More Than car insurance - quote not being honoured!

makara

Need urgent advice -

I went through various car insurance websites (both Comparison and Direct company ones) - and found an unusually low price from "More Than" on THREE different comparison websites (Confused.com and 2 others).

The price was around £250 - the next nearest were in the early £400s.

I phoned More Than as soon as I found the quote, and gave them the "Quote number reference" from Confused - and the guy I spoke to said they will honour that price for 45 days (i.e. until early-January 2012).

However today I phoned back, and his colleagues told me More Than cannot find that quote, and cannot offer me insurance at all!

I argued with them, and the best I could end it with is I have asked the first guy I spoke to (he was not in work today) to phone me tomorrow (Sunday 26th November of 2011) - I am in a predicament now, as my Car insurance expires on the Midnight of Sunday 27th-turning to Monday 28th!

The next nearest price is £414 (Admiral) or mid-£400s (Aviva, although if I go via Topcashback I MIGHT get £80 back, so Aviva might work out to be late-£300s).

Worst of all, when I went to retrieve my quote from Confused (who I have also written to) - that quote has vanished (not just More Than, but ALL the other quotes - such as Admiral at £399 - cheaper than the £414 they are now quoting!).

I am going to have it out with the guy on the phone tomorrow - and if no joy will ask to speak to his Manager, and might threaten them with a complaint to Trading Standards.

But does anyone know where I stand on this? Given More Than TOLD me the quote of £250 was solid until 3rd January, do I have a case?

Best case scenario (if I'm lucky) is I pay Admiral £414, then see if More Than cough up the difference between that and their £250 quote (that might be cheaper for them than a fine from Trading Standards - but I'm not holding my breath on that).

Any views welcomed (as long as they're serious - I need to get my insurance sorted tomorrow, whoever I choose!).

Many thanks.

rs65

Did you get an email summary of quotes from any of the 3 websites?

Have you tried getting a quote from MoreThan's website?

lisyloo

Any views welcomed

Legally I'm not sure companies are bound by pricing mistakes, but if you have free legal advice on your home insurance then give them a call and get professional advice.

makara

No E-mail from Confused, but I did get one from Tesco Compare.

However, I did take Screenshots of the quotes directly of the Comparison websites ;-) - including Confused.com, showing the £250 quote (and Quote Reference) in all its glory.

More Than's own website quoted significantly higher - both before and after I found the £250 quote on Confused.com - but More Than told me themselves that they will honour a quote that's not from their website, as each MT quote generated gives a Unique Quote Reference number - ALL of which link back to More Than.

vax2002

Its only a quote until you enter the contract, up to that point it can be withdrawn, scrapped, increased or whatever.
Think of it as lucky you did not jump it, as they would have most likely cancelled the insurance when it came to light.
When dealing with insurance companies, you only need to remember one thing, they are king, you serf.

makara

lisyloo wrote: »

Legally I'm not sure companies are bound by pricing mistakes

Thanks, LL - I wondered about that too - I found this website which half answers my question -

http://isearchinsurance.com/motor-insurance-quotes-are-motor-insurance-quotes-legally-binding/

however, in my case it's not as if I asked for a quote AGAIN - but merely referred to the SAME quote (which I was repeatedly told would be honoured until early-January).

On that note, since I guess these companies record all their phone conversations - something to use as ammo. against them, i.e. let them know I will tell Trading Standards to listen to their phone conversations with me, where they assured me the £250 price would be honoured?

makara

vax2002 wrote: »

Think of it as lucky you did not jump it, as they would have most likely cancelled the insurance when it came to light.

I was ABOUT to buy it 2 days ago, but did not. So you are stating that had I bought it from them, they could even after it came into effect (November 28th, this coming Monday) have THEN cancelled it?

Disgustingly one-sided if that's the case.

keith1950

Remember if you try for cashback from Aviva through Topcashback you need to generate a new quote to ensure you have any chance of getting the cashback !!

chanz4

As no contract was entered they can withdraw, there screen scraper is just a quote

makara

keith1950 wrote: »

Remember if you try for cashback from Aviva through Topcashback you need to get need to generate a new quote to ensure you have any chance of getting the cashback !!

Thanks, Keith - and yes, I remember that. Last year there was a funny case with one Insurer - they quoted a price (say £300) - but when I went through a cashback site offering (say) £50 cashback...the same insurer then quoted £350! In effect not getting any cashback, LOL!

So yes, I am aware of that - and will also be looking at Aviva's NON-cashback price versus Topcashback's Aviva price and Quidco's Aviva price...

makara

chanz4 wrote: »

As no contract was entered they can withdraw, there screen scraper is just a quote

Thanks - maybe I'm just being paranoid (though I don't think I am), but today BOTH the More Than people I spoke to sounded like they were sheepishly trying to cover up a mistake when they told me "that quote isn't in the system" - something in their voices sounded like they were covering up some sort of error.