my house at 3 in the morning and taking my car.

The claim is on the account however I didn't loose my NCB or have any extra loading put on my policy.

Unless I've been living in a dream world or Axa decided to make a exception for me, which I very much doubt they would

CiniO

Heh I can see 2 contradicting answers.

The truth is it depends on the insurance comany.
Some of them make theft claims to loose NCB. Some of them don't.

johndaman66

Its actually a little pet hate of mine the way people make certain assumptions regarding motor insuarance and just because their getting the best quote with their particulars for their insurance provider assume they are automatically the best alternative for me also. Likewise whether or not the OP looses his NCB depends very much on the insurance company, its bad advice to suggest otherwise.

jaws104

Thanks for the feedback, i'll probably be sticking with my current insurer as i've been told it won't affect my premium.

I have to pay a €2000 excess for the claim, which is fine, it's part of the policy i signed up to (XS direct fyi). Whats bothering me is that if my stolen car is found the insurers have my car plus €2000. It may never happen, the car may be found burnt out/wrecked, but if it's found intact surely it's not unreasonable to expect the €2000 excess fee back? Thoughts?

johndaman66

I was led to believe that any insurance company won't pay out until a stolen car is recovered. Be it burnt to a crisp of not economically viable to repair if damaged etc but was lead to believe that there would be no settlement until and when the vehicle was recovered. It actually doesn't make too much sense on the face of it as many cars are never recovered no doubt but on the other hand you could see how just paying out is highly open to fraud. I do know that one insurance company in particular will definately not pay out until vehicle is recovered but again it may be one of these things that differ from one provider to the next.

€2,000 excess? Ouch, thats very very high. I assume you had the option of maxing out your excess to reduce your premium?

djimi

johndaman66 wrote: »

I was led to believe that any insurance company won't pay out until a stolen car is recovered. Be it burnt to a crisp of not economically viable to repair if damaged etc but was lead to believe that there would be no settlement until and when the vehicle was recovered. It actually doesn't make too much sense on the face of it as many cars are never recovered no doubt but on the other hand you could see how just paying out is highly open to fraud. I do know that one insurance company in particular will definately not pay out until vehicle is recovered but again it may be one of these things that differ from one provider to the next.

€2,000 excess? Ouch, thats very very high. I assume you had the option of maxing out your excess to reduce your premium?

You were led wrong! There are plenty of cars that are stolen and never recovered (the majority of them Id imagine), so there wouldnt be a whole lot of point in taking out insurance against theft if the policy didnt actually cover the theft. Take for example if someones car is stolen and shipped to the UK; its never going to be recovered so obviously the insurance will have to pay out.

Btw XS Direct are a company who specialize in giving quotes to high risk categories on the basis of the excess being astronomical (up to €4k in some cases).

pajo1981

Depends on the policy.

With Quinn they knock 3 years off your NCB... and then charge you a claim penalty!

Needless to say I moved to another company - who recognized my remaining NCB, and didn't charge me a penalty.

edit: €2k excess is in-fúcking-sane

pajo1981

johndaman66 wrote: »

I was led to believe that any insurance company won't pay out until a stolen car is recovered.

That's total BS.

johnos1984

Unless you are referring to the period in which they give to try and recover the car. Axa said any payout in my case would be after two weeks as the chance of recovering the car then disappears.

johndaman66

djimi wrote: »

You were led wrong! There are plenty of cars that are stolen and never recovered (the majority of them Id imagine), so there wouldnt be a whole lot of point in taking out insurance against theft if the policy didnt actually cover the theft. Take for example if someones car is stolen and shipped to the UK; its never going to be recovered so obviously the insurance will have to pay out.

I know for a fact that one company in particular will not pay out until car is recovered in some shape or form. At least that was the case with them 5 years ago when a friends car was stolen....for all I know they may have changed this policy since. It was only 4 weeks later after his car was found burnt out that they agreed to settle.

pajo1981 wrote: »

That's total BS.

Which is BS? What I said or the fact that the insurance company wont pay until car is recovered?... Genuine question. If its BS what I said my explanation as per above is a very solid fact. If its BS that the insurance company wont pay out until the motor iis recovered I'd be inclined to agree with you.

pajo1981

johndaman66 wrote: »

I know for a fact that one company in particular will not pay out until car is recovered in some shape or form. At least that was the case with them 5 years ago when a friends car was stolen....for all I know they may have changed this policy since. It was only 4 weeks later after his car was found burnt out that they agreed to settle.



Which is BS? What I said or the fact that the insurance company wont pay until car is recovered?... Genuine question. If its BS what I said my explanation as per above is a very solid fact. If its BS that the insurance company wont pay out until the motor iis recovered I'd be inclined to agree with you.

bs that they don't pay

my bad, should have been clearer

most cars are never recovered - what, do you think they're stolen for fun?

johndaman66

pajo1981 wrote: »

bs that they don't pay


my bad, should have been clearer

Fair enough pajo1981 but am only telling you what I have on very good authority that happened in a friends scenario.

pajo1981 wrote: »

most cars are never recovered - what, do you think they're stolen for fun?

Actually are you sure about that. I myself am unsure also but do you have statistics to verify? Quite a lot of the time they are actually stolen for fun I would suggest though.

pajo1981

johndaman66 wrote: »

Fair enough pajo1981 but am only telling you what I have on very good authority that happened in a friends scenario.



Actually are you sure about that. I myself am unsure also but do you have statistics to verify? Quite a lot of the time they are actually stolen for fun I would suggest though.

The guard on my case told me that 40% are recovered.

djimi

johndaman66 wrote: »

I know for a fact that one company in particular will not pay out until car is recovered in some shape or form. At least that was the case with them 5 years ago when a friends car was stolen....for all I know they may have changed this policy since. It was only 4 weeks later after his car was found burnt out that they agreed to settle.

Ill have to take your word for it but I can tell you that I have never come across an insurance company who does not pay out on a theft until the car has been recovered; to be honest Id imagine most would be laughed out of it if they even tried to introduce such a ridiculous condition.

jaws104

johndaman66 wrote: »

€2,000 excess? Ouch, thats very very high. I assume you had the option of maxing out your excess to reduce your premium?

Yeah brought it down from €4000!!. Glad i did now