A question on car insurance???

Greenman

Here's a friends tale on insurance any input would be welcome!!!

About 6 weeks ago!!!

Heres his account!!!
As I approached the end of my road a cyclist came around the blind corner on his wrong side and hit my bonnet and his shoulder smashed my windscreen. I was stopped when he hit into me. He did not appear to be too hurt but no doubt he will probably feel sore as the day goes on. I rang the Garda and the guy said he wanted to go to work so I asked him to wait for the Gardai but he declined. He cycled away to his work. Anyway they came and I gave them my side of the incident. I showed them my licence and offered to get my insurance but they said I could produce it later. I hope the guy is OK and thats all I hear about it.

I then called into Axa and they gave me a number to report it to at their head office, eventually I got through to them and reported the incident. From their poiunt of view I have not to make contact with the guy now, but I am unconfortable with that, he is in his 20s I would say. I have arranged for a glass company to replace the screen which is covered by insurance.

This is the latest news !!!!
AXA sent me a renewal notice and have taken 40% off my no claims bonus. premium up by 700 on last year. Their reason is that AXA say the cyclist "might " claim so I have to pay the extra and after 6 months if there is no claim they say they will refund me and give me back my 70% ncb. I asked would I get interest too, so far they haven't even refunded my 250 euro for windscreen, but they say they will.

So far there has not been any word to me or the insurance company re any claim.

I feel like the victim here. My insurance is up for renewal on the end of March. I can't even try another company (not that I really want to ) because AXA have it that there is a claim outstanding.

I feel like the insurance companies are now more or less saying to cyclists " make a claim".


My question is if my pal is not at fault why is he been penalised???

Thanks alot JD!!!

landser

if your mate checks his policy, he'll probably find this in there.

as far as the company is concerned, they have no idea who is at fault and only have your mate's word for it that it was not his. for now they only have one side of the story. they are a business and have to protect their interests

the company's actions don't encourage the cyclist to take a claim, and i don't see how they could.

btw i don't work in insurance

edmund_f

sounds like a horrible situation..

you must remember these companies are not in the business of providing a service, they are in existance to make money.

If they say it, then they can probably do it, the ombudsman is useless here as their remit does not cover it once it refers to money in any way.

The only slim possibility may be to track down the cyclist and get him to sign a letter stating that he/she will never claim in the future?. Perhaps an investment of EU100 to the cyclist to cover any damages that he/she suffered may help?

Or perhaps threaten the company with moving your business elsewhere?

jayok

Hi Greenman,

This happened to me too - not the cyclist but the whole thing with the Insurance. I had a crash and wrote off my car while travelling in France. Both myself and my wife were fine and no one else was involved. The car was an old one and not worth claiming for (about €7k) as the loss of my insurance NCB would mean an extra 7k over the next few years. So I decided not to claim and just buy a new car.

Reading my policy it stated that I must inform the Insurers in the event of an accident and I did. This was 2 weeks before my renewal. When my renewal came in it was missing it's NCB discount and had gone up the 50% NCB discount amount. I rang the company (Hibernian) and they explained the same thing to me as Axa did for your friend. But I argued that only my wife and I were involved and wouldn't be claiming (we were fine). Because of this they then sent out a form for us to sign to say that we wouldn't claim and then they refunded me the difference in premium with interest! (measly 2% or something). So it appears that this is normal.

I would imagine though that because the cyclist is an "unknown" person they could still claim or at least contest the injury. Your friend has no evidence to suggest otherwise. It's important to remember that with insurance when an accident occurs it's the policy in place at the time of the accident that is responsible for the liability - not any subsequent insurance policy. E.g. If I have an accident on the 1st Feb and change my insurance on the 1st of March, if the claim isn't known until 1st April, the 1st of Feb policy must cover the driver. This is why its essential to let insurance co's know. This is my understanding - but I don't work in the industry either.

So to summarise your friend will have to pay the premium and if all is well he'll get it refunded in 6 months.

MrPudding

edmund_f wrote:

The only slim possibility may be to track down the cyclist and get him to sign a letter stating that he/she will never claim in the future?. Perhaps an investment of EU100 to the cyclist to cover any damages that he/she suffered may help?

You mean reward him for coming round a blind corner on the wrong side of the road, generally not looking where he was going or paying attention and crashing into a stationary car driven by a person that has done nothing wrong?*

MrP

*This is of course subject to this being an accurate discription of what happened. I do not come from the motorist always guilty / cyclist always victim school of thought.

eth0_

Why on earth did your friends not get the cyclists contact details? If he'd done that, he could have gotten a statement off the guy stating he was not going to make a claim..

AlisonB

i'll be honest - they shouldnt have notified their insurance.. if he was to claim against their insurance company would have issued your friend with an accident details form to fill out. If they could keep an eye out for the guy and get a letter in writing that he's not going to claim against them, then the insurance company will give them back their claims.

The fact that the guy left the scene of an accident (even though he had to go ) is a serious issue. He could be prosecuted for it!!!

Hope this helps.

Seth Brundle

MrPudding wrote:

You mean reward him for coming round a blind corner on the wrong side of the road, generally not looking where he was going or paying attention and crashing into a stationary car driven by a person that has done nothing wrong?

Mu understanding of the legal system is that there is generally a hirearchy of those who do wrong and can be sued.
Pedestrians do nothing wrong and can sue anyone.
Cyclists can only sue motorists.
Motorists can only sue themselves.
The legal system has nothing to do with fairness! How many cyclists do you know have been sued for damages in a situation similar to this?

Boggle

Lesson 1: Never tell your insurance company you've had an accident. If they find out about it eventually when it comes to making a claim then so be it. It's time enough for them to know about it.
Lesson 2: Dont expect anything with insurance companies to be honest and straight forward.

Why on earth did your friends not get the cyclists contact details? If he'd done that, he could have gotten a statement off the guy stating he was not going to make a claim..
Today 14:55

Why on earth would you do this? The guy got back on the bike and cycled off. If you went chasing him to sign a disclaimer then you'd just remind him that he stands to make money out of it. Being in the wrong is not an issue as far as the cyclist goes...

One note... Lucky it wasn't a child as they could have been hurt badly.

landser

kbannon, you can sue cyclists or pedestrians. the problem is that walking or cycling aren't subject to compulsory insurance as vehicles are. so, any award made against the pedestrian or cyclist would ring hollow unless they have property against which you could register a judgment mortgage.
anyway, chances are that if a pedestrian walks into you, he won't kill you, likewise a bicycle. a car could. compulsory insurance is there to protect the public, not punish them. do you really want a system whereby every bike in the country has to have insurance?? or you need to have insurance cover to walk to the shops .... rubbish. i reckon you'd be the first to complain about it

seamus

It's a common practice. My brother wrote off his bike after a guy pulled out from a junction in front of him. My brother received his compensation, bought a new bike, off he went. When renewal time came, his quote was huge - Hibernian had suspended my brother's no claims bonus because the other driver's (an English reg) insurance company were stalling, and had not yet paid up.

I do believe they have the right to suspend your NCB in these kinds of cases.

puntosporting

Did you give the cyclist your own details?
If you did then he can take action against you anytime in the next 3 years!
If he did not then he does not know he hit on the bike!
If he did not take your details then you should have let it be and not called the gardai or your insurance company.

Greenman

Thanks for all the interest, my friend is considering his position.

I feel its so unfair as I know my pal is telling the truth.

Thanks again JD!!!