Hi,

I live in the UK and I had a car accident within the UK with an
uninsured driver while driving a hire car. I lost the excess on the
hire companies idemnity I took out. I also told my private car
insurance company and they took it as an unresolved claim so I have
also lost my no claims bonus. I was not at fault, but don't know for
sure if the other party has accepted that as the hire car company is
keeping me in the dark as to what is going on.

What can I do so that I don't lose my no claims bonus.

Thanks,

Mick

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Clarification of Question by mickr-ga on 29 Jul 2004 03:56 PDT

Hi Palitoy,

If you are still talking to me after this question, I would like
another perl script please. I think I may need to send you the actual
file if so request it as a clarification and I will create a tempory
hotmail email address and post it. Not trying to get round anything
just don't want you wasting time due to formating issues.

Regards,

Mick

Hello Mick

I am sorry to hear that you have been involved in a car accident, I
hope that you are OK.

I researched this problem for you earlier on today but I found no
concrete evidence for an answer, I believe too much depends upon your
actual insurance contract and the contract you had with the car hire
firm for anyone to give a complete answer here.  For instance,
Sainsbury's car insurance terms and conditions state that with them
you would have a "no blame no claim discount so you won't lose your no
claim discount if you have an accident with an identified uninsured
driver and it's not your fault".

It would also be worth checking whether you have Uninsured Loss
Recovery on your insurance policy.  This protects you against losses
that are not your fault but are not covered by your policy, for
instance claiming against an uninsured driver.

As I understand it (from a bump a friend of mine recently had), you
will retain your no claims bonus if the insurer recovers their losses
from the other party BUT in the meantime your no claims bonus will be
suspended.

There is also some possibly helpful information at these sites:
http://car-insurance-brokers.com/motor-insurers-bureau.htm
http://www.mib.org.uk

If this information is sufficient to constitute an answer please let
me know and I will post it officially.

Good luck with your battles against the insurance companies!

Hi Palitoy,

The insurance company I am with is Direct Line. They have a no claim policy, 
rather than a no blame policy. However it was an AVIS hire car and the
insurance cover was with them. They also don't have a no blame policy.

The sites you mention deal with getting compensation for damage done
to your car when having an accident with an uninsured driver. However,
they dont handle no claims issues.

As such I won't say the question was answered. Maybe this one is not
black and white but I would like details about the specific case on
how a hire car claim would effect your private insurance policy.

Sorry,

Mick