Tesco Motor Insurance

Cardiff_RFC

A relatively small matter, but I would like to know if the following is common practice amongst other insurance providers.

Some months ago, I opened a car insurance policy with Tescos and yesterday enquired about adding breakdown cover.
During my telephone discussion I was asked a few general questions regarding my personal details and if any had changed. I told them I had just been made redundant and for them to amend this small detail, they charged me £29.40 which included a £15 admin fee.
When I asked why, the girl on the other end of the line said it was Tesco policy to do so for any mid term changes to policy holder's details.
This naturally begged the question, "what happens if I get a job in the near future?". After a brief period of silence and checking with her superiors, she came back and said that in this case, if I did become re-employed, they would waive the admin fee, so it would only cost me another £14.

This seems to me to be very unfair to say the least and I will be writing to Tescos to tell them so, but before I do, I would be grateful for any advice from anybody on this message board.

Quentin

Cardiff_RFC wrote: »

..... After a brief period of silence and checking with her superiors, she came back and said that in this case, if I did become re-employed, they would waive the admin fee, so it would only cost me another £14.

This seems to me to be very unfair to say the least and I will be writing to Tescos to tell them so, but before I do, I would be grateful for any advice from anybody on this message board.

The agent you spoke to was untrained in this area!

You have been correctly charged because of your change of circs. (Check your policy and you will see that you should have informed them immediately about your change of occupation).

Generally notifying changes involves paying an admin fee. (So it would be worth getting it in writing from them they will waive it next time you inform them of an occupation change.)

But a change of occupation doesn't necessarily mean a premium increase - different occupations are rated differently premium wise - thus should you get back into your previous occupation, then a refund could be due, (as it seems your occupation is rated less than being unemployed), depending on how long is left to run on the policy, and subject to any minimum refund the insurer may have in its policy.

Cardiff_RFC

Thanks Quentin,

i've read the policy booklet that contains the terms and conditions and I can't find anything regarding charging for amending personal details. Also I asked somebody else to read it and they couldn't find anything either.

So i'm going to write to Tescos now and have a good moan.

Quentin

Enjoy your moan.

This is what you should have found when reading your policy booklet:

If any of the information You have provided Us in relation to
Your Policy changes You must let Us know immediately as
this could affect the protection of Your cover in the event of
a claim. Policy amendments resulting in a change in risk are subject to an amendment charge.

http://www.tescofinance.com/personal/finance/insurance/carins/pdf/standard-policy-document.pdf

Cardiff_RFC

Thanks again Quentin. You're a marvel and i'm a fool.

So basically, even though the details stated on my newly issued certificate of insurance and insurance schedule documents are exactly the same as the original, Tescos consider me to be a greater risk because I am now unemployed.

I'm still going to have a moan though and why not? I'm not using my car as much for a start, so that fact in itself reduces the risk of me having an accident and making a claim.
I'm probably clutching at straws here, but i'm going to have a go anyway. It can't hurt.