Credit card surcharges on car insurance - illegal?

MiserlyMartin

Hi I thought this was (or had nearly been) outlawed?

For example elephant are charging £5.95 to pay the premium by credit card!!! Total rip off. They also charge £17.50 for policy changes such as a change of car. Again profiteering. It does NOT cost them £17.50 to issue a new cert. with a different make, model and reg on it. Surely this is bad practice and will soon be illegal?

Dangermac

MiserlyMartin wrote: »

Hi I thought this was (or had nearly been) outlawed?

For example elephant are charging £5.95 to pay the premium by credit card!!! Total rip off. They also charge £17.50 for policy changes such as a change of car. Again profiteering. It does NOT cost them £17.50 to issue a new cert. with a different make, model and reg on it. Surely this is bad practice and will soon be illegal?

Well....

My company doesnt charge for use of debit cards, or for use of credit cards below a certain amount.

However, we are charged 1.5% (of the total premium) for someone paying by credit card. This would be £7.50 on a £500 premium.

Personally, providing that a company is being transparent with their pricing, I dont see that £5.95 is unreasonable.

Depends on your viewpoint. Different companies have different pricing models.

DM

MiserlyMartin

Thats excessive. If they charge anything it should only be the amount they are charged by the credit card company for processing the payment. You can't say fairer than that. In this climate its a sneaky way of keeping headline prices down and it seems its rife throughout business everywhere.

Dangermac

MiserlyMartin wrote: »

Thats excessive. If they charge anything it should only be the amount they are charged by the credit card company for processing the payment. You can't say fairer than that. In this climate its a sneaky way of keeping headline prices down and it seems its rife throughout business everywhere.

We are charged 1.5% by the credit card company. On payments of less than a certain amount we charge nil. Above a certain amount we pass on the cost.

I'm not sure what is excessive about that.

Could you explain please.

DM

ROY47

Think about it .

Elaphant are known to be cheaper than many others

So where do they make extra money ?

Changes to policy etc.

chris-j

Unfair charge outlawed from next year but £5.95 probably reasonable on car insurance premium. It has been legal for over 20 year to charge costs for card processing which can be as high as 3% of transaction.
Policy change fees are rip off though.

kingstreet

If these charges weren't made, those who don't pay by credit card and who make no mid-year alterations would be paying more through their premium rates for those that do.

Comparison sites are forcing insurers rates downward so they get to the top of the cheap table, but they then have to find ways of charging people for the services they use.

If these fees aren't acceptable, look around for insurers who don't charge them or who charge less.