Insurance claim / renewal issue

[H182]

Back in Nov / Dec last year, the Mrs had her number plates stolen off her car. The morning we noticed them missing, we reported it to the police, we also found some plates behind the garage from another car, which the police collected.

A few days later, the police came round to interview us. Turns out a similar car was stolen locally, then the plates were swapped with the Mrs ones to avoid being picked up by ANPR. The police obviously knew about her stolen plates though and when they tried to stop the stolen car it was involved in a serious accident as the driver took off.

About 3 months later, the Mrs insurance (Hastings) phoned about being involved in an accident as there was a claim going against her. Whoever was hurt or hit by the stolen car were trying to claim off the reg of the car. The Mrs told Hastings that the plates were stolen and it wasn't her car, gave them the crime reference number and asked them to contact the police who would clarify the story. Another couple of months later, Hastings phoned again asking for information involving the accident and accused the Mrs of failing to cooperate. She explained that she had already given them the information about the plates and the crime ref etc, they said they had no record of it..

Last month, we received a letter from and independent insurance assessor who Hastings had arranged. He normally deals with insurance fraud. He arranged a time and came round to interview us. Again, we gave him all the information and had to give a history of previous insurance claims / address etc. Basically, he wanted to check that we weren't involved in anything dodgy relating to the stolen plates. After looking at the information he agreed fully that it was an error on Hastings part and he would submit the paper work proving that. There was even a chance it could go to court, but I don't think that happened.

This month her insurance is up for renewal, it has gone up over £200 and her no claims bonus has gone down. She phoned Hastings last night and queried it, they said this is because she had a claim in December. They have nothing on file relating to the plates been stolen or any info from the independent chap that visited. Someone is supposed to be calling her back today at 10AM (which I'm doubtful of).

Anyone any suggestions of where we go from here? I've already told her to contact the ombudsman. I can't see this being resolved before her insurance is up at the end of the month. It's not like we can move to another insurer as we don't have proof of no claims and there is currently a claim on her file, even though it wasn't her car. I can only assume we will have to pay the additional premium, then claim it back once it has been resolved. It pisses me off that despite being given the information a number of times, including from an official third party they employed, that they have nothing on file relating to it. f**king numptys.

Any help would be appreciated.

 

[...]

At any time did you put the details in writing recored delivery to Hastings ?

Not teaching you to suck eggs but always put it in writing .

Also do you know the dates that you spoke to someone at hastings on the phone ? after the first denial of any knowlage i would have asked for the recordings from that day .

But the first step now is to detail all the events from the theft to today in writing ., i would also contact the guy who interviewed you (i assume he left his card or details as i would have asked who he was and who he worked for before saying anything)
i would ask him for a copy of the report he wrote.

I would also send all this to the ombedsman and start a case with them , but you want everything you can possibly think of from everyone in writing .

 

[H182]

No nothing in writing as yet apart from the report the assessor did. With not hearing anything we assumed it was sorted. They never sent us any claims paper work or anything to put in. I've already told her to send a chain of events in writing now though, and we have a copy of the report. We phoned the guy who interviewed us, he said that he submitted his paper work to them a couple of days after the interview, so there isn't anything else he can do. Not sure if she kept the dates that she spoke to them, but I may be able to find it on the phone bill as she called them back.

Apparently they do have the crime reference on record, but it appears as though they haven't acted on it. If they contacted the police and asked them to clarify the information, then it should be easy for them to prove it wasn't her car. The one that was in the accident wasn't even the same colour, and no doubt the police will have the chassis number from it.

I'll ask the Mrs to draft up a letter to them today then will take it from there.

Thanks

 

[Rob]

No nothing in writing as yet apart from the report the assessor did. With not hearing anything we assumed it was sorted. They never sent us any claims paper work or anything to put in. I've already told her to send a chain of events in writing now though, and we have a copy of the report. We phoned the guy who interviewed us, he said that he submitted his paper work to them a couple of days after the interview, so there isn't anything else he can do. Not sure if she kept the dates that she spoke to them, but I may be able to find it on the phone bill as she called them back.

Apparently they do have the crime reference on record, but it appears as though they haven't acted on it. If they contacted the police and asked them to clarify the information, then it should be easy for them to prove it wasn't her car. The one that was in the accident wasn't even the same colour, and no doubt the police will have the chassis number from it.

I'll ask the Mrs to draft up a letter to them today then will take it from there.

Thanks

First thing is first, send a letter to the ombudsman, with all of this written up with approximate dates. A timeline.

Won't take you more than 30 mins in MS word.

So just...

Introduction.

Timeline:

June 2014:

Series of events

July 2013:

Series of events.

etc

Conclusion as to what you believe should happen, i.e hastings should immediately strike all of this from your insurance record and issue a new NCB certificate.

Send that tomorrow if possible.

Then send hastings a letter, and include your communication with the ombudsman as an appendix.

Almost the same letter but I'd be far more angry/direct with them. Send this recorded delivery, and I'd also send it by email.

Then, Monday, I'd phone Hastings and ask to speak to someone senior, when you get to them, ask to speak to someone senior again, as you're extremely dissatisfied with what's going on and require urgent resolution. Referencing your email.

I'd then find a director or two on Linked in, and message/email them if you can find contact details.

I'd then get on social media, twitter, facebook, and go hell for leather.

It'll get sorted.

 

[H182]

Brief update as I'm about to nip out.

Contacted the ombudsman, they have said they cannot do anything until after Hastings final response to our official complaint (if we are dissatisfied), or unless it isn't resolved after 8 weeks. Have typed up a letter with a time line of events and how we expect it to be resolved, that is being sent recorded delivery today, a copy has already been emailed to their complaints department. They have actually sent us a letter this morning explaining their complaints procedure, and it says we'll receive a response within 5 days.

When I got home yesterday, the Mrs said she didn't receive a phone call at 10am (as expected), so she phoned them herself. She spoke to two senior people, who say they understand the frustration with the higher premium and loss of no claims, but have said nothing can be done until the case is resolved. The second senior person she spoke to said that they first received the crime reference number from her in January, so they do actually have something on record. They have also received the report from the independent assessor they employed. It also turns out she filled in a claim form they sent to her, which is on record, I didn't know this was the case yesterday.

Apparently the problem is that they haven't had the confirmation from the police that it wasn't her car, they cannot tell us if and when the police have been contacted to clarify this information. My guess is they've just sat on it for 9 months.

I can sort of understand that the case cannot be closed without confirmation from the police, but I'd have thought that until a case is closed and a definite "who's at fault" is found, then blame cannot be placed on anyone? It surely shouldn't affect no claims discount, as no claim has yet been settled.

Will leave it now until Monday then will start hounding them again if there isn't a response.

 

[Beef-Mc]

Hopefully you get this all sorted out, keep us updated with how you get on!

 

[chaski]

I personally given the gravity of the false claim on her record would be requesting that someone senior deal with the matter personally and take ownership of the problem until it is resolved.

The linked in idea is a very good one IMO. I once managed to get the business internal address for a virgin executive with regards to serious problems with our internet billing, not working etc. it was resolved very quickly with compensation paid and even a thank you letter for giving them a final chance to resolve the situation!

Getting as high up the chain as you can is well worth the effort.

 

[Neil@greenlight]

It might be worth trying to find out where your missus was at the time of the alleged incident. For example if she was at work and they have records of her there it that would prove that she wasnt driving making your defence stronger....It would be especially handy if the work car park has CCTV as you could provide proof that the car was there at the time of the incident.

Its an unusual situation so id first log it with the complaints department of the insurer. Then if you dont get anywhere then you should contact the ombudsman for further advice on how to proceed.

 

[H182]

Still no joy with this. Chased them yesterday after sending the letter and email last week. They said that they have received them but someone hasn't had chance to look at them yet, their policy is to respond within 5 working days. The chap she spoke to last week wasn't available apparently, so she spoke to someone else.

The current policy expires at midnight tonight, so it isn't going to be resolved by then. She queried why she has lost her no claims when the claim hasn't been settled yet and is still pending. I can understand not getting an additional year for this year till it is resolved, but to lose another 3 seems unfair. His response was "as far as we're concerned, your car hit a pedestrian so it's your fault, until we receive the police report telling us otherwise". He was rude and patronising on the phone, and basically implied that it was up to her to prove it wasn't her car. They already have a report from an independent assessor that they employed, yet this doesn't seem to make any difference. What was the point in wasting 3 hours of our time interviewing us then?

Good point about where she and the car were at the time of the incident. We do not know the exact date and time, but they should have that on file so will have to ask. Her work doesn't have CCTV, but we could maybe prove it a bit more with emails or something sent from work. I can't see it making any difference though as they keep saying they need the police report.

The company as a whole is a joke, it's starting to piss us off. Whoever she spoke to yesterday said that they didn't receive the crime reference number until June, yet last week the man she spoke to said they had received it in January. She was first told that they hadn't received the complaint letter and email until they put her on hold to investigate. They said it can take up to 6 months to receive a police report, and they have it on file to try and contact them again in another months time. If the crime number was given in Jan, then that's over 6 months!

I guess now we have no choice but to renew tonight with Hastings higher premium for now, as much as we don't want to. We have to or we can't claim the additional expense back once it is resolved from another company. Hastings have said that it would be very hard to get insurance elsewhere with a claim pending.

I have found the CEO's email off that website that was posted on here, so we're going to email him today, with a time line of events and our dissatisfaction of some of their staffs attitude. Am going to ask that we can have one point of contact to save going round in circles. All conversations and actions have been documented. The Mrs uncle is a solicitor who specialises with insurance claims, she's emailed him for advice and is going to speak to him today. He's probably already dealt with Hastings on one of his cases previously.

Will keep you posted.

 

[H182]

Starting to get somewhere with this now. A lady in the customer relations dept has taken responsibility for this so we have a point of contact. She was apologetic on the phone and admitted that mistakes had been made.

As we were forced to renew with the higher premium, they are sending us a cheque to cover the additional cost for three months, hoping the issue will be resolved by then. If not, it will be reviewed again and I assume another cheque will be sent. The Mrs queried that her premium last year was based on three years no claims, so this year should be cheaper as it is four years. The lady on the phone said that at this time they were unable to provide a quote for four years, but will investigate once the dispute is resolved. We got some on line quotes for four years, so have kept a copy of them to use as a comparison when the time comes.

The lady said that it is the solicitors of the third party that needs to be convinced it wasn't her car. Hastings have said they'll get an assessor to come and inspect our car to prove that it hasn't been involved in an accident and repaired. Slight inconvenience, but if it gets things sorted quicker then great.

They have included a cheque for £50 as compensation for the hassle, but there may be more later on depending how things progress down the line.

 

[H182]

Well they've phoned back again today and resolved it. They've spoken to the 3rd parties solicitors and have agreed that there was no way it was her car involved, god knows why they didn't just do this sooner. They've reinstated her 4 years no claims and are going to put it in writing . The Mrs said she wanted to move to another company, but Hastings have offered to beat our cheapest renewal price if we stay and have upped the compensation offer to £200. Hopefully this will be the end of it.

Thanks to all with the suggestions. It just shows that if you have a problem, put it in writing and keep hassling them. Just a shame it had to be done in the first place really.

 

[Rob]

Very nicely done.

Worked out OK apart from a little inconvenience.

 

[Beef-Mc]

Glad to hear you got a positive result, even if it took a while!

 

[Leeshez]

Blimey it has been long, I am glad it has worked out .