Been charged £26.50 to change DD details on my car insurance!!!

cjp1802

I have just changed my dd instructions with Sheila's wheels and been charged £26.50!! :mad::mad:

She said it was because i have made a change to my policy!!:(


Has anyone else had this?
thanks

Quentin

Most insurers charge policyholders admin fees for making changes. You will have agreed to them doing so when first taking out the policy.

InsideInsurance

You may have been able to avoid the charge by getting things switched at the bank end, especially if your moving/ changing accounts.... obviously a bit late for you now.

dunstonh

When you buy your insurance you can either choose companies that have no admin charges (but tend to have higher premiums as the premium covers the cost) or choose companies that have a lower premium but explicit admin charges that are only incurred when you create an admin task.

You chose a company that has admin charges and quite rightly they have charged you for you creating admin.

fruityfairy

I changed mine & the hubbys last month. We are with Admiral & Express Insurance and had no charges on either. When I called Admiral (who the OH is with) I found out he had not given them my 'official' double barrelled surname and only given them my first surname, they also amended that free of charge

syco1

Thanks for that cjp ... I was just about to click on the button to buy Shelia's Wheels home insurance, but now I will go elsewhere. I know a lot of insurers have clauses like this, but I wouldn't have expected then to apply it. I would certainly have made sure they knew they would lose my custom forever if they did charge.
Incidentally, I got the home insurance quote from Sheilas Wheels with my wife's name first on the policy. Then I had a letter from SW telling me "we insure men as well". So I reversed the names and got an identical quote - £21 extra !

Hadrian

You're lucky, car insurance Co., "Insure" charged me over £37 just to alter my address, and nothing else. Then they had the affrontary to up the premium this year by £100+. Fortunately I was flaming mad when I rang them to complain and told them in no uncertain terms that they could take a hike if they persisted in asking for the new premium. They then reduced it to a bit above what they 'did' me for the year before. I rang off feeling good then realised that taking into account the £37 plus the 'bit above' I was paying £50+ more than last year? Years ago I heard that one DIDN'T need car insurance if one deposited some 1000£'s with some govt dept. Anyone know/heard of that? You have to be 65+ to have heard of it.

Spiderham

Hadrian wrote: »

Years ago I heard that one DIDN'T need car insurance if one deposited some 1000£'s with some govt dept. Anyone know/heard of that?

Still is the case, http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/144

The reason being that car insurance is compulsory primarily to ensure there is a pot of money available to pay for property and personal injury claims caused by the driver. If someone has deposited that amount of money they have provided a pot of money and it also implies they probably have a lot more in the case of a claim.

mikey72

Well if it's in the t&c's.

http://www.sheilaswheels.com/car_insurance/swm_sp/swm_administration_fees/car_admin_fees.html

£26, not £26.50.

Once again, an insurance company that thinks pushing the ceiling up is ok.
I'd be making a complaint, pointing out you are within your rights to charge them a fee of about £10 for your time, and you'll be expecting a refund of £10.50 from them.
If they don't do it, raise an official complaint, and refer it to the FOS, and report them to the FSA as well.
And before we get all the "oh it's only 50p, it's not worth it", would you be happy at tesco's if they just added 50p onto every till receipt?
If they have done the same to the last two million customers, that's a million pounds they have completely unfairly swindled out of their customers.

Valli

Thing is the car insurance market is so competitive they are attempting to win business all the time - so these 'little' admin charges push up their profit...because that's what they are in business to do - make a profit.

And, just so you know, Tesco (and other shops) 'do' add a little bit to their prices to cover wastage and theft.

Spiderham

mikey72 wrote: »

Well if it's in the t&c's.

http://www.sheilaswheels.com/car_insurance/swm_sp/swm_administration_fees/car_admin_fees.html

£26, not £26.50.

Once again, an insurance company that thinks pushing the ceiling up is ok.
I'd be making a complaint, pointing out you are within your rights to charge them a fee of about £10 for your time, and you'll be expecting a refund of £10.50 from them.
If they don't do it, raise an official complaint, and refer it to the FOS, and report them to the FSA as well.
And before we get all the "oh it's only 50p, it's not worth it", would you be happy at tesco's if they just added 50p onto every till receipt?
If they have done the same to the last two million customers, that's a million pounds they have completely unfairly swindled out of their customers.

Obviously check what your policy booklet says as they may have reduced the admin fee recently hence discrepancy (unlikely I know, but stranger things have happened).

If there is a discrepancy do point it out to them as it is naughty and they shouldn't be doing it, you may even get the whole fee refunded. It will also stop them doing to others so you can feel like you've done a good deed.