Can they do this?

Lhms

Hi,
Looking for some advice here.
I recently took car insurance out with a company I've never used before, but they are big. On the day the "cooling off" period ended, I got send a letter demanding copies of:
1. My driving licence, both card and counterpart.
2. My cars V5C.
3. A recent utility bill.
I was to send these within 7 days in an enclosed, prepaid, non tracked envelope.
I asked my friends if they had been asked anything similar, as this is the 1st time I've been asked for these for any car insurance, and they all said it sounds like a scam. One works for a different insurance company and they said it sounded fishy. Others are also insured with this company and have not been asked.
I phoned them to check if this was a scam. It is not. They say I've been chosen at random to provide these docs.
I said that I didn't have a photocopier and besides I don't want them to have this information as it is delicate and they aren't a government body, let alone that they want me to send these in the mail, untracked, where they could get lost / stolen.
They said if I don't send them, they will cancel my policy. I said fine, do it. They said since it was after the cooling off period, then it will cost me £55.
My objections are:
1. They ask for this after the cooling off period. It's apparent why.
2. This isn't obviously a requirement as they do not ask for them off everybody.
3. If they choose to cancel the policy, because I won't jump through hoops and take risks because they randomly chose me to provide personal data which is not needed for the policy, why should I have to pay their cancellation fees.

Anyone else come across this? Am I being unreasonable? Anything I can do? It's not the money, it's the pricnciple.

InsideInsurance

Lhms wrote: »

I said fine, do it. They said since it was after the cooling off period, then it will cost me £55.

<snip>

Anyone else come across this? Am I being unreasonable? Anything I can do? It's not the money, it's the pricnciple.

You DONT want them to cancel your insurance, if you let them do it then you will have to declare for life to all your insurers that you've had insurance cancelled and in most cases at least double your premiums if not more - mainstream insurers will never touch you again. If you dont want to comply, cancel the policy yourself, dont wait for them to do it.

It is common practice to randomly sample people to validate the information they have provided. Some insurers do it very rarely some do it very frequently.

Insurers are typically slow lumbering beasts, they havent "waited" til the end of the cooling off period, it just takes that long for the cogs to turn. Also remember that cancellation fees apply within the cooling off period too so your suggestion doesnt hold true

Lhms

The cancellation fees in the cooling off period aren't as much, otherwise why would there be a cooling off period if it costs the same to cancel any time?

I just think it's incredulous that information like this needs to be sent hard copy when it obviously isn't a legal requirement.

But I get your gist about them cancelling the policy, cheers. I guess I'll have to go and find a photocopier...

Quentin

Lhms wrote: »

I just think it's incredulous that information like this needs to be sent hard copy when it obviously isn't a legal requirement..

If you read your policy conditions (which you will have agreed to accept when buying the policy) they will somewhere state they can request these documents.

Lhms

I didn't say it wasn't in their Ts&Cs. I just think it's vicitmisation of "random" people to have to risk sending this information to a private company when it isn't obviously needed for the purposes of insurance. If I make a claim, first thing they'll check is that the car is indeed mine and that I do have a driving licence, so why do they need these sitting on their systems?
When a bank ask for these docs for the purposes of money laundering, they do the copy then and then in the bank, likewise with solicitors. They don't expect you to send them to an unknown address through the post.

Quentin

You actually said "Can they do this?"

The answer is yes!

(You can see why they ask - to ensure you told the truth. It's for all policyholders benefit that fraudsters get found out, surely you can see that)

Lhms

Maybe the question should have been "Is it right that they do this"
I understand about checking if it's true, but then surely it should be blanket and not just a sampling.
In a bank, they see the original docs and take a copy themselves.
A fraudster could knock something up in Photoshop and send them on.

But thanks for the info guys. I will tow the line :-)

TSx

The problem is that if they later find out something you've said is untrue when you make a claim, they're still liable for any third party losses.

Your choices right now are

1 - Cancel the policy yourself and pay the £55
2 - Let them cancel the policy but then have to declare it when getting insurance (good luck)
3 - Send the documents to them... they're fully regulated by the FCA and data protection regulations apply so there's very little risk.

You could always make a formal complaint as well - they will have 8 weeks to respond after which time you can take it to the financial ombudsman and they may decide to waive the fees as a goodwill gesture.

Out of interest, are you on the electoral roll? I'm just wondering if you've failed the automatic ID checks they do which might be why they want to do it manually...

Lhms

I've only been in my current house 9 months, but I passed the credit checks to get it on the monthly.

Regardless, thanks for the advice.

Quentin

Lhms wrote: »

Maybe the question should have been "Is it right that they do this"
I understand about checking if it's true, but then surely it should be blanket and not just a sampling.
In a bank, they see the original docs and take a copy themselves.
A fraudster could knock something up in Photoshop and send them on.

But thanks for the info guys. I will tow the line :-)

It may be blanket, many do this now.

It could be their diplomatic answer to tell you it's a random check.

There's nothing to get het up about unless you told any porkies.

InsideInsurance

Lhms wrote: »

The cancellation fees in the cooling off period aren't as much, otherwise why would there be a cooling off period if it costs the same to cancel any time?

There is a legal requirement for them to have a cooling off period where a policy CAN be cancelled.

Technically there is no legal requirement for them to allow any cancellation after the cooling off however most do and some charge exactly the same in and out of the cooling off. The majority however do specify that add ons (eg LE, Breakdown, PA etc) are payable in full after the cooling off period even if the main policy retains the same cancellation terms in and out of the cooling off.

I've only been in my current house 9 months, but I passed the credit checks to get it on the monthly.

Many direct insurers offer installments to everyone as long as you've not had problems with them personally before.