Motorist loses bid to remove claim from record

28 July 2022

A motorist who says her insurer misled her into filing a claim for a “not at fault” accident will not be compensated after losing her claims dispute.

The complainant called Youi after experiencing difficulties trying to claim through a third party’s policy after another driver damaged her vehicle in September last year.

She said Youi “forced” her to make a claim under her motor vehicle policy, which she did not want to do because of the potential hike it could cause to the premium on her next policy renewal.

Youi told her that it could only handle the matter if she lodged a claim and said there were “numerous parameters” which affected premium costs, one of which was filing a claim.

The Australian Financial Complaints Authority (AFCA) said it “was not feasible” for the insurer to represent the motorist if she had not lodged a claim, which it confirmed she did of her own volition.

Youi waived her excess and provided the claimant with a free hire vehicle while covering her vehicle repair costs.

The claimant wanted Youi to remove the “black mark” claim from her record after her premium rose by 18.7% when she renewed her policy.

The insurer admitted that the claim caused the premium to increase by 8% but said other factors also contributed to the overall rise.

AFCA said Youi had the commercial liberty to set the level of its premiums and that there was no evidence to show the increase was disproportionate or unreasonable.

The ruling said the complainant was aware of the potential premium increase if she chose to file the claim and that she made the decision without any exterior influences.

AFCA said the claimant was not obliged to renew the policy with her insurer if she had concerns over premium costs and ruled that Youi was not required to delete the claim from its record.

The panel declined to award the motorist non-financial loss compensation, saying the insurer handled the matter appropriately.

Click here for the ruling.