Car insurance admin fee rip off

PPKLE

I am moving house next week and I just rang my car insurance company (Hastings Direct) to update my policy and I have been charged £46.43, £35 of which was an admin fee. When I queried what it was for I was told for the customer service guy to sit at his desk typing, IT and electrical costs. What a rip off. Will never use them again. He then had the cheek to ask me about my house insurance cover - I told him no chance.:mad:

gilbert_and_sullivan

There's usually a reason why a quote is very low, you've found it.

Most cheap insurance operates similarly, its nothing new.

amk515

PPKLE wrote: »

I am moving house next week and I just rang my car insurance company (Hastings Direct) to update my policy and I have been charged £46.43, £35 of which was an admin fee. When I queried what it was for I was told for the customer service guy to sit at his desk typing, IT and electrical costs. What a rip off. Will never use them again. He then had the cheek to ask me about my house insurance cover - I told him no chance.:mad:

I know how you feel. I had to change my car details in February due to someone writing my car off for me and was told of the £35 admin fee (to be fair though, I did know about it) and then had to change my address in April and again got charged the £35.

But that's what we get for cheap insurance.

forgotmyname

If you think £35 is a ripoff wait until the next company charge you £70.

Hintza

If you prefer not to pay these fees then spend a couple of hundred pounds more on your policy and go with a company like Allianz.

Yorkie1

The fees are available before you sign up ...

rdwarr

Welcome to MSE.
You seem to be receiving advice indicating that changing your service provider because of this may not be the best option for you as most other budget companies operate a similar policy.

I do hope you didn't have a go at the call centre guy for explaining his company's position to you in such detail. Chances are he wasn't the person responsible for your apparent outrage.

keith1950

Will never use them again. He then had the cheek to ask me about my house insurance cover

You are obviously one of the many people who cannot be bothered to read the terms and conditions before buying.

If you don't want this to happen again you really need to do your research before changing insurer.

KaiserBill

Hintza wrote: »

If you prefer not to pay these fees then spend a couple of hundred pounds more on your policy and go with a company like Allianz.

My nephew is insured with Allianz. He has just changed his car - for an identical one.

He has been charged £ 150. !

neilmcl

KaiserBill wrote: »

My nephew is insured with Allianz. He has just changed his car - for an identical one.

He has been charged £ 150. !

Is that an admin fee or rather an increase in the premium?

KaiserBill

neilmcl wrote: »

Is that an admin fee or rather an increase in the premium?

Not exactly clear. There was a stated admin fee of £ 50. He was told there would be an additional fee of £ 100, so total of £150.
He was not told what the £ 100 was for. He was swapping one car for exactly the same car, year, model,value etc. There should not have been any extra premium.

He simply paid up, he was waiting to go and collect the new car.He wasn`t happy about it - but he simply had to pay up so as to be able to get the new car.