Esure Motor Insurance - Be very very careful!

siwatkins

Needed to do a change of vehicle with Esure. Several problems that culminated in my cancelling and trying to find a different provider.


First - Modifications. My car (to the best of my knowledge) has no modifications other than factory fitted options from new.


Tried to get a quote from Esure, and see they have added further guidance on the Modifications bit. They want to know ANY modifications from base factory spec, including those fitted by the original manufacturer. Even options like Aircon, locking wheel nuts, foglights etc.


I have no idea what the base spec was of my 13year old car was at new and what were optional extras. Does anyone? Without an original brochure of that time, it's impossible. Manufacturer's change spec all the time. Thus Esure have left themselves wriggle room to avoid paying a claim if you don't declare every factory fitted modification, even if you have no idea which were "options" and which were standard to base spec.


I was left with no option but to cancel as I was unable to declare it was original, with no modifications to base spec (even though I believe it is standard from factory, I do know Aircon wasn't fitted to every model in the range (it's a BMW Z3) and my car has Aircon, which was probably an option.


On cancellation, I expected to pay a cancellation charge (£35!!! - not sure how that is reasonable and fair?), and I expected to pay a pro-rata fee for the time on cover (fair enough).


What I did not expect, was to be billed in full for the other "options" as they put it. eg - Hire Car cover (billed in full), Legal Assistance (billed in full), Personal Accident Cover (billed in full). In short, my cancellation will cost me £128, plus the pro rated insurance charges. It only cost just over £200 for the year! The policy was only renewed within the last 2 months, thus to have a cancellation charge that is such a high proportion seems like unfair charging to me.


Finally, I asked that if I have paid on cancellation of the motor policy, the full amount for hire car, personal injury, legal assist, I presume that I remain covered for those items. If I've paid in full for a year, I expect them to remain in force for a year. No was the answer.


I thought I'd share such that everyone can see what they might be liable for, and to warn about the really sneaky modifications issue with Esure. If you get that wrong, you have in effect invalidated your insurance. Be very clear you know exactly what your base spec was, and what your factory options were. Tricky if you aren't the first owner eh?


And watch for punitive cancellation fees. I've cancelled both mine and my wife's policies with them and will fight them tooth and nail in respect of their punitive charges. Will never put business their way again and will do my best to make others aware of their practices.


Congratulations if you've read this far!


Simon

Quentin

Virtually all insurers do this if you cancel (make no refund for add ons you bought)


All set out in the ts + cs which you will have agreed.

siwatkins

Quentin wrote: »

Virtually all insurers do this if you cancel (make no refund for add ons you bought)


All set out in the ts + cs which you will have agreed.

Maybe so, but if I've paid for a year up front, with no pro-rated refund, then I'm entitled to the continued benefit for that service for which I've paid a year for. In other words, they are treating them as separate products by not giving pro-rated refunds, therefore I should enjoy continued benefit from these separate products as I've paid for them in full.

InsideInsurance

A couple of the budget providers, like Admiral, want ALL modifications declared and not just those post manufacture.

Why did you buy though when you couldnt answer the question?

When did you cancel the policy, how many days in?

Insurers are entitled to charge a cancellation fee within the cooling off period but most will refund, pro rata, the optional extras but a couple wont after the cooling off period. Not heard of one that doesnt during the cooling off period and you may have grounds for complaint on it. Ultimately read your policybook

Quentin

siwatkins wrote: »

Maybe so, but if I've paid for a year up front, with no pro-rated refund, then I'm entitled to the continued benefit for that service for which I've paid a year for. In other words, they are treating them as separate products by not giving pro-rated refunds, therefore I should enjoy continued benefit from these separate products as I've paid for them in full.

You do have the complaint route to try.


Make a formal complaint over the unfairness of this then if you are unhappy with the reply you can escalate to the FOS for their adjudication.


This is at no cost to you at all but if the FOS do end up taking on the case then Esure get charged £550 (win or lose) by the FOS.


A sensible insurer might take the view that a goodwill gesture to you will be much cheaper than having to deal with the FOS

Quentin

InsideInsurance wrote: »

....Not heard of one that doesnt during the cooling off period and you may have grounds for complaint on it. Ultimately read your policybook

This is way outside the cooling off period.

siwatkins

InsideInsurance wrote: »

A couple of the budget providers, like Admiral, want ALL modifications declared and not just those post manufacture.

Why did you buy though when you couldnt answer the question?

When did you cancel the policy, how many days in?

Insurers are entitled to charge a cancellation fee within the cooling off period but most will refund, pro rata, the optional extras but a couple wont after the cooling off period. Not heard of one that doesnt during the cooling off period and you may have grounds for complaint on it. Ultimately read your policybook

I have had the policy for a couple of years now with them on a previous car (that was base spec, and unmodified, so the question had no implications. The change of vehicle is to an older car, not owned by me from new. So when getting a website quote prior to asking them to change over to it, I noticed the modifications thing (the detail that they required factory options was hidden under a help icon - I'm sure most would assume modified since the factory). It's a subtle change they have made that could catch a lot of people out. I don't know when they made the change though.


I'm definitely outside the cooling off period. My only complaint re the add ons, is that if they are a separate product that I've had to pay for in full, they should last for the time period I bought them for. Eg Legal Assistance.

forgotmyname

Not sure which company i was getting a quote with. But had the same issue about modifications.

They wanted to know about any factory fitted options also. After reeling off a few of the features and asking them if that was standard on my car or an option i got no response.
I just thought if your this bad now i dread to think how bad they would have been if i ever needed to claim.

Crossed that one off my list.

siwatkins

forgotmyname wrote: »

Not sure which company i was getting a quote with. But had the same issue about modifications.

They wanted to know about any factory fitted options also. After reeling off a few of the features and asking them if that was standard on my car or an option i got no response.
I just thought if your this bad now i dread to think how bad they would have been if i ever needed to claim.

Crossed that one off my list.

I've just bought a new car, on which I specified options for a few things over and above the BMW M Sport spec (different car to above). The M Sport Spec is also essentially an options pack, over and above the Sport spec. The sport spec is an options pack over and above the SE spec and so on. BMW change what's included in the packs all the time. Expecting consumers to remember what is standard, and what are options, 5, 10 years down the road is impossible. Esure even want to know about things as trivial as locking wheel nuts.


Presumably the omission of any notified modifications (which are actually options, not modifications) gives them wriggle room to squirm their way out of a claim down the road. I'm deepfully mistrusting of insurance companies as it is, but this kind of behaviour is unreasonable. I'll stick with companies that take the more reasonable approach from now on.

InsideInsurance

siwatkins wrote: »

I'm definitely outside the cooling off period. My only complaint re the add ons, is that if they are a separate product that I've had to pay for in full, they should last for the time period I bought them for. Eg Legal Assistance.

The other way to look at it is that they have their own cancellation fee which is equivalent to their premium but they waive the prorata element.

Some of these are tied to the insurance policy by wording, so LE often explicitly relates back to the policy and so yes you could still have the benefit of it but on the basis the parent policy is cancelled you'll never have any uninsured losses from that policy and thus will never be able to use the LE cover.

siwatkins

InsideInsurance wrote: »

The other way to look at it is that they have their own cancellation fee which is equivalent to their premium but they waive the prorata element.

Some of these are tied to the insurance policy by wording, so LE often explicitly relates back to the policy and so yes you could still have the benefit of it but on the basis the parent policy is cancelled you'll never have any uninsured losses from that policy and thus will never be able to use the LE cover.

Yes that's one way of looking at it. Another way would be that the combination of penalty fee, and charging in full for a service that could be pro-rated and hasn't been consumed amounts to a penalty charge, which I believe to be invalid. Looking online, there has been a lot of criticism of insurers on this issue. I will take it to the FOS and test their position.