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Have you haggled your way out of insurance admin fees?
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Former_MSE_Joanne
Posts: 113 Forumite
Insurers cheekily charge up to £30 a time for tiny tweaks to policies such as a name or address, that take seconds to alter. But we've heard of many wriggling out of these, so we want to tap MoneySavers' collective knowledge on what lines you used if successful, which insurers played ball and how much you got 'em to waive
To be clear, we're talking about the fees they charge for completing the paperwork, not any increase in premium charged for a change of circumstances such as moving into an area perceived as more dangerous or changing jobs.
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To be clear, we're talking about the fees they charge for completing the paperwork, not any increase in premium charged for a change of circumstances such as moving into an area perceived as more dangerous or changing jobs.
If you haven’t already, join the forum to reply!
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When I moved to a nicer area and started parking on my drive instead of a public road, I expected my car insurance premium to drop, which it did slightly. However, they try to charge me a few extra pounds due to the admin fee. I complained that I shouldn't be penalized for moving to a safer area and they agreed to waive the admin fee
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Many recently have been very overt about self service options via websites so when speaking about wife going from provisional to full license was told they could do it over the phone but normal admin fee applies or could go to their website and do it myself for free.
Not exactly getting them to waive their fee but a way of avoiding it and they were promoting it too0 -
My father passed away and I contacted Aviva to cancel his motor policy, I was told that a fee of £30 would be deducted from a refund of policy as an admin fee!!
I complained that he had been a loyal customer for many years but the rather surly operative stood firm, I asked to speak with her manager who did not come to the phone but cancelled the £30 fee.0 -
When we moved house my partners' insurer said that she would have to pay a higher premium as the car was no longer being garaged. Fair enough. We are now moving again and when we notified Sheilas Wheels that the car was now being kept in a locked garage (same post code area) she was told her annual premium would increase by £26! When we challenged this on the basis the risk had been reduced we were then told it was an admin fee. We challenged this too as an increase in premium is very different to an admin fee so they were being inconsistent using incorrect terminology and not 'being fair to the customer'. After a few days we were advised that the admin fee would be waived. We also had a car policy with LV and home insurance with John Lewis - they were so easy to deal with, changed the address over the phone without any charge and LV sent new documents within minutes by email so guess who we will be using when the Sheilas Wheels policy expires.
We pointed out to Sheilas Wheels that retaining customers is easier than getting new customers so they were losing custom by being greedy and charging for basic changes which insurers like LV and John Lewis did for free.0 -
GA Motor Insurance charged me 37p admin charge when I bought a new car, my previous car being 2 year old. Why do other insurance companies charge so much?0
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I rang Admiral to cancel my policy early as I sold my car. The policy had less than a month to run so I wasn't expecting a refund but was shocked when they tried to apply an admin fee. I pointed out that I could just have waited for the policy to end and avoid the admin fee but this fell on deaf ears. After a heated exchange the imbecile put me on hold before informing me there would be no charge. Admiral - you are a disgrace!0
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nsurers cheekily charge up to £30 a time for tiny tweaks to policies such as a name or address
How is moving from a hidden fee within a premium that all policyholders pay to an explicit charge that only people that create admin considered cheeky?
The regulator has a preference for explicit charging and its fairer for consumers.that take seconds to alter.
Whilst the transaction itself may be relatively quick, the infrastructure needs to be paid for that allows the transaction to take place. There are also regulatory costs and risks as well as commercial realities that need to be considered as well.I am an Independent Financial Adviser (IFA). The comments I make are just my opinion and are for discussion purposes only. They are not financial advice and you should not treat them as such. If you feel an area discussed may be relevant to you, then please seek advice from an Independent Financial Adviser local to you.0 -
Val_Birbeck wrote: »GA Motor Insurance charged me 37p admin charge when I bought a new car, my previous car being 2 year old. Why do other insurance companies charge so much?
For a start people get confused between administration fees, such as changing cars etc and cancellation fees.
Cancellation fees, which tend to be much bigger, cover not just the cost of administration but also the "unearned" setup costs which tends to include marketing fees/ commissions etc which are irrecoverable. The "problem" with them is that its been decided that these should be charged on a flat rate rather than sliding scale so if you cancel after 2 months you should be paying for 10/12ths of these costs where as if you cancelled after 11 months it should be 1/12th of these but its simpler to charge everyone the same and weight it by the fact that more people cancel earlier on in the policy than later.
£0.37 is certainly undervaluing the cost of making a change. I see in 2010 the average stated fee was around £20 (Motor being slightly higher than Home). You would need to do a fair amount of calculations, total number of service staff, how many manager they require, how many auditors and HR staff, how many computer, software licenses, IT staff, how many buildings, electricity, heating etc to run and support the call centre and then divide that by the total number of changes made per year, any fees payable to DVLA, MID etc for the changes.
I've never seen the calculation done to have any idea what the true cost would be for Admin fees, I have seen it done for cancellation fees0 -
Admiral seem to be one of the worst on this. I got charged an admin fee for changing the registration number of my car - no actual changes to the policy, same car, same particulars, just put a personalised plate on it.0
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When my van insurance was due I chose Direct Dial and told the operative that as we were moving house shortly I didn't want to have to pay their £50 fee for a policy amendment. This was agreed. When we moved I notified Direct Dial of our change of address and told them of the agreement not to charge a fee. Direct Dial refused to waive the fee and claimed that there was nothing on their records as to the agreement. I had to pay up!
Two weeks before the policy expired I sold the van and notified Direct Dial. This time they wanted to charge £25 to cancel the policy. I told them to just let it run it's course and I wouldn't bother to claim a fortnights worth of unused policy.
Yup - you guessed. I hadn't learned any lessons regarding the unscrupulous behaviour of Direct Dial. Next thing I know is that they have reinsured the van for another year! On ringing their premium rate number I was told that it was in the agreement that they automatically reinsure a vehicle when the policy expires.
Well, at this I'm afraid I blew my top, particularly when they claimed again to have no record of any conversation about selling the van and said I would have to pay another £25 to cancel the policy and, by the way, as the vehicle had been insured for a week, I would have to pay £27.50 for the period.
Still arguing with Direct Dial - and refusing to phone them on yet another premuim rate number despite their INSTRUCTION that I do so. I'll keep you all informed as to the progress when they take me to the small claims court.
Meanwhile, just beware. Direct Dial might seem cheap but boy, if you have a problem it'll cost you because they don't seem to keep records of conversations:eek:0
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