Admiral car insurance charging for cancelling within 7-day cooling off

peterbaker

Yawn !!

They have to pay for the phones, phone calls, the electricity, the computers, the software, the hardware, the back ups, the secure systems.
With regards to the staff as well as the wages, there's employers NI, training, pensions, sick pay, liability insurance. Health & safety procedures, fire alarms, extinguishers, toilets, kitchens, toilet paper, sanitary bins, paper, envelopes, printers ............I could go on...........

I think the fee is quite fair.

Why expect firms to work for free?
You don't work for free do you?

To answer your last question first, yes I do actually, and always have done, because I was taught how to build business relationships (in insurance) which stood the test of time and were almost never the cheapest. That usually involves an investment in selling and keeping it sold. Above all else, insurance selling is the prime example of how important it is not just to sell (wham bam thank you m'am) but to keep it sold (baby you're the best!). It is also a prime example amongst discerning buyers of how important it is to maintain a reputation not as a uncaring business that is so simplistic that it thinks it can charge all its overheads like a solicitor charges for disbursements, but as a business which recognises that it needs to market itself for new business with cooling off periods, and that the days before cover commence or recommence each year are the days when you might win some or lose some, hopefully with good grace.

In short lisyloo, your concept of business, whilst not untypical of rip-off Britain thesedays, it is true is a world apart from mine .

lisyloo

In short lisyloo, your concept of business, whilst not untypical of rip-off Britain thesedays, it is true is a world apart from mine

Just to clarify.
It's my understadning of reality not my personal concepts.
I am not condoning it, just explaining how it works in reality.

As a consumer I support qualty insurers (like Hiscox) and don't go for the cheapest quote (as I do understadn the differences).
But I think you will find many consumers go for the cheapest quote and won't pay for quality (but then expect quality service).
Blame millions of consumers who support the cheapest "no frills" players in droves and don't blame me for the situation simply because I have explained how it works in reality.
I do support quality businesses and not the cheapest ones from a comparison site.

I think you have made a mistake in mistaking my explanation for my personal ethos.
We are probably a lot closer in our view that you think, however that doesn't change reality of what most companies provide and what most conusmer chose to buy (the cheapest).

peterbaker

lisyloo wrote: »

I think you have made a mistake in mistaking my explanation for my personal ethos.

Actually I think it was your

Yawn!!

that did it

lisyloo

Sorry, but I've done that explanation about 300 times (yes I'm exagerating :-)

Serious though, if you are running a business you may well "invest" in your business with your free time.
I don't think many call center workers or software engineers will turn up for free though to process a amendement for someone that neither wants to pay or does not want to purcahse a quality product in the first place (that comment relates to the fact that the cheapest product tend to have the most fees on the whole e.g. Ryan Air and toilet jokes spring to mind).

You may find this amusing (a bit slow to get going, but very funny).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAg0lUYHHFc

peterbaker

You may find this amusing (a bit slow to get going, but very funny). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAg0lUYHHFc

Yawn !! (seen it ages ago - I am for my sins also one MSE's most seasoned Ryanair travelers )

We can't blame the great unwashed on the fact that they have all become atuned to shopping around for price and very little else you know, lisyloo. It is the businesses that decided to barge in on marketshare that caused that.

Just this morning I was musing about how awful the motor insurance market has become that every man and his dog seems to have set up a price comparison site or motor insurance offshoot.

You might say well what is so awful about it?

Well the thing is that we all know that insurers are constantly looking for reasons why they might not pay for claims (when I started, that was not the case with some 'quality' insurers). What does this mean in a world where people shop around all the time? It means they are tempted to tell white lies, especially when they see what the price difference will be when using a price comparison website. They may even convince themselves that they need not actually tell certain 'borderline' information. Endorsements for example. 3 years? 4 years? 5 years? Drink or drugs related? Longer? How many of us actually know the answers, yet the great unwashed are invited to purchase via comparethemarket.com or whoever else and before we now it we have a new policy based on false information which is actually a time-bomb.

People also make mistakes and depending on the severity of 'incidents' they actually forget or get dates wrong in their accident and conviction histories.

How about his one: "A year or so ago I was hit up the back at a roundabout - not my fault and no damage - the third party thought I was going but I didn't and he clipped me - I told my broker but there was no claim and it didn't appear in the insurer's renewal notice ... does that matter - so I don't have to put that down on my new insurance?"

Or this one: "I got 5 points eighteen months ago when I was caught speeding by a copper with a speedgun - went to court but they still done me. I told my insurance company and come renewal I reckon that meant I wasn't getting the cheapest quote anymore with them cos I already had a speed camera fixed penalty 3 pts from four and a bit years ago. But blow me, then I got another fixed penalty from a red traffic light camera - the first speeding had nearly dropped off but I am sure that put my insurance up. My insurers didn't tell me how much was for each offence. Anyway I mislaid my license and had to check with DVLA to get the exact date of my traffic light conviction and they told me my license was spanking clean! So I shopped around and got a brilliant deal this year".

Stories like this surely mean that in the UK, not only do we have a very large proportion of uninsured drivers who know it because they deliberately buy none, but we also have a large group of them who buy their insurance wrong and don't really know it until it gets tested by a claim. This cannot be good.

Now then, if the great unwashed were not encouraged to shop around so easily (it's like given them all loaded guns pointed at their own heads) and if companies and institutions kept their computers in good order instead of charging fees for everything, don't you think we (all) might have a more public spirited and publicly useful book of car insurance business in the UK?

For a start, threads like this one would be far less necessary.

bob_a_builder

7 Days ?

Should be 14 days for financial products

alistair.long

You have a cooling off period, make a fuss and speak to a manager, you may need to send a letter then talk to ombudsman. they are doing this more often.

As you cancelled and therefore the full costs will have to be returned to you, you should let them know what address to send the docs to. and then they have to pay you.

I have done it a lot in the past and always got my money back.

dunstonh

As you cancelled and therefore the full costs will have to be returned to you

Not they dont. They are allowed to charge an administration fee for it.

ryan1512

As it turns out, if I alter my cover on my renewal from Swiftcover (my current insurer) to the policy I received from Admiral exactly (i.e. Protected No Claims, same excess, legal cover) I would save myself approx. £28 by sticking with Swift, but with the hassle of doing so meaning that I incur a charge of £22.50, plus the possibility of problems with the refunding of my premium that has already been taken (which I think is out of order when the policy doesn't start for another three weeks), it doesn't seem worth it.

But that's what gets my goat. The distance selling regs are there for a reason. Lisyloo quotes wages, overheads etc as a cost to be covered. These should be taken care of from existing policies. There are enough people who renew every year automatically without even looking elsewhere.

Also, Lisyloo says "But I think you will find many consumers go for the cheapest quote and won't pay for quality (but then expect quality service)."

No. What people expect from car insurance (an obligatory purchase) is a minimum standard of service, not necessarily bells and whistles for nothing.

This episode smacks of prohibitive charges to retain business, knowing that a difference of circa £20 in policy premiums can be offset by an "admin charge".

dunstonh

Lisyloo quotes wages, overheads etc as a cost to be covered. These should be taken care of from existing policies.

The whole industry is moving away from cross subsidy of fees. Much of which is coming from the FSA. However, part of it is also consumer driven.

Also, Lisyloo says "But I think you will find many consumers go for the cheapest quote and won't pay for quality (but then expect quality service)."

No. What people expect from car insurance (an obligatory purchase) is a minimum standard of service, not necessarily bells and whistles for nothing.

Well, lets put the prices back up 25% and the money used from that can pay for that service.