Motor No Claims Bonus Protection & Claims Loading

MrEarl

Registered User
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2,691
Hello,

Can an insurer apply an additional charge to your insurance premium, via a "claims loading", while you have full no claims bonus protection ?

If so, why pay the additional cost in protecting your "no claims bonus" in the first instance, if the insurer can simply increase your premium by calling the increase something else (i.e. "claims loading") after you have mad a claim on your policy ?

Thank you.
 
No they can't apply a claims loading. The claim either impacts your bonus or it doesnt. There may be a rate increase though generally speaking.
 
I always have thought 'full bonus protection' is a red herring to a certain extent. Even though your bonus has not been affected, there is nothing stopping your insurer increasing your premium (for a variety of reasons) and they often will, as they know it will be difficult to get an alternative. Depending on the amount of the claim and whether it is finalised or not, there may be alternatives on the market.
 
Hello,

I think adding a "loading claim" is a specific, targeted increase to reflect a claim.

As such, I think it's a direct contradiction on the concept of bonus protection.

Does anyone know where I can go, to verify this formally ?

Thank you.
 
Your insurer should have provided you with a premium breakdown at renewal (if not you can ask for it). That should show your base premium and then relevant loadings and deductions after that.
 
Your insurer should have provided you with a premium breakdown at renewal (if not you can ask for it). That should show your base premium and then relevant loadings and deductions after that.

Hello,

They did, thats what triggered my original concerns.


As previously stated, I think adding a "loading claim" is a specific, targeted increase to reflect a claim. As such, I think it's a direct contradiction on the concept of bonus protection.

Does anyone know where I can go, to verify this formally and thereafter, get satisfaction with the insurance company ?

Thank you.
 
You will have to go to the insurance company to verify it. Have you asked the question? After you get the answer write to the complaints officer if you are not happy!
 
Hello

Thank you for the reply. I did ask the question and got a response, which I was unclear / unhappy with, but I quickly found myself going around in circles when I asked follow on questions....

When all is said and done, the insurer can call the shots no matter what we think, but thankfully there is competition in the marketplace, so I will look at the options now, as I really can not stand the thoughts of dealing with a company (which is a "household name" that) I cosider to be dishonest.
 
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Your problem will be that any online insurers criteria will be that there has been no claims in 5 years. So that may close off that avenue. Secondly and bizarrely, not all insurers recognise other insurers "protected" no claims bonuses. You may have to purchase no claims bonus protection again for them to accept it.
 
Contact the Ombudsman. You will need to go thro the companies complaints procedures first.


Contact the Financial Services Ombudsman. http://www.citizensinformation.ie/e.../motor_tax_and_insurance/motor_insurance.html
Mr earl.

The wording on protecting your no claims bonus , may to lay people like us, means what it says ie you are protected.
Sadly on a lot of insurance type contracts it means what the insurance company requires it to mean.eg it is difficult to claim on heart attacks.
As suggested ,clearly put your concerns to insurance company complaints section.
If no satisfaction then by all means go to Ombudsman.
 
Mr earl.

The wording on protecting your no claims bonus , may to lay people like us, means what it says ie you are protected.
Sadly on a lot of insurance type contracts it means what the insurance company requires it to mean.eg it is difficult to claim on heart attacks.
As suggested ,clearly put your concerns to insurance company complaints section.
If no satisfaction then by all means go to Ombudsman.

No. No claims bonus protection does what it says on the tin. Or specifically in your policy wording.

Heart attacks have nothing to do with general insurance. Nor would you have a problem with a claim arising from same.
 
No. No claims bonus protection does what it says on the tin. Or specifically in your policy wording.

Heart attacks have nothing to do with general insurance. Nor would you have a problem with a claim arising from same.
Peteb.
I only used the Heart Attack as best example of how claims are not met.
You would DEFINATELY have a very big problem claiming on what lay people understand as a heart attack.
The way clinical understanding of what was commonly known as a heart attack has moved ,means the proving of a clinical heart attack is difficult.
I would be slow to include heart attack in my insurance cover unless I clearly understood what Heart Attack means to Insurers as distinct from lay people understand a heart attack to be.
 
Thank you everyone,

I will indeed submit a complaint and then take it to the Ombudsman if I'm not satisfied. However, in the interim, I'm moving to another insurer as there's no way I'm going to keep doing business with a company like this.
 
Peteb.
I only used the Heart Attack as best example of how claims are not met.
You would DEFINATELY have a very big problem claiming on what lay people understand as a heart attack.
The way clinical understanding of what was commonly known as a heart attack has moved ,means the proving of a clinical heart attack is difficult.
I would be slow to include heart attack in my insurance cover unless I clearly understood what Heart Attack means to Insurers as distinct from lay people understand a heart attack to be.

Not a very good example is all.
 
MrEarl

I recommend you make a complaint to the Financial Ombudsman (after exhausting your complaint with the insurer).

In a similar situation, I did this, and won my case.

Unfortunately the compensation does not justify the amount of effort involved. The insurers have staff paid to deal with these complaints, so can spin out the process with endless obfuscation. But the more people that follow through on the process, the better the chance to get insurers to clean up their act.

Based on the decision from the Ombudsman, I would say that No Claims Bonus Protection is worthless. I won my case only because the insurer did not make clear how worthless it is in the terms. All the protection does is keep you at the same stage (in years) on their discount scale. However, they can change the discount rate. They can apply claims loading. They can trump up a new "minimum premium" (this is what they did to me). And of course, they will mark you as "zero years claim free", which is what other insurers will look at when you shop around.

In my opinion, NCD protection sale should be made illegal unless the insurer guarantees that a single claim will have zero impact on your record - the "years claim free" value should remain unchanged.

I'm happy to share the full Ombudsman decision by PM with anyone who thinks it will be helpful in fighting their case.

D
 
Policy simply says "Full Protected NCD =Yes" and indicates the extra payment for "Full Bonus Protection".
Then, in their terms they assert that "all discounts are subject to a minimum premium". This allows them to magic up any figure they want as "minimum premium". if it happens to be double your previous premium, that's just too bad. And it's a total coincidence that they decided to apply this new minimum premium after you made a claim.
 
It's the no claims discount that's protected. It doesn't say that the baseline premium won't be impacted by a claim.

Consider a scenario where you have earned a 50% NCD. Without a claim, you have a €1000 baseline premium * 0.5 = €500. After the claim, you have a €2000 base premium *.5 = €1000. Without the NCD, your premium would be significantly higher at €2000.
 
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