| Car Insurance Advice Required 18:21 - Jan 29 with 2934 views | Double_Dutch |
Looking for some advice on Car Insurance, as I believe, that some members may currently or have previously worked within the industry.
My son was involved in an accident in December, 2 months into an annual fully comprehensive insurance with Hastings Direct Smart Miles.
The accident involved my son’s car, which was stranded on the A14 having suffered a rear blowout, with both occupants waiting at the top of the grass verge away from the vehicle. Two further vehicles then had a minor coming together with minimal damage behind my son’s vehicle. The police arrived within minutes positioning themselves behind all 3 vehicles, all lights flashing. At this point my son’s car had only suffered the rear blowout. Within minutes white van man turns up and hits the police vehicle, which in turn hits the 3 other vehicles, writing off the 4 vehicles including my son’s car.
White van man was uninsured!
The insurance company have agreed a settlement for my son’s car, which was accepted.
My son purchased another car, Hyundai. Contacted the insurance company to discuss transferring the existing policy to cover the Hyundai, with admin costs.
Now it appears to me that Hastings Direct Smart Miles are being obstructive in an attempt to get my son to cancel his current policy and lose the £900 that it cost, as they have listed the accident claim as unrecoverable.
During my conversations with Hastings Direct Smart Miles, they have stated the following:
1) Your son is registered as at fault as costs are unrecoverable (Company has a policy in place to guarantee that if involved in an accident with an uninsured driver, it will be treated as a non fault accident if proved)
2) Our underwriter will not cover the Hyundai, too many incidents with vehicle
3) Smart Miles will not cover Hyundai as the battery is too big to attach the required Smart box
4) It would require a professional to attach the Smart box to the car
It just appears that they want the holder to cancel the policy and lose the policy cost.
I asked whether it would just be possible to transfer the policy to the Hyundai without the box being fitted, if indeed, this was the sole problem, to be told, we can’t do that.
I also asked Hastings Direct, why all the relevant search engines, for which the cars registration was input, detailing a Hyundai, gave a price through Hastings Direct with Smart box fitted, why they just could not transfer the policy with admin costs, couldn’t answer the question, I would have to speak directly with Smart Miles.
Apologies for the lengthy account, but currently seething at the way the insurance company appear to be wriggling to force a policy cancellation.
Suggestions please, about how I should further approach this situation.
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| Car Insurance Advice Required on 18:59 - Jan 29 with 2853 views | sparks |
Cant really say without examining the docs, but it is normal to refund the remaining time left on the policy... |  |
| The presence of those seeking the truth is infinitely to be preferred to the presence of those who think they've found it.
(Sir Terry Pratchett) | | Poll: | Is Fred drunk this morning? |
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| Car Insurance Advice Required on 19:17 - Jan 29 with 2828 views | chasing_crazy |
This is a really difficult one. As hastings will rely on the fact that your son has benefited from the policy of insurance. Therefore they don't have to refund any money. However I'd be insisting on seeing the evidence they are relying on that says the new car is not suitable, if they can't produce anything go through the FOS, who are independent and are good at what they do. If all else fail, a great tactic is to go on social media complaining to the chief executive. |  | | |
| Car Insurance Advice Required on 19:31 - Jan 29 with 2797 views | Burwell_Blue |
If you sons car was stationary on the hard shoulder then I assume all the other drivers were all prosecuted for careless driving? Is there not some recompense down that route? |  | | |
| Car Insurance Advice Required on 22:39 - Jan 29 with 2698 views | sotd78 |
Moral of this one is don’t insure with any companies owned by Esure or Sabre.....experience tells me and my daughter. |  |
| Blue shirts/white shorts - sotd78 |
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| Car Insurance Advice Required on 06:35 - Jan 30 with 2613 views | C_HealyIsAPleasure |
| Car Insurance Advice Required on 18:59 - Jan 29 by sparks |
Cant really say without examining the docs, but it is normal to refund the remaining time left on the policy... |
Not when there has been a claim |  |
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| Car Insurance Advice Required on 07:01 - Jan 30 with 2595 views | C_HealyIsAPleasure |
Firstly, that sounds like something out of a comedy skit - although I’m sure your son didn’t find it particularly funny!
Secondly I’ve worked in the insurance industry for about 12 years, although admittedly not with private motor for the last 8 so some of the below may be out of date. But:
1) Unfortunately this is true and how most insurers will see it. An insurance fault claim simply means whether or not the insurer has had to pay out, not whether the driver was strictly speaking at fault. So whilst your son was clearly an innocent party in the incident, the fact the guilty party was uninsured means Hastings have had to pay out, and therefore considered a fault claim. Some insurers now make a big play of protecting NCD when an uninsured driver is involved, but I’m guessing Hastings don’t in this instance
2) Surprised they’ve put it in those terms (assuming this was a low level call handler) but this is reasonable. Any insurer will choose to restrict some vehicles depending on their risk appetite - which ultimately will be based on claims experience. Must say I’m surprised that a run of the mill car like a Hyundai would be restricted but then I’m not familiar with the Hastings policy - I’m assuming this is probably a young driver targeted policy which therefore may have quite a small list of vehicles they’ll cover, in order to give the best possible rate for those vehicles. If in doubt about this point, it’s worth doing a new business quote with them on their website to check they don’t quote (make sure this is is on the same product)
3 & 4) I know little about smart box technology, but don’t see any reason to dispute this - no reason they’d lie and assume the product is only available where a box can be attached to the vehicle by their engineers
So unfortunately, you’re options are rather limited. A couple of things I’d do:
1) See whether Hastings can cover the vehicle on any of their other products. If they can (and the price is reasonable), try and argue the case for a refund if you cancel and take out another policy with them - although may not be something you want to do given your experience with them!
2) Escalate your complaint to a manager/customer care team. It probably won’t get you anywhere but there may be someone who can apply some sympathy to your situation and do something outside of the normal T&C’s
3) As mentioned above, take to Twitter, Facebook etc and email the CEO. Make sure you’re as scathing as possible on social media - if you can include anything from police reports etc which show how non-fault the incident was then do so. It won’t look great on Hastings so may prompt a reaction
4) Complain to the Financial Ombudsman Service. I’ve listed this last as you have to complain to the company first before the FOS will look at a case, and unfortunately as in all likelihood the FOS will probably side with Hastings assuming their stance is in line with their T&C’s. But it’s free, so if the other routes haven’t worked it’s worth trying
Finally - a small piece of advice for future. It’s always worth checking insurance before purchasing a new car, in case of this sort of thing happening. Must admit I’d probably have done the same thing and assumed the policy would just be able to be changed to the Hyundai, but always worth making sure
Good luck! | |
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| Car Insurance Advice Required on 08:19 - Jan 30 with 2558 views | sparks |
| Car Insurance Advice Required on 06:35 - Jan 30 by C_HealyIsAPleasure |
Not when there has been a claim |
True enough. | |
| The presence of those seeking the truth is infinitely to be preferred to the presence of those who think they've found it.
(Sir Terry Pratchett) | | Poll: | Is Fred drunk this morning? |
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| Car Insurance Advice Required on 10:07 - Jan 30 with 2500 views | ArnieM |
.......Moral of the story .
Insurance Companies and their products are not worth the paper they are written on, and essentially cant be trusted to pay up under any circumstances. |  |
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| Car Insurance Advice Required on 10:30 - Jan 30 with 2488 views | badadski |
I have just read this, PM me if you want, have worked in Insurance for many years including motor which i am still in for over 10 years.
Hastings has uninsured driver promise meaning you should be XS free and will not lose no claims bonus if hit by uninsured driver which i has already been proven as they said he was uninsured.
The twist comes when they wont allow the policy to run as their underwriter wont do a change of vehicle therefore forcing the cancel for loss of current paid premium and also ncb build up as it wont have ran its full contract length.
What they are doing to me is not acceptable by our own companies rulings which is Direct Line Group.
Long story short, complain over the phone officially. Print out the document that shows they will insure the hyundai or quote for it as a new customer with the box in as proof just incase. They will have to follow official channels and resolve the complaint or not to your satisfaction.
At very minimum i would be requesting the change to allow the policy to change vehicle so he can get his 1 years ncb and so the unused premium is not lost.
Dont allow them to close any short of this resolution as when it goes past them and to conduct authority it will cost them far more than allowing the swap. If they cant swap the car then very minimum should be pro rata refund regardless of the fault claim.
If you want to PM me privately i will help all i can as am very clued up on this as have dealt with claims, underwriting and Motor for most of my adult life and still do.
The claim will go against your son which is unfortuatae as unisured driver promise doesn't stop if from happening it just prevents loss of ncb and also pays the xs. | | | |
| Car Insurance Advice Required on 20:22 - Jan 30 with 2390 views | solemio |
| Car Insurance Advice Required on 10:07 - Jan 30 by ArnieM |
.......Moral of the story .
Insurance Companies and their products are not worth the paper they are written on, and essentially cant be trusted to pay up under any circumstances. |
A few, such as NFU, are good - but expensive, especially for younger drivers. | | | |
| Car Insurance Advice Required on 20:24 - Jan 30 with 2387 views | sparks |
| Car Insurance Advice Required on 20:22 - Jan 30 by solemio |
A few, such as NFU, are good - but expensive, especially for younger drivers. |
Its also the case that when it comes to claims, most are clued up enough to know its cheaper to pay than to argue for a year...
Most insurers want to know what the liability is and get it sorted rather than resist for no good reason. | |
| The presence of those seeking the truth is infinitely to be preferred to the presence of those who think they've found it.
(Sir Terry Pratchett) | | Poll: | Is Fred drunk this morning? |
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