Direct Line - Ridiculous surcharge for increase in mileage.

Quentin

That is understood. You owe them approx £113, which they are taking in instalments on the drip.

I don't think you have grasped why your rant is flawed!

Your annual premium was set too low in the light of your new mileage estimate, so it has been adjusted.

darich

kdband wrote: »

I'm paying an extra £37 per month for the next 3 months.

which covers you for the 12k miles.
It doesn't matter when you report the excess mileage, the premium will increase from what you paid for 8k up to the revised premium for 12k.
Because you reported it with 3 months to go, you pay the increase in 3 payments.
Had you reported it with 6months to go, you'd pay the same increase but over 6 months.

kdband

OK, I've re-read your post several times, and I think I understand what you're saying, though I'm still not happy that it should be done this way.

Even taking your explanation into account, my policy would now cost somewhere in the region of £520 compared with around £400 currently.

Without even trying I found 20+ companies that would offer me 12 months insurance on similar terms to my current policy for less than £400 including 12,000 miles per annum that I'm now likely to do. One of these companies was my current insurer.

So why shouldn't I just cancel the insurance tomorrow and start afresh. That way I won't have to pay any increase at all.

Quentin

I'm not picking on you, but you could do this (cancel tomorrow) and possibly end up owing them more! (You will have a cancellation fee to pay, early repayment fee to pay over your instalments and still some outstanding premium to pay - plus no NCD would be awarded for this year, if that is relevant).

And this surcharge has come about entirely because you made the (big - 50%) error in your estimate.

dunstonh

though I'm still not happy that it should be done this way.

Its quite fair though. Your ANNUAL premium was based on an incorrect assumption so the ANNUAL premium has to be revised to reflect the change. Not just the last few months. Otherwise everyone would just pick 6000 miles and increase it each time the break through the mileage limit.

Even taking your explanation into account, my policy would now cost somewhere in the region of £520 compared with around £400 currently.

£30 of the increase is an admin charge. So, its about £80 a year.

So why shouldn't I just cancel the insurance tomorrow and start afresh. That way I won't have to pay any increase at all.

You have already incurred the premium increase so you cant avoid that (plus the admin charge). If you now cancel it you will suffer another admin charge of £30 and as you are so far into the policy you probably will be due no refund on the premium (or very little at best) so will have to pay the full annual premium anyway.

Car insurance is not pay as you go. It is an annual contract.

kdband

Forgive me for thinking I might get a sympathetic ear in a money-saving forum.

The 8000 mile estimate was genuine (if anything generous) at the time we took the policy out. Circumstances have changed.

I could have kept my mouth shut until renewal time and nobody would have cared. I'll make sure I do this next time.

Are you telling me that £113 is a realistic increase in premium if I change my mileage in the way I've described? It doesn't seem it to me when I look at the comparison web-sites.
Is the 8+ years that my wife has been with this particular company worth nothing in terms of customer service? If we have to pay this, we will definitely be looking for a different provider next time around.

kdband

One other thought. Can I expect a similarly sized refund if circumstances were to change back again ?

Quentin

kdband wrote: »

Forgive me for thinking I might get a sympathetic ear in a money-saving forum.

Don't shoot the messenger if you don't like the message.

As I think you now accept, your rant was flawed, and so fairly difficult to sympathise with!

If you make changes that result in a lower premium being calculated, then this gets refunded (subject to the inevitable admin charge)

kdband

I notice you chose not to offer an opinion on the question about whether the increase is realistic or the value of keeping an existing customer happy.

I for one don't believe for a minute that I could expect to receive £80 back (after the admin charge) if I asked them to reduce my mileage from 12000 to 8000.

darich

kdband wrote: »

Are you telling me that £113 is a realistic increase in premium if I change my mileage in the way I've described? It doesn't seem it to me when I look at the comparison web-sites.

your premium was based on 8kmiles. you paid £400.
You've now told the insurer that your mileage has increased 50% to 12k from the original amount. that equates to 50% more time on the road and a pretty big increase in risk of you having an accident.
As I see it they could have charged you 50% on top of what you already paid.

comparison websites aren't a fair comparison.....if you see what I mean. they're all desperate to get you on their books so they're giving introdcutory offers etc to entice you.

As for sympathy.....you didn't come here for sympathy, you came here for advice presumably on the best way to tackle this.
The advice has been provided although you've been less than gracious in accepting that advice with comments like "fine have it your way" and "my maths is fine you've misread what I said"

they're a helpful bunch here but don't be too abrupt with matters you don't know enough about. Otherwise you'll get no help at all.