Octagon Car Insurance problem

m-holmes

Hello

I recently took out a car insurance policy with Octagon, after paying for the full years cover and sending proof of the NCB they contacted us again asking for proof of age. After sending this to them they wrote a letter back saying that they do not insure anyone under 21 years of age and that they would be cancelling the policy on the 10th Oct.

I phoned them up and they said that they would wave the £50 admin fee and refund for the remaining 11 months of cover.

I have now paid for insurance with another provider, expecting Octagon to refund me, however when I contacted them again after the 10th Oct they claim that my insurance was not cancelled and that they will not be refunding me.

My question is how can I go about trying to get my money back from them, I paid on a credit card, would I be able to speak to the credit card company about it or would I have to go along the financial ombudsman route?

Many thanks!

InsideInsurance

Before going to the ombudsman you'd have to register a complaint and only if you arent satisfied with their response or if they dont respond within 8 weeks can you escalate.

Doing a chargeback is not a suitable solution as that doesnt stop the policy but just means you now have a policy you havent paid for that will ultimately be cancelled for non-payment which you will have to declare to most insurers for life going forward.

Why did they say they had changed their position on your age?

m-holmes

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Before going to the ombudsman you'd have to register a complaint and only if you arent satisfied with their response or if they dont respond within 8 weeks can you escalate.

Doing a chargeback is not a suitable solution as that doesnt stop the policy but just means you now have a policy you havent paid for that will ultimately be cancelled for non-payment which you will have to declare to most insurers for life going forward.

Why did they say they had changed their position on your age?

Thank you for your reply. Sorry I wast very clear in my original post but its actually a policy for my cousin which I helped her find through the comparisons websites.

They are denying that they sent the letter, when we called them looking for the refund they said that they were never going to cancel the policy. She did turn 21, 3 days after the policy started so maybe that is why.

InsideInsurance

m-holmes wrote: »

Thank you for your reply. Sorry I wast very clear in my original post but its actually a policy for my cousin which I helped her find through the comparisons websites.

They are denying that they sent the letter, when we called them looking for the refund they said that they were never going to cancel the policy. She did turn 21, 3 days after the policy started so maybe that is why.

Put the complaint in writing and enclose a copy/ scan of their letter, not the original

gazfocus

I too have found Octagon Insurance to be incredibly ridiculous. I am insured with them, purely because they were the cheapest at the time (roughly 50% what other companies wanted), however, I won't be renewing with them for a 3rd time.

I had a policy with them 18 months ago. My wife passed her test and I wanted to add her to my insurance. They said they couldn't do that as she hasn't been driving for 1 year (despite being able to get a quote off their website).

Then, today I phoned Octagon to ask how much it would be to add my wife to my policy as she is changing cars for one we can both drive, so it makes sense for us both to be insured on both cars. Firstly they said they couldn't insure her, but then retracted this and said that because my wife has only been driving for 18 months, they would have to reduce MY no claims bonus from 4 years to 1 year to be able to include my wife on the policy. It's absolutely ridiculous.

I know it doesn't answer your queries but my advice to anyone is to avoid Octagon at all costs.

InsideInsurance

gazfocus wrote: »

My wife passed her test and I wanted to add her to my insurance. They said they couldn't do that as she hasn't been driving for 1 year (despite being able to get a quote off their website).

Octagon in the UK is actually administered by a brokerage One Quote which in theory could mean that the business it doesnt want to take on itself may be placed with a panel.

Even their own policywording mentions that there are co-insurers involved. I dont have any inner knowledge of the workings of Octagon but it can be that co-insurers are set and so all policies are covered by the same pool of underwriters or it can be that the pool is dynamic with certain co-insurers only interested in certain risk profiles.

The thing to remember when buying insurance is that you are not only locked to the person selling the policy but also the underwriter(s) of it. Its very possible when you buy a policy via an intermediary with only experienced drivers that they place you with the cheapest underwriter but this underwriter wont touch inexperienced drivers. If you then go to add an inexperienced driver the intermediary has to refuse despite the fact that other underwriters on their panel would accept it (hence getting new business quotes) because your underwriter wont and you are locked to them.

Not saying this is necessarily what has gone on in this case but its one possibility.