Tesco Car Insurance - Small claims court or Ombudsman?

pvsol

Hi I wonder if anyone can help me , I currently have car insurance with Tesco and wanted to change my car - before I committed to buy it, I called them for a quote and they gave me a figure with which I was happy.

I then bought the car, when I called them to confirm I wanted to proceed, they said that they had misquoted me and actually refused to insure the car I had bought as I have a young driver on my policy. They quoted for a Petrol Model and I had asked for a diesel - they admitted that it was their error but said there was nothing they could do about it.

I complained and have been through their complaints procedure, they promised a response by 1st Nov , which has failed to materialise. I had to take out insurance elsewhere at a massive cost as I had committed to buying the car and I want to pursue them further - Does anyone know if I have to go through the Ombudsman or can I simply issue proceedings in the small claims court?

Many thanks in advance:mad:

Quentin

They made a mistake. You can't take them to court over that!

pvsol

So even though I lost out as a result of their mistake - there is nothing I can do?

Thanks

The difference in the annual premium they quoted and the one I have had to pay is £1450 its not peanuts.

huckster

I agree with quentin. This would be difficult to take through the small claims court. This would be about a breach of contract, but you would have to research case law that deals with any issues regarding advice given, as part of negotiating change to a contract. They made a mistake in quoting on the wrong vehicle and this was found before any changes were actually made to the contract.

You could have opted to remove the young driver, if this was the problem. You have gone elsewhere and you realise that premiums for this particular car are high.

Remember that Tescos' underwriter for the policy are UKI, part of Royal Bank of Scotland. If you take them to court, they will employ lawyers.

I think you should just make a complaint using their complaints process. According to a poster to a forum, Tesco Insurance complaints handlers are paying up to £200 to get shot of complaints, as they have a backlog of thousands of complaints. So just push this complaint with them, threatening to involve the FOS.

dunstonh

Mistakes happen. There is an acceptance that mistakes will happen. You dont automatically get a ruling in your favour because of a mistake. You had not entered into any contract at that time either so what grounds would you go to court on?

When issued the quotation, did you check the terms to see if they were correct?

A complaint may yield a goodwill payment of a couple of hundred and that would be a good result here.

pvsol

Thanks everyone , I have complained using Tesco's stipulated procedure, they came back after 10 days and said that they needed longer and that they would come back to me with a full response by 1st November (this was back in September) , they have not done this. Whilst I accept it was a mistake, what annoys me is the way they treat people when its their error and they think by leaving it so long we will calm down and go away.

They have therefore not kept to their own stipluated complaints policy.

I accept that I could have taken the young driver off the policy, but she has been on my existing policy ( and claim free ) with them for the last 2 years, so I wouldnt want to do that and go back to running her round like I did before she passed her test.

huckster

Phone the person/team dealing with the complaint, to ask what is happening. Ask them to resolve now or you will escalate to the FOS as you are now entitled to do so. They will probably pay you off and get a letter off quickly.

Hooloovoo

pvsol wrote: »

I accept that I could have taken the young driver off the policy, but she has been on my existing policy ( and claim free ) with them for the last 2 years, so I wouldnt want to do that and go back to running her round like I did before she passed her test.

Take her off the policy, and use the £1450 saved to buy her a car of her own. That way she'll start building up her own no claims too.

dacouch

Hooloovoo wrote: »

Take her off the policy, and use the £1450 saved to buy her a car of her own. That way she'll start building up her own no claims too.

Sounds like she already has a car of her own

pvsol

That would be a great idea Hooloovoo but then I would need her to take out insurance in her own name for her own car - bet that would cost me more than £1450 !!!

Their mistake wasnt that they didnt include her in the quote - they quoted me for a Mini One Petrol when I asked for a Mini One Diesel and when it came to it they wouldnt insure her on the diesel - what difference it made I dont know - the sad thing is that if they'd told me that at the outset I would have bought the Petrol !!!

pvsol

Dacouch , why would you think that ???? For your information she uses my car at weekends when she is home from university - I am quite aware of how fronting works and I would NEVER do that .