Time to stand up to the rip off merchants?

McKneff

My insurance, I wouldnt call exessive. I pay just £200 to insure
my 09 Corsa Design for 12 months, fully comprehensive, NCB protected.
Certainly not extortionate for me.

Cooperative Insurance, good customer service, Professional throughout.
Never had a problem, whether it has been my claim or a no fault claim.
(and no loading of my premium when it was a recent no fault claim either)

Wutang_2

trickyt66 wrote: »

Is there a template out there already for trying to get these insurance companies to reduce, if not waiver their charges. How can they legally justify £30.00 to cancel a policy that was paid in full up front.

so you can't be bothered to read terms - or write a letter!

Steve1981

if you dont read the terms and conditions before taking out a policy how can you complain?

_Andy_

trickyt66 wrote: »

Having just found out the my current insurer one one of my vehicles is going to charge me £38.00 to cancel my insurance ( because i have sold the unwanted vehicle ) or, if I wish to stay with them, £30.00 to modify the policy.

As usual the documents follow the on line purchase and no doubt somewhere in there in microprint will be thier t and c's detailing these absurd and disgusting charges. I have to admit to having not seen these and when challenging their representative on the phone this morning, was told it was a verbal contract, not a wriitten one. I apprecite there will be those who are reading this and saying, "well you get a cheaper premium on that basis and you should find out all of the facts first. Fair enough, but come on people, is it not time to bring these thieves to bear? This is exactly like the banks and there unjustifiable charges.

Is there a template out there already for trying to get these insurance companies to reduce, if not waiver their charges. How can they legally justify £30.00 to cancel a policy that was paid in full up front.

Comments and suggestions would be welcome.

Very angry about this, seems we are all to just be ripped off all over again.....

Rich

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

bouncydog1

I don't agree with you - you were no doubt very happy with the bargain price you paid for your insurance and should be savvy enough to know that if you save at the front end, then you are likely to be charged for everything that you want to change whilst the policy is in force.

A bit like purchasing the cheapest airline ticket and then finding you have to pay extra to pay by credit card, extra to sit where you wish, extra to take a bag etc. so when adding all the extras on and comparing with a regular price ticket, the cheap ticket is no longer a bargain.

It is well publicised on these boards as well as in the media and elsewhere, that you should read the terms and conditions of the contract before you sign up for anything. It is a sign of the times that everyone wants a bargain so only reads what they want to see then moans about unfair contract terms because they didn't do their homework.

Alternative is for everybody to pay increased premiums (which would then start another round of moaning)!!

Gothicfairy

I don't have to pay anything to cancel my policy but I do pay slightly more for it, The reason I got this policy was that I was being made redundant and was unsure if I would keep my car or not or need to downgrade. Got at Audi A4 V6 (14 years old though ) so wanted a policy that would allow any change for free. Thus paying for it when I had the money.
My hubby's insurance charge him £40 for any change but as he has no plans to change his van as it runs on chip oil and is so cheap he does not mind the extra charge should he want to change.

I honestly thought that nearly all charged for cancellation unless agreed otherwise.

I am now redundant and the car is going , and I will get my money back from the sale date so it worked out the best for me but if it were different I would have gone for a policy that charged for changes and kept the payment lower.

Dangermac

trickyt66 wrote: »

Having just found out the my current insurer one one of my vehicles is going to charge me £38.00 to cancel my insurance ( because i have sold the unwanted vehicle ) or, if I wish to stay with them, £30.00 to modify the policy.

As usual the documents follow the on line purchase and no doubt somewhere in there in microprint will be thier t and c's detailing these absurd and disgusting charges. I have to admit to having not seen these and when challenging their representative on the phone this morning, was told it was a verbal contract, not a wriitten one. I apprecite there will be those who are reading this and saying, "well you get a cheaper premium on that basis and you should find out all of the facts first. Fair enough, but come on people, is it not time to bring these thieves to bear? This is exactly like the banks and there unjustifiable charges.

Is there a template out there already for trying to get these insurance companies to reduce, if not waiver their charges. How can they legally justify £30.00 to cancel a policy that was paid in full up front.

Comments and suggestions would be welcome.

Very angry about this, seems we are all to just be ripped off all over again.....

Rich

You say that you are about to be ripped off again. Could you confirm upon what basis you were ripped off in the first place. Did you make a complaint about being ripped off? (I would if I was ripped off).

It may be easier to pay the additional premium, and let the policy run it's natural course. This is even more important if you are building up your No Claims Discount scale.

If you decide to cancel, you will have to comply with the policy Terms & Conditions, which may involve the cancellation charge.

The problem is, my Tricky friend, that the consumer wants cheap premiums (which they are in the vast majority of cases) but they dont want to pay for any subsequent costs to amend the policy.

Ultimately, insurers, like you and I, are in business to cover their costs and to (hopefully) make a profit.

Hope this info helps. Please let me know if you would like to re-post in crayon or a larger font

Quentin

Dangermac wrote: »

It may be easier to pay the additional premium, and let the policy run it's natural course. This is even more important if you are building up your No Claims Discount scale.

It's a bad idea to insure a car you don't own. The new owner may not insure it, leaving you open to a claim you aren't expecting!

trickyt66

Many thanks for all the informative and educational responses on this subject. Certainly seem to have stirred up a hornets nest with a few of you. There are a great deal of very opiniated people here which is what these forums are all about. In answer to a few of the points raised by contributors I would like to respond as follows.
1. Charges are not justified
2. These companies, specifically those operating as on line brokers or listed on comparison web sites are there purely for profit and are often an intermediary company who work on a commission for refferal basis.
3. Yes I have sent a letter to the company I have taken issue with, but thank you for your kind, if not sarcastic suggestion.

I have now received numerous telephone calls from supposed brokers who have simply passed me onto other supposed brokers who have in turn passed me onto other companies. One phone call, 4 different transfers to 4 different brokers offering the same policies that I was quoted on from a comparison web site. This simply reinforces my point about these companies fighting for business and their commissions.
I would like to point out that on every quote I requested I ticked the no contact by phone / mail boxes, so that worked a treat!

10 e-mails from one company offering me hidden bonuses and then quoting the same high price!

I have now taken out fully comp insurance with a well known high street company who do not charge for policy changes or supposed breaches of contract and, get this, are over £100 cheaper than the 'other' brokers, companies or whatever they tout themselves as. To top it off they are also £150 cheaper on the excess.

So I have no issue with complaining about these companies and no problem with my comments about being ripped off, because that is exactly what they are doing.

If anyone has an L200 pick up then my advice is to speak to NFU. Excellent service and no hassle.

Thanks again for all the aggressive, sarcastic and unhelpful posters.

Cheers

trickyt66

Did not see your post there Dangermac, but thank you for your response and suggestion at the end of your post.
Was not entirely clear as to whether you were reffering to my eye sight or my mental ability with regards to the crayon or large font comment, or was it both?

Or........... are you indeed clever enough to be making a reference to my having ' spat my dummy well and truly out'..? Hmmmmm, perhaps not.

Listen though, many thanks for taking the time to write it, made me smile.