car insurance optional extras?

babyharry5

hi, first post so hope ok.

jsut wanted some advice. renewal came through for car ins middle of march with privilege £590. no speeding/fines/claims etc
followed info on mse and got down to £510. anyway had l;oads of admin hassle with new co and basically not worth the £80 saving. went back to privilege who quoted me as a new customer at £490 ( £100 saving).

got info through this am and have added loads of extra, ncb protection, legal protection and g'teed car hire none of which were explained as optional extras which were costing me an additional £120!!
phoned privilege up and spoke to their customer relations dept, he spoke to me like i was a 4 year old and said that they are automatically included as they are a benefit. also said that if he was operator would not have quoted me for insurance as had the chance at renewal and turned it down!!

1) is it normal to be quoted inclusively and not be told about the cost for extras?
2) why cheaper as a new customer by over £100 than as an existing customer?

jsut wanted to know if anyone worked in insurance who could help as want to write a complaint letter but wanted to be sure it was worth it first.!:mad:

olly300

babyharry5 wrote: »

1) is it normal to be quoted inclusively and not be told about the cost for extras?
2) why cheaper as a new customer by over £100 than as an existing customer?

1. All the quotes I got (I searched on the web) made it clear the cost of the extras. If you have to pay for them they cannot be automatically included without you selecting or deselecting them. Privilege obviously have tricky small print. Follow your steps on how you got the new quote and read all the small print. If the small print is not clear write a letter to Privilege and copy it to your local trading standards. If you get no joy from Privilege escalate up to the financial ombudsmen.

2. It always is. Insurance companies for any type of insurance, rely on existing customers not to shop around for new quotes and then put up the premium. Some automatically take the new premium out of your bank account if you use direct debit after notifying you, while others write you lots of letters around the renewal time.