Liverpool Victoria car insurance problem

tennismenace

My wife has not had an accident in 30 years of driving and has been insured with Liverpool Victoria for the last 3 years. When renewing in July 08, she opted for the guaranteed for life no claims bonus and presumed that this was included in the policy from July 09.

She recently had an accident and she discovered to her horror that in the small print it says that she doesn't have the same no claims bonus, which was clearly an error on the part of LV.

They said that we should have checked the small print and it's our fault.

I have legal insurance on my Tesco home insurance policy, so before I instruct a solicitor, I wondered if there is a more amicable route.

So far, I haven't spoken to anyone senior at LV.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

lisyloo

There is a formal complaints procedure which you'll find in your docs or on their website.
I would write a letter (recorded delivery) or send an email if allowed (with delivery and read receipts on) straight away and get the ball rolling. These things take time, so don't mess about with phone calls. Make sure you follow the procedure and write to the correct dept rather than any other address you find. It has to be recognised as a formal complaint. The dept that deals with it may well be a different set of people to those you get on the phone and they may well have higher powers.
It will be less stressful and easier for you just to write the letter and kick things off, rather than argue with powerless call center people.

On a renewal I would have thought that they should replicate the policy you already have, so it's ultimately their mistake.
I would however suggest checking all paperwork in future to avoid this.
It's a lot less hassle for you if you pick up mistakes early and the certificate is generally only 1 or 2 pages.
I'm not an expert and whilst I agree she should have checked to make sure the policy met her needs, ultimately it's still their mistake in the first place.

If you don't get success through their formal procedure (about 8 weeks max) then you can go to the insurance ombudsman who are independent.
LV know this and it will cost them about £400 for starters so they have an incentive not to get that far.
It will take some time, but ultimately you have a free and indpendent route.

tennismenace

Many thanks for your help and advice.

daveyjp

All LV documentation informs you of what you have and haven't paid for.

The fact is a "guaranteed for life no claims bonus" means nothing.

Her insurance will still increase as a result of the accident. They simply up the base figure then apply the no claims bonus level.

lisyloo

Her insurance will still increase as a result of the accident.

Agreed, but that's not the issue here.
The issue is that her NCB has changed because they didn't renew her policy on the same basis.

tennismenace

Thanks for the comments. The issue is very much with regard to the status of my wife's NCD. The repair should be completed on Feb 19 and that's when the fun begins as I'm not prepared to lose out because of their incompetence. I'm also an LV shareholder so I'm tempted to bring the matter up a the next AGM.