*Sighs* I've done something stupid. [Insurance]

pendulum

I filled out many online car insurance quotes to get the best price a couple of months ago.

The best was with Churchill. I took the policy out, but then Greenlight got back to me via email with a better offer (a saving of £40 and seemingly a bit better cover). It was £24.50 to cancel with Churchill at any time within 30 days, so I waited the 30 days and then cancelled and moved to Greenlight.

After supplying them with my NCB bonus today, I got a call asking me to confirm my conviction date... May 2009 I said. Well it turns out I've put 2005 on the form. I told him I wouldn't have even declared it at all if it had been 2005... and I don't know how this has happened.

I checked and the Churchill policy I originally took out for £40 more, had the conviction correctly declared.

It was a genuine typo/mistake, I wouldn't have lied about this for the sake of £40 and I know they check with the previous insurer anyway. But this does look really dodgy.

Going to get a call back tomorrow about it. Any advice (other than the usual about how I should have double checked everything; that's not helpful but I've been on the net long enough to know I'm going to get them anyway!)

pendulum

As for it being 2005, my best theory is I was playing around with the options to test the effect of different variables (I do this every year!) and forgot to change something back.

fivetide

Why was it ok with Churchill but not Greenlight? Surely you only submitted one form or did you try various sites?

5t.

pendulum

I tried many different sites.

Greenlight were the only insurer or broker not to produce a quote straight away. That's why I originally went with Churchill (I needed cover that day).

I received the Greenlight quote via email a couple of days after and by that time, if I had messed around with the figures out of interest, I'd have forgotten I had done so. Either that, or I may have just made a 1 digit typo and not spotted it.

Seriously wish I'd just stayed with Churchill now. This is going to be a headache.

Lum

Assuming the conviction is just a fixed penalty for speeding, it's unlikely to make much if any difference, about 30 quid at most which means you'll be down 15 quid. Annoying but not the end of the world.

No idea who Greenlight are (who is the underwriter) but I wouldn't insure a car with Churchill again after how they treated me last time.

fivetide

pendulum wrote: »

I tried many different sites.

Greenlight were the only insurer or broker not to produce a quote straight away. That's why I originally went with Churchill (I needed cover that day).

I received the Greenlight quote via email a couple of days after and by that time, if I had messed around with the figures out of interest, I'd have forgotten I had done so. Either that, or I may have just made a 1 digit typo and not spotted it.

Seriously wish I'd just stayed with Churchill now. This is going to be a headache.

Sounds about right for Greenlight. They are quite strict on things by all accounts and can be a bit of pain if you are outside their given criteria. Best option seems to be just talk to them initially and see what difference it actually makes.

5t.

bigjl.

I can't believe you switched to save £40 after you already took out a policy.

pendulum

Why bigjl? It was a £40 saving AND better cover... and it only took two phone calls to switch.
IF I didn't have this problem with the conviction, then it would've been the right thing to do.

I'll see what they say in the phone call tomorrow but I'm not looking forward to it.

bigjl.

pendulum wrote: »

Why bigjl? It was a £40 saving AND better cover... and it only took two phone calls to switch.
IF I didn't have this problem with the conviction, then it would've been the right thing to do.

I'll see what they say in the phone call tomorrow but I'm not looking forward to it.

But you only save £15-50, that works out to be 4p per day and I bet they want alot more than that tomorrow.

Hammyman

pendulum wrote: »

Why bigjl? It was a £40 saving AND better cover... and it only took two phone calls to switch.

But it wasn't a £40 saving because you had to pay £24.50 cancellation fee to Churchill so it was a £15.50 saving. BUT that was a £15.50 saving based on false information about a conviction so you may find that you are told tomorrow that the insurance policy is going to cost more and the £15.50 you think you have saved could end up costing more than that.

pendulum

That's not true, because for the £24.50 I paid as the cancellation charge, I also had a full month's cover for that money, so it wasn't £24.50 "lost". They refunded the premium in full, less that charge. I got my money's worth from that policy.

Even if it had only been a £15 saving (which it wasn't - it was £40, give or take), a) that's still a £15 saving, and b) at the risk of repeating myself... the cover on offer was better.

The point of this thread isn't for me to defend why I switched, it's about the mistake I made whilst switching and how to go about fixing it in the best possible way. To add to the situation, he did say over the phone there was a chance they won't agree to insure me at all.