Car insurance Advice - am I right to feel cheated?

FreddieFrugal

Hi guys,

right this is an issue going back a year now. So I doubt it would be worth pursuing it now. But for future reference:

Last year I purchased an insurance policy that started on 21st July. On the 27th July I decided I wanted to buy a new (old) car. p/x my 06 Fiesta for a 59 plate Focus Zetec 1.6tdci.

Before I had decided to purchase the car I had checked thoroughly on all the insurance sites and price comparison sites to see what I could expect as a premium for the new car. To my surprise rates were actually considerably lower than they were for my current car. (this was a major factor in convincing me to buy it)

Even the quote online from my current insurer was lower - about £600 compared to £750. So I thought well that's great, shouldnt have to pay anything extra on top of the premium for changing the car - not even an admin fee according to insurer as it was all done online.

Anyway not to be fooled by what SHOULD happen, I checked the day before I went to pick up the car and swapped insurance over (since it wouldn't let you just get a quote for the cost, only way to see was to actually do it - being all online there was no one to contact for a quote either) - to my surprise it was £35 - seemed silly considering that I was only 5 days into my insurance policy and had received much lower quoted for a years worth of insurance on the new car. Wasn't expecting to pay anything. But oh well, wasn't going to fuss over £35. Swapped insurance back 2 minutes later, was refunded, and now legal for driving old car to the dealer.

Next morning, drove to the dealer (50 miles away) did final checks, form filling, paid rest of the cost and was sat in new car ready to drive away. Took out iphone and went on the website to do the exact same thing I'd done only the night before - pay my £35 to swap insurance over.....

but this time it asked for £145...

Stuck, 50 miles from home in a car I couldn't legally drive, no phone number for the company that I could ring and get it sorted. Filled with rage and fury I paid the amount, although probably had to have multiple attempts at hitting the pay button, so blinded was I with anger. Genuinely I felt like I had been robbed and in a situation were I felt completely helpless to do anything about it. I had just forked over a large sum of money and any joy I might have had in driving my new car was completely over-ridden by the feeling of being cheated by my insurance company.

When I got home I complained bitterly in an email - the only line of communication left open to me. However it was never replied to. Obviously I came to terms with it in the end and learned to live and find joy in things once again, content in the fact that I would never ever insure with an only online provider again, no matter how cheap the original price.

My question is, had I been wronged? Should I have been entitled to a refund of that fee? As I said, if I had not been stuck 50 miles from home then I would have cancelled the old policy and taken out a brand new one with a significantly reduced premium. The only reason I didn't was because £35 didn't really make much difference considering the potential faff of cancelling. But £145 definitely would have.

I am also aware that the amount probably increased on the day precisely because I had checked it in advance - triggering fraud protection measures or something. But my point is - if i'm not allowed to check the price in advance - and I'm not able to contact anyone directly to talk to them about it, I could have been landed with an even more ridiculous sum on the day. Damned if you do and damned if you don't.

What would you have done in this situation? Is it too late to do anything about it now?

warwicktiger

obvious question, why has it taken you 11 months to post this?

What have you tried since?

FreddieFrugal

warwicktiger wrote: »

obvious question, why has it taken you 11 months to post this?

What have you tried since?

Good question. Didn't think to do so at the time and became so busy with other life matters that I ended up forgetting about it.

Yesterday renewal reminder ... reminded me.

SO I haven't tried anything since. Apart from making sure I cancelled auto-renewal which was on by default.

Part of this issue was that I couldn't find anything online to help me at the time. Hopefully posting this might help other people in similar situations in the future.

warwicktiger

The reason for asking was simple, 11 months on I think you have no choice but to file and forget.

Go compare and get a better renewal quote!

gardner1

"Good question. Didn't think to do so at the time and became so busy with other life matters that I ended up forgetting about it."

so not that desperate to save £145 then;)

FreddieFrugal

warwicktiger wrote: »

The reason for asking was simple, 11 months on I think you have no choice but to file and forget.

Go compare and get a better renewal quote!

Yep I already have. Got a price for both mine and OH cars which including Quidco cashback is exactly the same as the renewal for my car alone.

Plus they have call centres!

InsideInsurance

IanRi wrote: »

Good question. Didn't think to do so at the time and became so busy with other life matters

Insurers rely on that and general apathy to push up prices for existing customers that allows them to discount new business.

The difference between a new business quote and an MTA can be relatively easily explained, especially if you are going via a Broker rather than a direct insurer.

On the day, how did they explain not honouring the previous days quote? Why didnt you accept the quote the previous day rather than waiting for the day?

FreddieFrugal

InsideInsurance wrote: »

On the day, how did they explain not honouring the previous days quote? Why didnt you accept the quote the previous day rather than waiting for the day?

The 'quote' was simply the figure that was given when I input the change on their system from my account. There was no 'quote' per se, because it was online and there was no person to refer to.

The reason I didn't stick with the £35 the day before was because I would have then been driving uninsured for 50 miles to pick up the new car and didn't think it was worth the risk. I did look at one day insurance to cover it but that would have been even more expensive.

FreddieFrugal

gardner1 wrote: »

"Good question. Didn't think to do so at the time and became so busy with other life matters that I ended up forgetting about it."

so not that desperate to save £145 then;)

It wasn't really the money that was the issue. It was the fact that the company had demanded an unreasonable amount from me in a position where there was nothing I could do about it. I wouldn't reinsure with them even if I was given the money back.

If I had had an address or a phone number I would have continued on and got it sorted. But fact was at the time I thought it was an issue I had to raise myself with the company, if they had no address, no phone number and wouldn't answer their email, despite me saying that unless something was done about it I would not consider renewing. Then what else can you do?

That's why I was wondering whether it was in fact an issue that could have been raised with another agency.

InsideInsurance

IanRi wrote: »

The reason I didn't stick with the £35 the day before was because I would have then been driving uninsured for 50 miles to pick up the new car and didn't think it was worth the risk. I did look at one day insurance to cover it but that would have been even more expensive.

Unfortunately this is the disadvantage of self service.

In most cases, and certainly with the insurers I've been with when buying a new car, they provide cover for both the new and old car on the date of change and then the following day the old car comes off cover thus avoiding the issue of the time of the handover and what happens if your stuck in traffic etc.

Personally I would have still queried the price difference from the online system and the over the phone one, though 50 of it may well have been an additional admin fee for having done it via the call centre.

FreddieFrugal

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Unfortunately this is the disadvantage of self service.

In most cases, and certainly with the insurers I've been with when buying a new car, they provide cover for both the new and old car on the date of change and then the following day the old car comes off cover thus avoiding the issue of the time of the handover and what happens if your stuck in traffic etc.

Personally I would have still queried the price difference from the online system and the over the phone one, though 50 of it may well have been an additional admin fee for having done it via the call centre.

Thanks for that info. I would have called to ask specifically about insurance to cover the changeover if they had a call centre.

and I agree I would have called to query the difference in price. But the crux of the matter is - they don't have call centres for anything other than claims.

Am I right in thinking that this sort of issue needs to be worked out between the company and the customer - if they hadn't just ignored my complaint email. Or would other services have got involved in this sort of issue? FSA/ombudsman etc.