Car insurance 'additional charge'

damienwright

I am writing on behalf of my mum who recently took out an insurance policy through one of the 'famous' car insurance comparison sites

The policy was set up and all appeared to be well. Today she received a demand for an additional premium of £49:50 because she did not send a copy of her drivers licence to them. At no point did they say they want, need, or require it and she has been in contact with them on a number of occassions since the policy started as she paid an extra premium for printed policy documents that never arrived. They have also said that if the premium is not paid they will terminate the policy with the usual penalty charges and so on that are always buried in the small print.

I am assuming that the Financial Onbudsman Service would be the correct people to file a formal complaint to. Also am I correct in thinking that if they cancel the policy this will have a negative impact on renewal / replacement insurance as it will show as a marker on the insurance database that she has been declined a policy / had a policy terminated / had special conditions imposed which they always ask about before giving a quotation.

Any help and suggestions will be gratefully received.

Best regards,

Damien.

Quentin

Your first formal complaint needs to be filed with the insurer (not FOS). Head the letter "Formal Complaint".

If they cancel the policy due to default you are correct in saying the cancellation will have a bad impact on getting future cover elsewhere.

tripled

Also complain to the comparison site - although it's not directly their problem, they don't usually like their customers being upset and will probably try and use their contacts with the insurer to try to resolve it. They also have an obligation to investigate complaints as they are registered with the FSA.

In the mean time as much as it may hurt it is probably worth your Mum paying it if she can for the reasons above, hopefully she'll get it back once resolved.

corbyboy

What's their justification for the charge?

They either need to see your licence or not. They can't say we need to see your driving licence, but if youm pay us £49.50 then we don't need to see it.