MSE News: Insurance renewal charges under investigation by FCA

Wel

turbopete wrote: »

Now, with a so-called comprehensive policy, it really ISNT comprehensive at all! some dont allow the driving of other vehicles, even on a 3rd party basis, windscreen cover, hire car, legal expenses etc are all EXTRAS etc.

I can only agree on this, comprehensive is a joke especially when you do not drive a new car. My insurers just gave me a renewal quote of 50.- less than last years at the same time decided to put up compulsory excess for Theft 100.- to 250. In my case that would mean if I get my car stolen and according to market value I might get a 100 bugs from them if I am lucky (while the car is still worth more due to it's condition). What do I insure it for then? All in all I pay 450 compulsory excess and an additional 200 when repaired by my own repairer not mentioned voluntary excess. Wooahhh, this all doesn't make sense to me and I am not even sure if this is legal?
This makes me really angry but none seems to be any better.

sprinterman

Wel wrote: »

turbopete wrote: »

Now, with a so-called comprehensive policy, it really ISNT comprehensive at all! some dont allow the driving of other vehicles, even on a 3rd party basis, windscreen cover, hire car, legal expenses etc are all EXTRAS etc.

I can only agree on this, comprehensive is a joke especially when you do not drive a new car. My insurers just gave me a renewal quote of 50.- less than last years at the same time decided to put up compulsory excess for Theft 100.- to 250. In my case that would mean if I get my car stolen and according to market value I might get a 100 bugs from them if I am lucky (while the car is still worth more due to it's condition). What do I insure it for then? All in all I pay 450 compulsory excess and an additional 200 when repaired by my own repairer not mentioned voluntary excess. Wooahhh, this all doesn't make sense to me and I am not even sure if this is legal?
This makes me really angry but none seems to be any better.

hi there i thought i would let you know of my experiance with my insurance company that i have been with for over 20 yrs i needed to try and get my outgoings down so i thought i would phone up my car insurance company to see if they could help reduce my monthly premiums but i hade been on thier website earlier as a new customer and got a quote of £33.00 per month my insurance was not due for renual till feb next year anyway the info was to be the same as at my last renual except that i did not want my 3 additional drivers on the policy anymore the perrson said it would reduce my premiums by £2.50p per month so i would still be paying more or less £55.00p per month premium so i sad is that the best you can do he said yes but as it gets to 28 days before my renual date next year then i might save me a bit more but untill then this is all he could do for me so i said to him why was it that 20mins before i spoke to you that i could go on your web site putting in the same details as you have just been given and got a quote for £33.00p per month he did not know what to say other than a new policy would attract a deposit of £50 mines has no deposit also that they would would have to do a credit search (frighting) so i said could he give me a quote as a new policy holder he said yes and guess what he came up with a figure of £31.00p per month so i said to him if i cancelled my old policy and took out the new one would there be any cancellation charges or peniltys he said now so i took out the new one and cancelled the old oneso in other words instead of paying £684.40per year i am only paying £315.84 per year a total saving of £368.40p per yr and i have auto renued each yr and took it as being the best price so it just goes to show dont take anything for granted ask anyway

dunstonh

I currently pay £350 a year for a 2001 C220 CDI but had quotes in excess of £3k!!!!!

It is very common in financial services not to actually refuse business you dont want but to price it in a way that it acts as a passive blocker. Hence why you see such high figures. They dont want your business but are not refusing it.

Now, with a so-called comprehensive policy, it really ISNT comprehensive at all! some dont allow the driving of other vehicles, even on a 3rd party basis, windscreen cover, hire car, legal expenses etc are all EXTRAS etc.

The increase risks we have today along with introduction of comparison sites where they chipping off of options and features to lower the price to push the policy up the table are responsible for that. However, you can still purchase insurance that allows that. You just are unlikely to find it on comparison sites.

Just_Some_Guy

Renewal rates being much higher than new customer rates is a laziness tax. It is dead simple to avoid getting stung at renewal you just need to spend fifteen minutes on one of the price comparison websites. I am naturally both stingy and lazy so I have mixed feelings about a ban. I like being able to get cheaper quotes by shopping around and I dislike having to do so in the first place.

Insurers chipping away at cover to try and sneak their way up the list is more insidious. People think they are buying "fully comp" insurance which is missing lots of features of genuinely fully comprehensive cover. There are so many comprehensive policies these days, each with slightly difference features, that using price comparison websites for them is now an easy way to compare apples with oranges!

hiswitzend

Interestingly my insurance renewal came in at a nice round £500 from direct line this year, same insurance cover from Aviva £253. I phoned DL up to be told that OK we can do 425 if you pay now, erm yeah right i don't think so. There are huge discrepancies within the insurance market. I get a feeling the statement about autorenewal is correct for years i have refused it yet the last 3 year direct line seen to automatically try it on when you have clearly told them no.

fed_up_being_ripped_off

Another RAC story. In the beginning of July I had received a letter from my current insurer (RAC) stating that they would be charging me an extra £38.26 for an accident that was my fault, I phoned RAC immediately to find out what was going on and found out it was that they had a non fault accident down as being my fault. I took this policy out in May, the accident in question was in Nov last year After several phone calls to and fro from my insurer, previous insurer (broker) and then the actual insurer at the time of accident AXA and another call to the 3rd party's insurer (who's client was at fault) I had finally been told it was because the claim had not been settled, which AXA then chased for me very quickly and had it dealt with then sent me along with my current insurer a letter stating that liability had been admitted by 3rd party and another letter stating that full recovery of there outlay had now been received. I then phoned RAC about a week later to see if they had received this letter and that the payment had been stopped, I was told that they had not received the letter, so I sent them a copy of my letter. Today I received a letter stating that they had received the letter and was still going to charge me the amount £38.26. I immediately phoned again to find out what was going on only to be told that I have a refund put on my insurance of £17.74 making the charge due to come out £20.52, I asked why there was still a charge due to come out as I paid my insurance policy in full at the start back in May, they replied it was because I didn't disclose the non fault accident, when actually I did and I have proof on my computer of the details I had entered to get the quote off of them in the first instance, they are still disputing this fact and the charge remains to be taken from me. Watch out for miss-leading quotes from comparison sites from RAC. In any case it is unfair to be charged on your premium for a non fault accident.:mad:

DianeRan

Just had a letter from my current insurance company with a renewal cost for home contents insurance that is double compared to what I paid last year and to what I've been quoted elsewhere for the same cover!

What really annoys me though is that they apparently helpfully have already done a comparison from other insurers and have a little chart on the letter showing you the 5 apparently cheapest quotes you'd get at other insurers (which they have obviously beaten with their over inflated quote). Yet these in now way match up to any quotes I've received, in fact they are all ridiculously over inflated.
They don't even put the names of the Insurers that they've allegedly got these quotes from, just Insurer A, B,C etc. Is this not misselling? I think its appalling that companies can put this on their communications and be allowed to get away with it.

dunstonh

They don't even put the names of the Insurers that they've allegedly got these quotes from, just Insurer A, B,C etc. Is this not misselling?

It cant be miss-selling if you dont go through the sales processs

I think its appalling that companies can put this on their communications and be allowed to get away with it.

What are they actually doing that is wrong? They have their price and they have given you the price of several others they can arrange. You either take that or leave it. You are obviously choosing to leave it but what if those prices had been better? Would you feel the same way?

nobbysn*ts

What you do is complain to the advertising authority, and the FOS, and ask them to justify the 5 cheapest quotes, and see what response the give then.

dunstonh

nobbysn*ts wrote: »

What you do is complain to the advertising authority, and the FOS, and ask them to justify the 5 cheapest quotes, and see what response the give then.

That is not the purpose of the FOS and you cannot complain direct to FOS anyway.