Confused over bike insurance-think I've been misold...Help!

zedbee79

Hi,
My scooter got stolen on Monday night :mad: and so I'm trying to claim insurance, however there seems to be some vagueness around my policy and I'm not sure that I'm getting what I paid for.

Basically I bought my insurance through Swinton- the broker who have given me a summary which says I have 3rd Party, fire and theft with a compulsory accidental damage excess of £200, and states a total of £200, then theres a note below it saying that other excess such as theft could apply.

Looking at the Insurance companies schedule it has a section called policy excess with 2 distinct columns one for fire, and the other for theft and below each of these it says the compulsory (and the total excess) is £200.

Then there is a section called Driver excess with me as named driver and then fire and theft - £400.

So in a nutshell they're telling me that my excess is £400, and that if I claim I have to pay my insurance to the end of the year - another £180, and my bike is probably only worth about £600.

The questions arising in my head are why on earth are there 2 sections like this? and have I been misold the product believing that my excess was £200, even the insurance broker wasn't very sure when I spoke to them yesterday and had to ring up highway - which indicates that they didn't even know.

It looks like my only option to get any money back from this whole thing is not to claim and cancel my insurance as that is the only way I'm going to get anywhere near any money back from this whole thing.

Interestingly my insurance from 2006 - 07 only stated Policy Excess of £300 - no driver excess.
2007- 2008 specified under policy excess £100 for fire and theft, and £300 for driver excess with Swintons summary showing £100 excess.

Does anyone know more about these things as I don't know what to do and whether I can fight back and get something more out of it? This is my first ever claim on either car or bike insurance.

dunstonh

The questions arising in my head are why on earth are there 2 sections like this?

Probably one is the general policy type and the other is an endorsement showing an increase (possibly due to age or loacation)

have I been misold the product believing that my excess was £200

did you buy the policy under advice or off the shelf?

If advice, did you specify the excess level you wanted?

and that if I claim I have to pay my insurance to the end of the year - another £180

that is normal. Motoer insurance is an annual contract and if you choose to pay monthly you are effectively using a credit agreement to borrow the annual premium which you repay on a monthly basis.

If you claim, you are making use of the policy and therefore getting what you pay for.

zedbee79

well I'm 30...so possibly no problem there, I've got my full motorbike licence last year before I renewed, which should. Ive not had any points whilst on the bike, nor have I claimed before.

Yes I bought the policy after speaking to/taking advice from the broker, it wasn't done online or anything, it was on the phone. And I'm quite sure that I wouldn't have gone for the highest excess, or the lowest - probably somewhere in the middle.

Do I even have a any sort of grounds to argue?

lisyloo

and have I been misold the product believing that my excess was £200

My opinion is that you don't have any ground to argue.

then theres a note below it saying that other excess such as theft could apply.

It says clearly in the note that other excesses apply as well as the policy excess.

Sounds like your best best would be to cancel the policy, but you will have to pay for time on cover (which may not correspond to your monthly payments so there may be MORE to pay). There will also be an admin fee for cancellation which might be up to £50.

Sorry, but that's my opinion.