In order to not lose his No Claims Discount he would have to dispute all liability. If you accept even 1% liability then your insurer has to pay out on your behalf and you have made a prejudicial / fault claim. 50/50, 60/40, 70/30 makes no difference to you as a policyholder from this point of view. It makes a difference to how much your insurer has to pay. However it will affect how much money you get if you are not comprehensively insured.

There are a lot of companies that offer NCD up to 9 years as their scale, so there is no way to say for sure that moving the NCD from 7 to 6 will not affect your premium. Even for companies who's NCD maxes at 5 they still record higher NCDs as many claims will just step back your NCD by a few years (most commonly 2). However the advice that you should cancel a policy and take up a new one is terrible advice. As they made the mistake in recording your NCD then they have to correct this for free (this is not a mid-term adjustment as you are not changing your details). If they refuse to correct the mistake then you can lodge a complaint against them as they are breaking the Data Protection Act by holding incorrect information about you. You now need to lodge a complaint with them about the advice that you were given, stating that you expect your previous quote (subject to any NCD difference) to be honoured, and that by being given information that has resulted in your premium being increased by such a large amount that you have not been treated fairly.

Wasn't the £10 to clear up the scratch, and the £50 for the inspection? Just give them £50, it's more in your interest to not **** them off than it is to save a tenner. And Mossy is right about you having to inform your insurer. If you don't then they may use this incident to reject any future claim.

Were you fined for the incident?

Inform your insurers that you completely dispute liability, and state that you are prepared to go to court and testify about this. State that you believe that the TP's husband has put in a fraudulent claim based on his belief that there was no independent witness to dispute his claim. State that you believe that if the TP was taken to court and forced to testify under oath then she would tell the truth about what happened. The TP was obviously remorseful about what had happened, and it seems like her husband is trying to pull a fast one. But she is the witness here, not him. He would have to ask her to lie for him under oath. I believe that if you put pressure on them in that way then they will concede liability. Otherwise the husband is looking at being charged with fraud and the wife charged for perjury.

You need to make a complaint about the way your claim is being handled. Write to your insurers, making sure you use the word complaint, and listing the problems. I know this will be hard but try to make the letter as unemotional and factual as possible. They have to respond to you within 14 days, and this may be just the first step. Insurance companies are heavily regulated, and a lot of people do not know that these complaints do get looked at by the FSA who have a lot of power here. If they do not address your complaint then you can escalate the complaint to the FSA. Don't lose your mind as the law is on your side here - you just have to fight for it.

You bought a contract to cover your vehicle in the UK for 12 months. If you don't cancel then your vehicle will still be covered in the UK. The insurer is fulfilling their obligations. That you choose to leave the country is not their problem - they can still provide you with cover in the UK as per the contract you agreed to. So sorry but I don't think that you are entitled to a reduction / waiver of the cancellation fee.

The insurance company will do this automatically.

I'm amazed that your own insurance company has not provided you with one. Car Hire is one of the biggest money spinners in the insurance industry - your insurance claims department should be falling over themselves to give you a courtesy car so that they can then claim the cost back from the third party insurance company and bag the profit. There are plenty of companies that will help you here.

I'm assuming that you only have Third Party insurance? This would explain why you cannot claim on your own insurance policy. I'm not sure what the liability issue is here, unless you are trying to make the other driver personally pay for your losses. This is something that you are legally entitled to, but in reality people who drive without insurance tend not to have enough money to help you out. Have you contacted MIB (Motor Insurer's Bereau)? This is a company set up by all UK motor insurers to help people who have suffered losses from an uninsured driver. Effectively you claim from the MIB, and they appoint one of the UK insurance companies to deal with the claim and make any payments to you (these costs are then passed on to all the people who buy insurance). Your insurance company should have notified you about this. Welcome to the Motor Insurers' Bureau

So they provided a quote to you based upon the information you gave them over the phone? When your policy documents arrive did it state your claim on it? Did Direct Line charge you the same amount that they quoted for?

The insurance company won't be talking to you about this because it may affect their position (after all you are looking to get as much as you can and they are looking to pay as little as they can, as it is a negotiation). However you can be very sure that they are already pricing this up. When a claim is notified the first action that is taken towards settling the claim is that a reservation is made. The claims department will use their knowledge and experience to make an estimate on what they feel the claim is going to cost. This is done to ensure that the insurance company has sufficient capital liquidated to make a payment. This reserve is just an estimate, and it is not binding, and they can move greatly as new information is gathered. Claims like this tend to get treated as 'large claims' (what constitutes large depends upon the insurer, but typically personal injury cases which are not minor will trigger the £20k, £30k, £50k or whatever limit is set). These are dealt with in an outside-of-the-norm way, because they require extra information such as doctor's reports and even things like exam scores to assess the sort of earning potential. For loss of earnings there is something called the Ogden tables ( Ogden tables - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia ). These are lists that calculate the earning potentials of individuals, based upon career and life expectancy. Your son will be rated on this on a pre and post accident basis, and the difference between the two sums will form the basis of the future earning potential loss compensation. These are particularly difficult to assess for people under 21 as they are unlikely to have completed their education and started a career, so take longer to work out. Additionally injuries can often turn out to be a lot better or worse a year after they have happened than originally thought. It also gives your son a chance to work out what he wants to / is able to do post accident, and helps to work out how his quality of life has been affected. It's very frustrating, but don't hesitate to ask for interim payments to be made to you because even though the insurer may not have discussed the future earnings with your son they are already thinking about it.

Hi Merlin, the bad news is that personal injury claims take a long time to sort out, and there will be a lot of frustrations, a lot of to-ing and fro-ing, lots of arguments between you and the insurers etc etc. However that should be it as far as the bad news is concerned. Remember that there is no 'automatic' answer as far as this sort of things go - you need to treat it as a negotiation and make sure that you are happy with what offer you are being given. If you are not happy then do not accept it. It is very common for insurers to open with a 50/50 offer - a lot of people will take it. However from your post it definitely seems like you should only settle for 100% - it was a deliberate act by the other party, and this means that there is nothing that your son could have done to prevent it, or reduce the damages to himself. This means that the only thing left to do (from an insurance point of view) is to work out the financial loss by your son. This will be done by seeing what sort of career he has / was looking to get into, and the damage caused to him. If he was likely to be an office worker sat at a desk then the payout will be minimal as far as future earnings are concerned. If he was looking to be a sportsman then it could be very large as that would require full mobility of his ankle. On top of this you will get hospital costs + compensation for the discomfort that will depend upon how much pain he will be in etc. I'm no claims expert so I can't really state how much this is likely to be (others here might be able to give you a realistic ballpark figure), but it is going to be in excess of £1000 / £1500, so the interim payment is realistic to help you cover costs whilst assessment & treatment are ongoing. Just hold in there and don't take any crap.

Did your letters / phone calls say you were making a complaint? I know it sounds ridiculous but 'complaint' is actually a magic word when dealing with insurers because it forces them to do something about it. If you complain and you do not get a reply within 14 days then the company has breached FSA guidelines, and are now in line ot get some really hefty fines that will make them wish they had never heard of you. The FSA do take a long time to deal with cases (mainly because they get so many of them), so it is always best to try and use them as a negotiating chip and get the insurer to back down before resorting to them. What evidence have the AA provided to say they owe you the money?

You have to notify them now. If you have bought insurance and been asked if there is any evidence of subsidence/ground movement etc and said no then you may not be covered at all. So you need to put in a claim for this right away and get your insurance company to deal with it so that they can reduce the amount they have to pay if you were to wait 2 years before your neighbour complained. It's a pain, and i know that it seems easier to just wait, but you will only be causing yourself more trouble in the long run. The earlier this is dealt with and the tree removed the better for you it will be.

Get a copy of the police report - it seems that this is your best bet here. The taxi driver has changed his story, and conjured a witness. If the police have written down the taxi driver's original claim (that your husband ran into the back of him) then you have all the evidence you need. Send both insurance companies a copy of the police statement, highlighting the part where the taxi driver claimed your husband went into the back of him. State that the taxi driver has changed his story and say that you do not accept the taxi driver's events. Finally state that you are prepared to take this to court and force the taxi driver and the witness to give evidence under oath.

Hi Decker, could you elaborate a little more please? So you had an annual household insurance policy with the AA, which you paid off in full. Did you pay this off at the inception of the policy, or mid way through the policy? Just trying to understand reasons why the AA claim that you defaulted on the payment. Best thing to do is to make a complaint, because complaints force them to act, and have to be logged. This way if you don't get what you feel you deserve you can always take it up with the FSA later (who can then look at the complaint log the AA have of your case). Complaint letters should always be as brief as possible, constructive and to the point - don't be afraid of asking for what you want. So in this case: *complain that you are being asked for money that you do not owe *state why you feel you do not owe it (and provide any evidence you have) *ask them to provide any evidence they have to support their position *ask them that you are looking for written confirmation that you do not owe them any money You should get a reply back in a couple of weeks, and if you are not happy then head back here with the update. -- oh and also send everything by recorded delivery so they cannot say they did not get it.

If you can prove that Virgin had been told that you had 4 years NCD then you can complain that they are in breach of the data protection act by holding an inaccurate record of you. Get your previous insurer to send you written confirmation of your 4 years NCD (they are obliged to do this), make a copy, and then send the original on to Virgin as proof. Demand that all money taken be returned to you with interest. And as ever make sure that you clearly state that you are making a complaint, as this puts you in a much stronger position legally (like they have to respond within a certain time frame). You're in the right here, just may take a bit of perseverance.

Could you clarify please: BEFORE 1st Car Full NCD 2nd Car 4Yrs NCD --Second Car Stolen AFTER: 1st Car Full NCD 2nd Car 2Yrs NCD

First thing to do is to complain to the insurance company. You must clearly state that you are making a complaint. You can do this either by telephone, mail or email - although most people state that they recommend recorded delivery mail. If you make a complaint then the insurance company is compelled to respond to you within 14 days (or they are fined). They get in a lot of trouble if they don't try their best to resolve the issue. Have they ever argued that they do not owe you the money?

Ok, so their insurers are trying to get out of paying the whole thing, and in doing so is passing some of the cost onto your son. And I am assuming that it really makes little to no difference whether your son paid for 1 damage or both as it is above his excess and will cause his premiums to go up. Gotcha, so having a look through the RAC policy document it seems to be just about the worst Legal Care cover I have seen as it provides almost no legal cover at all (up to £5,000 if you are taken to a magistrates court). However RAC are underwritten by Aviva, so you might want to post this in the Aviva section as they will be able to answer your questions more specifically. Frankly I think calling this legal care is taking the ****. The £100,000 legal aid they claim to cover is just a ULR section. They've also tagged in a hire car cover section too. The underwriter who came up with this needs to be shot.

Get a written statement from the witness. If they back up that your wife was stationary and had left the lorry with plenty of room to pass by then you should be fine. This should be all that your insurance company will need to persuade the lorry driver's insurance company that it should be a non-prejudicial claim. The cost of taking such a claim to court when you have an independent witness against you is so high compared to the chance of winning that the lorry driver's insurance company will most likely decide to settle regardless of what the lorry driver states. Things are never clear cut in these situations, but you need that witness report as soon as possible. Were the police called? Hopefully they will have the statement from the witness already.

This is not strictly true. They are different sections to a household policy, but may not be a different policy.

I would also be surprised.

You could do this if it were just account transaction info that was needed, but it is not.