Esure are charging me £600 pounds to change address!!!!!!!!!!

mattyprice4004

timbo58 wrote: »

Last time I moved I had 4 months left on my car insurance and very similar tactic used (not esure btw) a massive hike which meant either cancelling the policy and paying even more to get out of it or paying the massive hike (80% extra).

They told me it was a higher crime risk area - not according to the police or any of the websites that show this sort of data mind!
(Later proven when I renewed and the policy price dropped!)

I told them I was staying put, moved anyway and renewed with a different insurer when the policy expired.

Fair enough if I'd had to claim it may well have caused problems, I'm sure I would have been 'uninsured' due to failure to report my change of address no doubt but an 80% hike 'just because they can do it' is tantamount to extortion IMHO.

A previous tenant of a house I moved into did this, some policy documents came through so I rang the ins co and told them the addressee didn't live there any more, not thinking anymore of it.

The policy was cancelled - I found this out as the previous occupant came to ask if I'd cancelled their policy! I replied by telling them I'd just called to say I don't know the name on the letter.

Turns out they terminated his policy costing him thousands on new quotes - not quite the bright idea you may think it is initially.

Rich44_2

A bit like opening someone elses post?

societys_child

Rich44 wrote: »

A bit like opening someone elses post?

Do you have a problem with that?

Someone using your address is not a good thing . . .

timbo58

all true however opening someone else's post is a complete no no: 2 wrongs don't make a right.

I wasn't taking out a new policy hence no documents would have been sent, I merely didn't inform them of my move since in doing the 'right thing' I would clearly be heavily penalised for no good reason other than the insurance company had the right to do so.

I was not depriving them of a fair policy payment based on perceived risk, that is the significant difference, there being no intent to defraud.

Lord_Baltimore

Glad to see that more and more people are exposing the shenanigans of insurance Companies. It's pretty clear that there are Companies milking the motorist of the few pennies left after the Government has had its pound of flesh.

Imho, many insurers act in the terms of a cartel which is prohibited by the Competition Act and Article 101 TFEU of the EC Treaty according to the Gov.co.uk website. The insurance industry is susceptible to cartels because all motorists must have insurance by law which is why all this moving from one Company to another is, effectively, futile. You're simply buying from a different arm of the octopus; it's always the same octopus though.

Nope, if we want a really fair deal, for customers and insurers, we need to redefine the terms of the policies on offer. Insurance companies should be economically successful on the basis of professional, efficient service not through dipping customers pockets when they feel they need a cash boost.

For starters, all admin fees should be dropped.

The_Magnificent_Spoon

stuartjl wrote: »

Hi, called esure up to change the address (1/2 mile difference) on my car insurance policy. They have said it will cost an extra £600 pounds, the original policy only cost £374 in february. So i did an insurance comparison on Moneysupermarket etc. And it will cost less than £600 to insure the car for a year with new address. Its unbelievable!!!!!! :eek:

I don't know a single person this hasn't happened to.

Three years ago, I was insured on a high performance car (320bhp GT4). Everything declared. At the time, I lived in a rathole. A horrible, crime filled area, I was lucky but all my neighbours regularly had windows smashed/wingmirrors booted off, aerials snapped off their cars. I had my car insured for £12k miles, business use, left on a public road overnight at said rathole.

I then moved, to a really nice area. Zero crime. I also removed the business use, dropped my milage from 12k to 3k (company van plus I now live five mins from a train station), and the car is stored in a locked private compound, covered with CCTV.

So, all in all, you would think my insurance would have dropped an absolute ton.

WRONG!

It went up. From £420 to £630 for the equivalent year. As I was half way through, I had to stick it out.

Needless to say, at the end of the year, they then magically requoted when I told them I was leaving, at £295.

Insurance companies are a legalised cartel, and with attitudes like some of the trolls above, there will never, ever, be any resolution to this sort of activity.

Other than to get rid of your car entirely. Which I've done last year and never looked back.

antrobus

timbo58 wrote: »

...I was not depriving them of a fair policy payment based on perceived risk, that is the significant difference, there being no intent to defraud.

The problem you have is that insurance is subject to the doctrine of utmost good faith, and failure to disclose a material fact (such as where you really live) is a breach of said doctrine, making the insurance contract voidable. Intent doesn't come in to it. (It's not a matter of criminal law for starters.)

Which is the issue. Insurers can and will cancel contracts if they become aware that the insured have failed to tell them something which they regard as important. You can always (of course) take it to the FOS (who have their own, less onerous, view of what utmost good faith should mean) but I think it would be a struggle if you were talking about some basic piece of information such as your actual address.

timbo58

Thank you Antrobus, I understand/understood I was potentially voiding my insurance but I was damned if I was going to be shafted 'just because the insurance co could 'shaft' me with no alternative.

I weighed up the risk in doing so and took the chance.
Frankly if you had to wait to move based on your car insurances policy and the generosity (sic) of your insurer in being honest rather than taking advantage/ liberties it would all be a bit silly.

rs65

The_Magnificent_Spoon wrote: »

I don't know a single person this hasn't happened to.

Here's someone who had a reduction in premium following a change of address

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4711927

Albeit, he doesn't know how much the reduction is.

I got a refund on my home and car insurance the last time I moved home.

Lord_Baltimore

rs65 wrote: »

I got a refund on my home and car insurance the last time I moved home.

Bully for you; most people get fleeced. The writing is on the wall though.