Is an insurer obliged to give a written quotation on request?

vikinggreen

If I request a written quotation, or a statement of account for a variation of a policy (both by email), before committing myself to any charges, am I within my rights?

I feel sure I am on both counts, but wiser heads may know what loopholes are being exploited here when refusing to do same ...

rudekid48

What type of insurance?

vikinggreen

Car insurance.

agrinnall

Why do you want it in writing, why not just ask them on the phone? If you're happy with the answer you can go ahead with the change, if not then don't. Simples!

rs65

vikinggreen wrote: »

If I request a written quotation, or a statement of account for a variation of a policy (both by email), before committing myself to any charges, am I within my rights?

I feel sure I am on both counts, but wiser heads may know what loopholes are being exploited here when refusing to do same ...

Not sure why you want a statement of account before a charge is made - what do you think it will show?


What sort of variation do you want a written quotation for?

TSx

Presumably any written quotation would be valid only for the point in time it was produced at anyway - with dynamic rating, the actual price charged will be determined at the point the adjustment is made.

I know when taking out insurance, a 30 day quotation period generally applies but I can't imagine a mid-term adjustment would be the same.

magpiecottage

I think FCA Handbook chapter ICOBS 6.1 might answer your question.

vikinggreen

It's a multi-car policy.

In the first instance, insuring several cars took a very, very long time over the phone (nearly an hour and a half), and the company does seem to specialise in adding repeated layers of complexity to the whole process.

After that length of time on the phone, I felt it was reasonable to request some sort of written confirmation from them of the proposed policy cost. They refused "because their system couldn't do that, their email wasn't working properly", etc, etc, and I reluctantly accepted that. (This is a very well-known household name in insurance.)

I recently called them to remove a car from the policy, and I got the same appallingly lengthy process (25 minutes, plus an equally long call-back after my original question couldn't be resolved.)

I then asked for the amount of the refund due and they claimed that they didn't know/couldn't find out, and just told me how much they would charge me for cancellation.

When I asked for confirmation of any or all of that by email, they refused to put it in writing. I was simply offered another callback the next day.

We went round that last loop quite a few times, and I felt quite sorry for the customer service advisor, who was clearly reading from the usual script, but as the callback came at an inconvenient time, I didn't want to escalate it there and then.

Back to the original question, surely an insurer has a duty to provide, on request, written confirmation of a quote or any charges related to a policy? They have my email address on record and use that readily enough to confirm details once I've paid up!

Cross posted with you, Magpiecottage, and thank you, but I'm afraid your link doesn't work.

Quentin

vikinggreen wrote: »

Cross posted with you, Magpiecottage, and thank you, but I'm afraid your link doesn't work.

I think the link he attempted to "disguise" was to the Insurance Conduct Of Business Sourcebook (which shows the "high level standards" that (are supposed to) apply to all insurance sales!)


Try this: https://www.handbook.fca.org.uk/handbook/ICOBS/6/1.htm

vikinggreen

Thanks, Quentin - that's proved to be very useful. :beer: