Quote:
Originally Posted by waynne  Not criticising this point but just adding some extra info from a case study I had whilst working as a broker.
We had a client who had 4 non fault claims in one year. The car was parked outside her house each time and someone drove into it. It was decided by the insurer that the location of her home and the fact she always parked on the end of the row was a high risk factor and one they wanted to load the premium for. We tried the discrimination route with them but the underwriters were undeterred at imposing terms.
Also as a note to those not in the industry you only truly get a non fault claim if you/your insurers can recover their costs.
Then to clarify the point about adding "dealer options" after purchase. Most insurers are happy for drivers to add dealer options to their car after purchase (wheels, radio, seats, ABS, HID lights and various internal trim levels etc...). The key here IMO is whether the car is modified from it's standard or usual specification. As long as your car could have come with those options from new you should be ok. IF IN DOUBT ALWAYS ASK THOUGH. |
If all the claims were outside her house then her policy will have been loaded due to the address not her claims. Having 4 claims against the post code means everyone in her street will have enjoyed this jump in premium. If the underwriter was loading her policy solely on the non fault claims and not the post code then they would be breaking the law. If she had taken this to the MIB they may have upheld her case. I've worked on a few where they have and massive payouts were made in compensation.
Also I understand where you're coming from on optional extras but most insurers won't be happy even If they are options at time of first purchase. Buying a second hand base model and putting the smarter parts on isn't acceptable to insurers unless you declare it as modified, because that's what it is. Just because the car could have had those parts doesn't mean you can just stick them on for free. The different models have different insurance groups based on these parts and will affect the price. If you work in claims/assessing or adjusting you'd find that out pretty quickly. Hope this helps.