Scam to get up the comparison site listings?

tenchy

Anyone come across a car insurance company called "Insure Your Motor"? Seems like they may be operating a scam whereby they give a really low price to ensure they are at the top of the listings on the comparison sites. However, if you accept their "quote" and, importantly, enter your financial details they don't, as matter of course, immediately insure you but inform you that one of their agents will call you back within half an hour to confirm your details (rather defeats the object of online systems). Then, to cut a long story short, they renege on the quote and inflate it massively. At least that's what happened with me. None of my details changed as they "verified" them on the phone, by the way. They also employ other dubious practices such as ringing you back from a mobile number and letting your phone ring just once and then hang up, presumably hoping that you'll phone them back, at your expense.

InsideInsurance

They are a trading style of Hyperformance Ltd, who are a broker.

Looking at their About Us section on their website they talk about what their business growth plan is for 2007, think the site needs updating a little!

forgotmyname

Can you make a complaint to the FOS if your not a customer?

You decline their inflated premium. Does that mean you cant complain?

Complain to the comparison website??
Who maybe owned by the insurance company though.

mikey72

I think you can complain to the FSA, if they are in breach of guidelines, as opposed to the FOS. Worth writing a letter of complaint to both though.

weejonnie

This illustrates the pressures that motor insurance suppliers are under to obtain business. It also shows the dangers that people who buy insurance online face.

http://www.fsa.gov.uk

Spiderham

If they are doing this, it is obviously not on. Against FSA guidelines and quite possibly breaching agreements with aggregators.

However if is a big word. It may well be that from their experience there are issues with accuracy of info or the questions they get from the insurers on their panel don't fully match with aggregators. They may get an increased commission and/or lower prices in return for extra validation.

I doubt an insurer or broker of the sort of scale to make aggregator business worthwhile would be able to get away with the "scam" thing without being noticed if I'm honest so looks like you may just have been unlucky.

mikey72

And this shows how much safer it is to go through a price comparison site, or even direct, http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/consumerinformation/product_news/insurance/price_comparison/index.shtml

Spiderham

mikey72 wrote: »

And this shows how much safer it is to go through a price comparison site, or even direct, http://www.fsa.gov.uk/pages/consumerinformation/product_news/insurance/price_comparison/index.shtml

Do you mean rather than using a broker who could potentially be fraudulent?



NOTE: I'm not suggesting broker's are fraudulent, more offering an alternative view to weejonnie's general comment.