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Windscreen repair claim - impact at renewal


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I've just switched insurers for my wifes mini and my 987S - when completeting the application I ticked the no claims in the last 5 years box for both of us. Surprisingly, a few days later Carole Nash demanded an extra premium contributuion for the mini of ~70% because I hadnt disclosed a claim from another policy held on my daily car. They said that I had claimed for damage in the past 12 months and checking the date I found that it coincided with a windscreen repair. I hadnt considered disclosing a windscreen chip repair (I had forgotten about it and also thought it wasnt relevant) and after getting a confirmation from my other insurer that the claim was only related to glass repair Carole Nash very generously (not really) only demanded an extra 40% to the original quote which I declined to pay so cancelled the policy. I found somebody else who charged me £20 more than the original Carole Nash quote and also went back to the Boxster broker to tell them about the screen claim - they also added ~£20 to their original price.

Lesson learned about disclosure and also for a trvial claim like a windscreen repair I would have been better off paying in full out of my own pocket...I'm now stuck with this for the next 5 years!

Keith

Edited by huytonman
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I've had front and rear screen replacements a few times and never encountered this, was it specific to your original policy or is this the next generation con job that the whole industry is about to dump on us do you think?

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2 hours ago, huytonman said:

I've just switched insurers for my wifes mini and my 987S - when completeting the application I ticked the no claims in the last 5 years box for both of us. Surprisingly, a few days later Carole Nash demanded an extra premium contributuion for the mini of ~70% because I hadnt disclosed a claim from another policy held on my daily car. They said that I had claimed for damage in the past 12 months and checking the date I found that it coincided with a windscreen repair. I hadnt considered disclosing a windscreen chip repair (I had forgotten about it and also thought it wasnt relevant) and after getting a confirmation from my other insurer that the claim was only related to glass repair Carole Nash very generously (not really) only demanded an extra 40% to the original quote which I declined to pay so cancelled the policy. I found somebody else who charged me £20 more than the original Carole Nash quote and also went back to the Boxster broker to tell them about the screen claim - they also added ~£20 to their original price.

Lesson learned about disclosure and also for a trvial claim like a windscreen repair I would have been better off paying in full out of my own pocket...I'm now stuck with this for the next 5 years!

Keith

Mate had exactly the same … “you didn’t tell us about a previous claim…” “but it was ‘just’ a windscreen”… question was any claims… 

He chose to pay the increase… bit of a lesson as you say and really felt a bit underhand.

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12 hours ago, Andy Mac said:

Mate had exactly the same … “you didn’t tell us about a previous claim…” “but it was ‘just’ a windscreen”… question was any claims… 

He chose to pay the increase… bit of a lesson as you say and really felt a bit underhand.

I was unaware this could happen and I suspect there are a lot more like me, I will certainly look at this part of my next policy.

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I have recently insured three of my cars, all with different insurers.  Not one asked me about my windscreen claim from under a year ago.  The fact that the insures say that windscreen claims do not affect your no claims should also mean that you shouldn't need to pass on that info.  They always find new ways to squeeze us.

Edited by Daboy3000
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26 minutes ago, Daboy3000 said:

Not one asked me about my windscreen claim from under a year ago

You forget how pedantic and to the letter insurance companies are. I will put money on they asked you if you have had any claims in the last x years. You probably said no, which they could, if they wanted to, turn into you giving false info as you did have a claim, the fact the claim is for a windscreen is irrelevant if that was the question they asked. If they asked have you had any claims excluding glass claims, then that's a different question.

As usual we normally only find out when we come to claim that they decide if your policy is valid or not...

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Unfortunately my wife had had a little knock so we were not claim free. Trying to deal with several insurers after going through the comparison sites, I eventually broke the system somehow so I couldn't get any online quotes.  They all talk to each other now and in my confusion some of the details were wrong and I guess it just flags up "dodgy geezer".  All sorted after being able to communicate with a human.  Took me over six hours and gave me a bloody headache trying to get the best quotes.  I do hope I can put them all under one company next year.

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1 hour ago, Daboy3000 said:

Unfortunately my wife had had a little knock so we were not claim free. Trying to deal with several insurers after going through the comparison sites, I eventually broke the system somehow so I couldn't get any online quotes.  They all talk to each other now and in my confusion some of the details were wrong and I guess it just flags up "dodgy geezer".  All sorted after being able to communicate with a human.  Took me over six hours and gave me a bloody headache trying to get the best quotes.  I do hope I can put them all under one company next year.

Exactly what I hate about the modern world, the UK is an absolutely nightmare for these scenarios and British management seems to only look at the cost savings and ignore customer dissatisfaction.

 

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Thanks for posting this @huytonman.  I had a repair this year so it may just be simpler to renew unless there is some astronomic hike as I only paid £174 last year on the 986.  No excuses about disclosure as they already know the history.

Edited by ½cwt
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I had a claimed for a new Windscreen on the previous Macan as they are circa £1500 fitted at the OPC.

The reason I didn’t concern myself with a ‘claim’ was, any increase in premiums will be minor compared to me forking out for a new windscreen! Hence insurance premium increase is a minor issue with a claim like that!

Its when I can’t get quotes I’ll start to worry 🥴

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Might just be me that sympathises with the insurance companies.

The one that springs to mind are A-Class motorhomes where a bespoke windscreen can cost £4k apparently. 

Someone has to pay to replace a smashed windscreen and in this day and age I wish you good luck with that!

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6 hours ago, EXY said:

Might just be me that sympathises with the insurance companies.

The one that springs to mind are A-Class motorhomes where a bespoke windscreen can cost £4k apparently. 

Someone has to pay to replace a smashed windscreen and in this day and age I wish you good luck with that!

I thought it was only a chip repair? In which case I don't think I would put it through the insurers to avoid any misunderstandings!

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5 minutes ago, Rev Ken said:

I thought it was only a chip repair? In which case I don't think I would put it through the insurers to avoid any misunderstandings!

Certainly reads as a chip repair in which case MOST would stump up the repair cost themselves.

I'm not getting at the OP but the myriad owners who think it's a FREE repair.

I've said it before, if you give something to most people for free they do not attribute any value to it BUT the truth is someone is paying for it, it was ever thus.

I have told the story before of the scumbag who was in cahoots with a windscreen repairer and he made sure he got his insurance discount via a fraudulent windscreen repair claim, every year!

There's always one, at least until there's more than one :(

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It was a chip repair and I contributed a nominal £10 to it which was what the policy required - interestingly I had the renewal through for the policy that I made the claim against and its dropped on last year and no reduction in my no claims duration (so they clearly didnbt consider it to be important). In summary either handle it yourself, ignore it and hope its not noticed (I dont think my Boxster insurer had noticed unlike Carole Nash with the mini cover) or fess up and take the hit - in future my decision will be to pay out of my own pocket - unless its a screen replacement which is an expensive route.

Keith

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 Interesting read!

I was going to claim for a repair as I had a stone hit the windscreen on my daily car earlier this week and checked my insurance policy which says pay £20 to Autoglass 

I decided to try one of the repair kits (Halfords Rain X repair kit) for £5 (with trade card). Done it yesterday afternoon and although visible and on passenger side, crack filled in.

Glad I done that if the insurance are going to treat that as claim.  Not encountered that before, but could be recent changes to get more out of policyholders!

 

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  • 2 weeks later...

This is interesting.   I had a windscreen repair on the van a couple of years ago, on renewal I asked if it need to declaring (have any details changed etc). The woman I was speaking to dismissed it in an almost offhand ‘what a stupid question’  attitude.   I have subsequently had my Boxster windscreen replaced but have just been asking for quotes for a new policy on a different car and put I had had no claims in past 5 years, I’ve always understood that  windscreens don’t count as there’s little the policyholder can do about them?

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I noticed whilst fighting with Direct Line that my renewal last year included windscreen replacement as a claim - on top of the yet to be sorted claim !

First time I'd seen windscreen listed as a claim too.

 

On the subject of loop holes, the latest multi car radio advert states right at the end they are only covering for base cars, no optional extra are covered - that's 99.5% of almost every UK purchased car (outside of hire cars).  Do people still fall for these obvious scams to draw in customers ?  It's worse than click bait as the insurance staff are from courteous, let alone persuasive.  

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  • 1 month later...

Just seen the glass claim for a windscreen repair (it was £0 excess with an approved repairer) last year noted under claims history on my renewal too.  This section also says: 'Total claims, accidents or incidents made or reported within the last 5 years for all drivers.

Indicating even asking them about a claim or a third party reporting and then not claiming (if you settle directly with them, for example) will still be put on the list....

Edited by ½cwt
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