XS direct sending £2300 claim

dacouch

When they suggested changing insurer to XS direct, did they advise you the excess applied to all sections?

Sathish

nope..they have not advised anything in the insurance...it was automatically renewed...I see now in the insurance motor renewal notice below

Type of cover Comprehensive

Compulsory & voluntary excess

(please refer to policy summary for any additional

Compulsory £3000 Total £3000

Voluntary

I don't have the policy summary with me. they have sent me some links in my old email and when i click the link - it is expired. I agree it is expired because the policy expired in 06 jun

Now the point is they dont say anything about all sections excess in the motor insurance renewal letter

dacouch

I meant when you first took the cover out

Sathish

I dont remember anyone calling me to renew the insurance policy ..an email came with insurance renewal docuuments..

Sathish

yes when i first took the cover it says in the bottom of the page - all sections...i didnt know what does all sections means at that time..
i was very layman at that time...didnt think too much about it....

Aretnap

There's a general principle with consumer insurance contracts that significant or unusual excludes should be highlighted to the consumer at the time of purchase - not buried in page 94 of the small print. And that the more onerous or the unusual the exclusion is, the more proninently it has to be highlighted. By extension I would think that the exclusion has to be explained in language that the customer will understand, not hidden behind industry jargon.

IMHO an excess which applies to third party claims is fairly significant and unusual - especially when it's a three grand excess. Therefore it should have been highlighted pretty prominently, and in language which the average customer would understand. Is "all sections excess" understandable to the average customer or is it industry jargon? I'dhave thought hat t was at least arguable that it's jargon which most customers wouldn't understand the significance of.

If you don't think that the terms were explained clearl enough to you when ou took the policy out you could make a formal complaint to the company along those lines - and then to the Ombudsman if you're not happy with the response. Doing so costs you nothing except time and possibly a couple of stamps - so you have little to lose by giving it a try.

dacouch

Aretnap wrote: »

Is "all sections excess" understandable to the average customer or is it industry jargon? I'dhave thought hat t was at least arguable that it's jargon which most customers wouldn't understand the significance of.

Many people in the industry do not know what an all sections excess means...

rs65

Aretnap wrote: »

There's a general principle with consumer insurance contracts that significant or unusual excludes should be highlighted to the consumer at the time of purchase - not buried in page 94 of the small print. And that the more onerous or the unusual the exclusion is, the more proninently it has to be highlighted. By extension I would think that the exclusion has to be explained in language that the customer will understand, not hidden behind industry jargon.

I would say they cover this quite comprehensively in several places on their website. Its also mentioned in the introduction in the policy

dacouch

rs65 wrote: »

I would say they cover this quite comprehensively in several places on their website. Its also mentioned in the introduction in the policy

It needs to be!

The type of customer that an Insurer who offers a £3000 all sections excess to is the very type of customer who is most likely to have to make a claim

rs65

dacouch wrote: »

The type of customer that an Insurer who offers a £3000 all sections excess to is the very type of customer who is most likely to have to make a claim

I'd like to know how successful they are in recovering the £3000 from policyholders.