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Car Insurance Scam
grumpytoo
Posts: 35 Forumite
I would like to warn people about a car insurance scam. How it happens is when one is searching the Internet for a quote. One enters ones details into a form and suddenly the phone rings. "Hello Mr Smith, we've just noticed that you are looking for a quote" (The line is appalling for some reason so it is barely possible to understand the salesman and conversation is extremely difficult)
One discusses the vehicle that it is proposed to buy and mentions that to save wasting road tax one does not want to tax or insure it until the first of the next month. It is January 28th. The bloke says that he will email you the certificate and sure enough it arrives that afternoon.
The small print mentions a cancellation charge of £45 which was NOT mentioned on the phone. The other part of the scam is that they have started the policy from the 28th of January even though you told them that you did not want the policy to begin until February the 1st. There is a reason for doing this as by commencing the policy BEFORE the date you asked for, the policy is already in force - this is another part of the scam.
Next they email you to mention that they have found skeletons in your cupboard and they now want more money A LOT MORE MONEY. In fact to insure a classic Mercedes 300TD they now want about £1000 NOT the £285 first mentioned.
In my case one of the skeletons in the cupboard was being hit by an uninsured articulated lorry. The haulage company never replied to any letters and in the end DAS gave up. The incident happened in the Avon police area but when the uninsured driving was mentioned to Devon & Cornwall police they said "Oh that's Avon its not us!" and the case was never pursued. Amazing that people can drive 40 tonne artics uninsured, smash peoples cars up and get away with it whilst the car owner get the black mark!
Another skeleton in the cupboard concerned a twin axle 10' x 6' flatbed trailer that was taken to Southsea to fetch a small boat. Parking was diabolical so the trailer was stored overnight on the foreshore. Soft patches of shingle and an awkwardly placed lamp post made getting the trailer onto the tarmac rather tricky so a rope was used which was attached to the car which was on the tarmac. The rope was then untied and the plan was to reverse the car up to the trailer.
Just then two boys appeared. One could surmise that they had figured out that the trailer needed to be coupled to the car so off their own bat they gave the trailer a shove thinking that they were being helpful. With it being a four wheeled trailer it went in the direction of its wheels and "dinged" a blokes car. The boys ran away. Later the owner of the old petrol Renault that had faded paint accused me of driving into his car. The damage was a dent line about two inches long that was less than an eighth of an an inch deep. For this he wanted a new door, a full respray and free car hire whilst the respray was being done. IMHO the Renault was only worth a couple of hundred quid but the bloke was trying to milk every last brass farthing out of the situation.
Anyhow it looks as if the firm that phoned me regard these incidents as my fault so they jacked-up the premium by £700! I quite naturally cancelled and their boss then phoned me that they were charging me £52 for cancelling. I can only assume that this is their £45 fee plus insurance from the 28 of January to the first of February inclusive. As the car is 100 miles away and on a SORN this is really taking the P.
Its a case of be wise after the event but I'm going to take this to Trading Standards, the Insurance Ombudsman and possibly the Small Claims Court as well. I'm a Senior Citizen and I cannot afford to be scammed by charlatans.:mad:
I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has been scammed by this lot.
One discusses the vehicle that it is proposed to buy and mentions that to save wasting road tax one does not want to tax or insure it until the first of the next month. It is January 28th. The bloke says that he will email you the certificate and sure enough it arrives that afternoon.
The small print mentions a cancellation charge of £45 which was NOT mentioned on the phone. The other part of the scam is that they have started the policy from the 28th of January even though you told them that you did not want the policy to begin until February the 1st. There is a reason for doing this as by commencing the policy BEFORE the date you asked for, the policy is already in force - this is another part of the scam.
Next they email you to mention that they have found skeletons in your cupboard and they now want more money A LOT MORE MONEY. In fact to insure a classic Mercedes 300TD they now want about £1000 NOT the £285 first mentioned.
In my case one of the skeletons in the cupboard was being hit by an uninsured articulated lorry. The haulage company never replied to any letters and in the end DAS gave up. The incident happened in the Avon police area but when the uninsured driving was mentioned to Devon & Cornwall police they said "Oh that's Avon its not us!" and the case was never pursued. Amazing that people can drive 40 tonne artics uninsured, smash peoples cars up and get away with it whilst the car owner get the black mark!
Another skeleton in the cupboard concerned a twin axle 10' x 6' flatbed trailer that was taken to Southsea to fetch a small boat. Parking was diabolical so the trailer was stored overnight on the foreshore. Soft patches of shingle and an awkwardly placed lamp post made getting the trailer onto the tarmac rather tricky so a rope was used which was attached to the car which was on the tarmac. The rope was then untied and the plan was to reverse the car up to the trailer.
Just then two boys appeared. One could surmise that they had figured out that the trailer needed to be coupled to the car so off their own bat they gave the trailer a shove thinking that they were being helpful. With it being a four wheeled trailer it went in the direction of its wheels and "dinged" a blokes car. The boys ran away. Later the owner of the old petrol Renault that had faded paint accused me of driving into his car. The damage was a dent line about two inches long that was less than an eighth of an an inch deep. For this he wanted a new door, a full respray and free car hire whilst the respray was being done. IMHO the Renault was only worth a couple of hundred quid but the bloke was trying to milk every last brass farthing out of the situation.
Anyhow it looks as if the firm that phoned me regard these incidents as my fault so they jacked-up the premium by £700! I quite naturally cancelled and their boss then phoned me that they were charging me £52 for cancelling. I can only assume that this is their £45 fee plus insurance from the 28 of January to the first of February inclusive. As the car is 100 miles away and on a SORN this is really taking the P.
Its a case of be wise after the event but I'm going to take this to Trading Standards, the Insurance Ombudsman and possibly the Small Claims Court as well. I'm a Senior Citizen and I cannot afford to be scammed by charlatans.:mad:
I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has been scammed by this lot.
0
Comments
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disclose any incidents that happened within the asked about time scale is the answer.
They will be on the CUE database so if you don't disclose you will get found out, either at the beginning of the policy or (nightmare) when you have another incident and need to make a claim.
If you did tell them to start the policy on first Feb then you can complain, almost certainly the call will have been recorded0
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