Mis-sold Car Insurance - What Should I do?

H.Alexanders

Hi, I am a student who has been driving for over a year now. My car insurance came up for renewal in November and my current insurer had offered me a really good quote to keep my policy with them.
They weren't the cheapest, however they had offered me "driving other cars as standard" in my quote, in writing, so I took them up as they were only a little more expensive and this seemed like a really good deal.
However I got an email a few months down the line stating that they could not offer me insurance if i drove other cars and this was just a mistake on their behalf.
As both me and my father who is named on the policy have driven other vehicles thinking that we had been covered I have rang the company and been very mad down the phone, as if we had been in an accident and found out the cover we were offered wasn't there we would have been made bankrupt! I received no solution to the problem and was promised call backs on several occasions which have never came.
I also asked to log a formal complaint and got hung up on! I want to complain formally, but don't know how to do this, or who the right people are.
What can I do, as it is no longer cheap for me to switch my policy, and I regularly look on comparison sites to see what deals I can get.

Thanks, its a long post I know!

Buellguy

call em back ask to get the original call listened to re driving other vehicles. What does it say on your original insurance docs you got when you took the policy out?? (not your quote, your policy schedule).
Don't think the named driver would be covered to DOC anyway (just policy holder). All else fails complain via the FCA


http://www.fca.org.uk/

H.Alexanders

The renewal email states that I am covered as standard on other vehicles, and I have the email which takes this away
I think that the company have been really rude and unhelpful on this issue
Because I am a young driver I feel that they aren't taking me seriously either

Buellguy

You will have been covered (if this is what it says on your schedule) DOC until you received the e-mail rescinding this. Do you know if you had to pay extra for this? if so you should be due some money back (with no admin charge).
As I said earlier, almost certain that your dad as named driver would NOT be entitled DOC unless you were told differently.
Less and less policies now come with DOC on them (would have said virtually non that have named driver with this on). Unless you paid extra for it, you are a bit stuck.

H.Alexanders

I think my dad had rented cars that have insurance on them actually, I've just asked him!
I don't know if I paid extra - but I know it could have potentially made me bankrupt had I had a claim on a different car! Sadly when talking on the phone they just seem to brush this fact off and don't care that they misled me

Clive_Woody

H.Alexanders wrote: »

I think my dad had rented cars that have insurance on them actually, I've just asked him!
I don't know if I paid extra - but I know it could have potentially made me bankrupt had I had a claim on a different car! Sadly when talking on the phone they just seem to brush this fact off and don't care that they misled me

As already stated if you have it in writing that you would be covered then they would not have been able to refute any claim so you would not be made bankrupt. Now that they have withdrawn this cover this does not apply.

Their complaint procedure should be listed on their website. Which company are you talking about?

H.Alexanders

Hastings Direct Smart Miles

AdrianC

It's very rare for insurers to provide young drivers with "other cars" cover these days, so I'm sure their original statement was a simple human error. They would have honoured it in the event of a claim or police enquiry.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

you have to be of certain age and policy type, to be able to have DOC with some insurers. Now assuming they have all your info correct then the system software they use was defective in preventing DOC being applied to the policy due to age, they have had a policy review in light of something, this maybe due to X amount of customers under the certain criteria to be able to have DOC in the same period as you renewed one may have had a claim on another vehicle thinking they were covered, this triggers a review usually to see what happened and how many people in that period have been given DOC that shouldn't have been.


Hastings are Poor in terms of customer relations, their happy when your paying their not when your complaining about service and their end errors.


I would phone and ask for a policy breakdown, to see what extra's you were paying for INC DOC, if DOC was paid for, then I would be asking to be reimbursed admin fee free as they have taken this away themselves. be polite as no doubt the person you shouted and screamed at down the phone has marked you as a irate customer, no doubt hastings doing a google search will come upon this and a REP will post here soon.

IamNotAllowedToUseMyName

To be honest, it sounds like a dodgy sales person, because there is no way you give a 19 year old "drive any car" because they go off and drive other cars which are out of their pay grade.

On driving other cars you only get third party, so not a good idea if you drive a valuable car on it anyway, they do not insure the car you are driving. However, third party insurance for unspecified other cars for a 19 year old would cost a fortune because of the risk of you doing damage to others, and without limiting the classification of the car then they are potentially insuring you for an inappropriately powerful performance car.

I wonder if your email is as a result of the salesperson being found out on other policies and they have had to go back and review his work?

As they locked you in by making you a tempting offer, then it is misselling.

I suggest that you do an insurance comparison and if there is a significant difference in premium between the cover you now have and what you would have changed to then it is reasonable that you ask for them to make a refund of the difference.

I would work on the principle that the drive other car insurance is not worth chasing after, any sane insurance would not offer it aside from at an exhorbitant premium.

Insurers have a basic obligation to cover the third party where they have accepted cover even if you do something that invalidates it. It is clearly something that is an error and they are not blaming you for a problem, simply correcting an error. Speak to them calmly knowing that they have made a mistake and they may well be pursuaded to make you an offer for the misunderstanding - and to avoid a formal complaint which will cost them time and effort to handle.

rs65

H.Alexanders wrote: »

I want to complain formally, but don't know how to do this

Your policy will tell you how to complain.

It will also tell you whether or not you have DOC cover, as will your certificate. You wouldn't have been made bankrupt - they would have honoured the cover.

Remember, DOC is third party only so if you caused an accident, you may have bankrupted yourself.