Insurers aren't charging me enough!!

trailingspouse

My business insurance has just been renewed. I rang them to discuss it, and was told the new premium would be about £15 per month higher than last year - fair enough.

The first monthly payment has just come out of the bank account, and it is slightly higher than last year, but not £15 higher - it's nearer to £2 higher. I rang them (I needed a schedule of direct debit payments anyway, and I like things to be right), and mentioned that it wasn't as high as I expected.

They've now sent me the schedule of payments, with the £2.00 increase. I've told them once that I don't think it's high enough, based on what I was originally quoted. I'm concerned that if we need to claim, they will suddenly realise we haven't paid enough premium and the claim could be compromised.

How far would you go in pointing out the mistake? Or would you just accept their figures and enjoy the unexpected bonus?

rs65

Check the new policy schedule to see if the cover is correct.

If so, and the premium shown is £24 more than last year then forget about it.

If it is £180 more than last year, ask them to correct the instalments.

*Scarlett

Is it just a payment schedule that you have had or do you have new policy docs?

Check that the cover is what you want - excess fees, exclusions, etc.

The onus is on the insurer to get it right. You have already advised them that you weren't sure it was correct and they have confirmed the £2 increase in writing.

Just make sure that they haven't changed anything on your cover to reduce the premium.

If you want to be cautious you could ring them to discuss it - I know you have done this already at renewal time but you could have a few more questions about the cover! You can ask the agent to go through the cover step by step to make sure it's ok for you and the prices are confirmed.

gik

trailingspouse wrote: »

Insurers aren't charging me enough!!

First time I've seen these words on MSE!

trailingspouse

No, it's rolling cover, so we don't get a new policy schedule.

It all started because we had a particularly good trading year in 2013, and our premium is calculated in part on turnover. As our turnover was 3x our normal turnover, they wanted to increase our premium by 3x - which seems fair enough on the face of it... However, our projected turnover for 2014 is back to its normal level, so I negotiated with the insurers and they have agreed to charge us a more realistic figure (much appreciated). Obviously, if out turnover is high again this year, we'll have to pay the higher premium next year - but the final figure we agreed on after all the negotiations was £15 per month more than we were paying last year.

So I was obviously very surprised when the amount taken out of the account at the beginning of March, and the amounts on the payment schedule, were so much lower.

My business partner's attitude is that I've done enough - 'There's no helping some people'. But still, I have a nagging doubt that in the event of a claim they might use this to wriggle out of things.

InsideInsurance

If you have a schedule and its all correct and this is the premium they are charging you then they wouldnt have any grounds re premium for not paying a claim.

If they've made a mistake on the schedule then this needs correcting and that may "correct" the premium