insurance companies

[R129mine]

last year my wife drove her picasso away from doctor surgery, on t-junction a monster of a car drove onto her side of the road while she was waiting to see if the junction was clear and would have hit my wife's car had she not moved quickly to the left and thereby damaging her left door against another car.

the monster car just drove off without stopping, my wife got out of the car and approached the woman who drove the monster car and said that because of her driving she had hit this other car.

the woman just laughed at her and walked off, my wife took down registration details and called police, police adviced her to come to hte station to report it which she did.

the police had to drop the charges of a) reckless driving b) setting of after an accident due to the lack of witnesses.

the car has now been fixed and total cost exceed £1000 and we paid £500 excess.

her insurance premium has gone up by £200 due to this claim

but to top it all as she was named driver on my car insurance as well my premium wentup as well by £200, when i asked them to remove my wife as a named driver she told me the premium would still go up as my wife being on the same policy actually decreased the premium by about £200 per year as woman are deemed safer drivers (me 0 accidents in 20 years of driving, my wife 3 accidents having driven for 8 years)

i laughed at the insurance company saying not in my family but just had to leave it at that.

so because of someone else's reckless driving and my wife's desire to avoid an accident it has cost us up to £900 so far and next years premium will most likely also be higher had this not had happened.

how unfair is this world, am very angry about it but there is nothing you can do about it, or is there? the police said something about taking it to civil court, but am not sure if this is worthwile doing

i did tell my wife to never ever again in her life swerve out of the way if a car is coming towards her at low speed to avoid an accident if she is on a street with lots of cars parked.

i am still angry typing this even though it has happend many months ago now

 

[Stratman]

Bear in mind the ultimate purpose of an insurance company. It's to make money, and they do that by taking it from you, not giving it to you.

 

[Aoraki]

Looks like the way to have done it then is as follows; let monster car hit wife, claim on monster car drivers insurance, wife's car sorted, NCD not effected on either wife's or you insurance...........simples

 

[jonnyboy]

Bear in mind the ultimate purpose of an insurance company. It's to make money, and they do that by taking it from you, not giving it to you.

However also bear in mind that if the insurance had not been in place, you would have been £1000 out of pocket plus whatever the other party repairs were...

I presume the person your wife hit did not support her version of events ?

 

[davethemus]

I would chalk it up too experience and from now on have separate insurance policies

 

[R129mine]

davethemus, we both have separate insurance policies but made my wife a named driver on my policy (and i am a named driver on her policy) but perhaps this is not needed as my policy probably allows me to drive her car anyway and vice versa

jonnyboy, the owne of the car my wife hit (stationary parked car on side of the road) did not come forward (my wife left her details on a piece of paper on windscreen and gave details to insurance company and police ) thruth be told there was hardly a scratch on it (range rover) which is odd as my wife's picasso had a rear door that could no longer be opened afterwards (different build quality i guess)

Aoraki, that is what i told my wife afterwards but by then it was too late and £1k out of pocket.

 

[jonnyboy]

be aware that although it won't say so on the certificate, if you do use the "driving other cars" extension of your own policy, the cover whilst you do so is third party only. Which means that if say you both have a policyholder only driving policy and you park up your wifes car at your workplace from where its nicked, and she is out of the country for a month, as you were last in charge of the car neither insurer will pay out.
Don't skimp on coverage for a few quid - you want the cover to actually operate effectively when you need it.

 

[R129mine]

in that case I have got the correct cover, would hate to have third party only

and appearantly my insurance is cheaper with my wife on the policy as named driver as women drivers have less accidents/claims, I just happen to be the unlucky one where she has had 3 claims in recent years, but the upside is that most of you probably have wives who have had less accidents, that is at least how statistics work isn't it

 

[davethemus]

davethemus, we both have separate insurance policies but made my wife a named driver on my policy (and i am a named driver on her policy) but perhaps this is not needed as my policy probably allows me to drive her car anyway and vice versa

why bother then??

 

[Noodle-Pulp]

I thought fully comp on your car always allowed you to drive other vehicles 3rd party anyway?

 

[mirras]

I thought fully comp on your car always allowed you to drive other vehicles 3rd party anyway?

Not always, often restrictions apply as mentioned above, you will be covered third party only. Additionally, you will not be covered if the vehicle could in any way 'belong' to you, if you are a young or inexperienced driver, if the vehicle is not MOT'd etc....

 

[crockers]

in that case I have got the correct cover, would hate to have third party only

and appearantly my insurance is cheaper with my wife on the policy as named driver as women drivers have less accidents/claims, I just happen to be the unlucky one where she has had 3 claims in recent years, but the upside is that most of you probably have wives who have had less accidents, that is at least how statistics work isn't it

If you want to remove your wife from your policy to remove the loading is there any other women you can add in her place? Do bear in mind that if you're both out you will have to do 100% of the driving no matter what the circumstances are unless you're willing for your wife to drive your car on her policy.

 

[tromppost]

Not always, often restrictions apply as mentioned above, you will be covered third party only. Additionally, you will not be covered if the vehicle could in any way 'belong' to you, if you are a young or inexperienced driver, if the vehicle is not MOT'd etc....

and the car has to be "insured"