Car Insurance premium increase during contract - maybe missold?

nids

Hi,

I feel quite hard done by by Admiral Bell.

I took out their Young Driver's insurance 6 months ago as this was my first car and they were offering a premium that was at least £700 cheaper than any other company.

They explained that my insurance policy would be reviewed and my premium increased/decreased according to my driving.

It turns out that a small black box inside my car will register me as an average, poor or bad driver - depending on how it happens to be feeling on that week. All we get as Young Drivers is a score; Bad, Poor, Average, Good or Excellent, based on your entire week's driving. No indication of what exactly is driving your score up or down. There's no way to try to improve your driving if they don't give you any data to work with! Multiple emails to Admiral Bell on this point have been ignored.

I paid for my 12 months up front, and was led to believe that my review would be annual. Although nothing was explicitly said about that, at no point during the sales process was I told it was a 6-month review. When you pay 12 months up front for something, you hardly expect the price to be adjusted mid-way through that 12 months, do you?!

Anyway, I'm 6 months in, and earlier today I got an email saying my insurance premium had been bumped up by £270, and that they were taking this off my card.

Obviously the 6 month review clause was in the T&Cs (yes I will always read the T&Cs from now on!), but it was never explicitly mentioned, and a 12-month up front payment implies a 12-month review, surely? Is mis-selling too strong a word to use here?

Do I have any case a complaint or escalation to the Ombudsman? Or shall I just stump up the £270 and swear at Admiral Bell under my breath?

Quentin

If you complain first you can go to the ombudsman if you aren't happy and that won't cost you anything to find out their view.

It's always worth trying this route (escalating a complaint to the fos) as they charge the insurer more for dealing with your complaint than it would cost them to waive the extra premium they now want off you. A business decision would be to make a goodwill gesture rather than using resources to deal with the fos and have to pay them too.

But learn from this.

Read the ts + cs before you agree them and pay up and enter any contract.

rs65

According to the policy, you received a welcome email detailing the 6 month review and it also showed the maximum adjustment that could be applied.

The fact you paid 12 months upfront does not imply a 12 month review.

dacouch

rs65 wrote: »

According to the policy, you received a welcome email detailing the 6 month review and it also showed the maximum adjustment that could be applied.

The fact you paid 12 months upfront does not imply a 12 month review.

A twelve month review would be "interesting" to enforce.

Admiral "Hello Mr X we reviewed the last year's cover and there's an extra £500".

Nids replies "Nah it's ok I'll renew with another company, thanks anyway"

dunstonh

It would not be logical to have a 12 month review. As dacouch says, you would just go elsewhere if that was the case.

Do I have any case a complaint or escalation to the Ombudsman?

Probably not. It all depends on what the documentation says and what you agreed to.

Is mis-selling too strong a word to use here?

More like not reading what you are sent. I just took a read of the document on their website and it covers a few areas where they will amend the policy mid term. Driving behaviour is one and excess mileage over amount agreed is another.

You confirm they told you that the premium could be adjusted. So, its hard to see how it was mis-sold.

Quentin

dunstonh wrote: »

Do I have any case a complaint or escalation to the Ombudsman?

Probably not. It all depends on what the documentation says and what you agreed to.....

As previously posted, you don't necessarily need a winnable "case" to get a result by escalating your complaint to the FOS.

The FOS scheme is free of charge to the customer, but not to the insurer.

Your complaint if put to the FOS will cost the insurer much more to defend (even if the complaint is eventually thrown out) than the money involved. So making you a goodwill gesture and closing the matter without proceeding with the FOS adjudication may be their business approach to this.

So you have nothing to lose at all by going for the escalation, and seeing if the insurer decides to nip it in the bid to save them extra cost and management time dealing wuth the ombudsman.

rs65

The first 25 complaints are free and frivolous or vexatious cases are free.

From my experience, complaints are decided on their merits. I really don't see what there is to complain about here. The OP acknowledges there may be an adjustment but somehow assumed it would be after 12 months because they paid 12 months up front. That makes no sense. He also acknowledges he didn't read the terms.

He still has a policy that was £430 cheaper than anyone else.

dunstonh

The FOS scheme is free of charge to the customer, but not to the insurer.

It is but it is heavily abused and that is being recognised in recent reports and even the recent session in parliament. The costs are then passed on to other consumers.

Quentin

dunstonh wrote: »

It is but it is heavily abused and that is being recognised in recent reports and even the recent session in parliament. The costs are then passed on to other consumers.

Using the FOS is not abuse! It's a right. Hopefully MSE can help spread the word - it's worth the price of a stamp to escalate a complaint no matter what the chances of success because of the bias in cost in favour of the customer.

It's not the customer to blame because the way the ombudsman works is to get funded only via the businesses.

(Though ultimately the businesses recoup their payments to the FOS in the same way they recoup the cost of their Christmas parties, conferences and company cars!)

vaio

FOS is one of the few public sector employer actively recruiting as more naughtiness by the financial services industry comes to light.

Last time I saw numbers the decisions were going 75 or 80% in favour of the consumer.

opinions4u

vaio wrote: »

FOS is one of the few public sector employer actively recruiting as more naughtiness by the financial services industry comes to light.

Last time I saw numbers the decisions were going 75 or 80% in favour of the consumer.

45%, based on latest data, go the way of the customer.

http://www.ombudsman-complaints-data.org.uk/

No indication of what exactly is driving your score up or down. There's no way to try to improve your driving

With the greatest respect, you have control over how you drive. If it says you're poor use your brain to improve. Speed, braking distances and basic motion of the car will be things to control that will make you safer.

Alternatively get an experienced driver to sit with you for an hour and give you feedback.