Buyers Beware! Esure trouble

gm89uk

Your insurance can be invalidated if you change your settings on comparison websites to get a better deal more suitable for you

Important Background:
I work in one place and have a permanent address in another. Work Address is more expensive to insure than Home address and work address changes several times a year due to nature of work.

I used comparethemarket to compare the prices of insuring at both address and found home address to be cheaper. It was too expensive to insure the car at work address (where I don't really need a car) so left the car at home during the week, only use it at home address and took out insurance at my home address.

A few weeks into my policy I received an email from Esure to say they are cancelling my policy due to meddling with the quote and opting for the cheaper address. I have fully explained my situation and offered all proof of address and any paperwork from work to explain my work arrangements. They have been pleasant and explained they understand my situation but still must cancel my policy, and I am not entitled to take out car insurance with them again.

This I found to be a diabolical customer service and I've explained that shopping around and seeing what options are financially viable for me are NOT the same as fraud / lying. I have escalated this all the way to the top at customer relations without any resolution.

I wish to escalate this higher, and make other users aware of the monitoring that happens on comparison websites.

They said I refreshed the quote 7 times, this includes things like changing the voluntary excess, adding my mum as an additional driver (she will drive the car if it makes the policy cheaper, if not she won't), or a business premium (to see if it is worthwhile the premium to claim fuel costs from work).

I have honestly not lied about anything but just adjusted values based on what would be cheaper for me, and this would affect the usage of my car.

Do you have any advice for how I can escalate this further?

Many thanks

Quentin

You can escalate to the FOS. Details will be set out in the policy docs.

Most insurers nowadays have anti fraud measures which spot any attempts to manipulate quotes, which is why you should remain anonymous when playing with quotes online.

You always have to agree the info you give is true. In your case trying different addresses would trigger alarms

Make sure that your current insurers and any others you go to for quotes in future are informed of this cancellation now. Failure to do so will allow them to void your policy in the event of a claim

gm89uk

I will do so straight away. After explaining my situation, Esure have put it as a mutual cancellation and have advised me that I do not need to report it as insurance rejected by them. Despite this I am not entitled to take out insurance with them or Sheilas wheels.

Quentin

In that case no need to mention this to other insurers (assuming they said no need to tell other insurers no need to report this as a " cancellation")


You really need this in writing from them (as the question you are asked by most insurers is along the lines of "has any insurance company ever cancelled/refused to renew/imposed special terms on you or anyone to be covered" - you would need to answer truthfully!)

BlueSmartie

The Ombudsman is generally pretty useless, and they only ruled in favour of the customer against esure in 17% of cases in the last 6 months. Figures from previous years aren't particularly high either.

The only good thing is, it costs esure money if you refer to the Ombudsman and counts towards the statistics. You might not get anywhere but at least you've cost them some money too.

mattk_180

I'm slightly confused about why you thought you needed to insurer the car at your work address? Surely you just give your home address, declare how it's parked whilst at home, and then if they ask, declare how it's parked whilst at work (car park etc.). I've never come across a situation where I have to put in my work address whatsoever.


Do you work nights and need to declare where the car is parked "overnight"?


Granted this post offers no help to your situation whatsoever, but I'm just intrigued.

paddyandstumpy

BlueSmartie wrote: »

The Ombudsman is generally pretty useless, and they only ruled in favour of the customer against esure in 17% of cases in the last 6 months. Figures from previous years aren't particularly high either.

The only good thing is, it costs esure money if you refer to the Ombudsman and counts towards the statistics. You might not get anywhere but at least you've cost them some money too.

Does that make the FOS useless, or does it mean that Esure aren't doing anything the FOS don't agree with?

And :T to the approach and mindset of "at least you've cost them some money". Who will ultimately pay the cost of their increased expenses...?!

Quentin

paddyandstumpy wrote: »

And :T to the approach and mindset of "at least you've cost them some money". Who will ultimately pay the cost of their increased expenses...?!

It's always worth escalating a complaint to the FOS


On many occasions the insurer will capitulate via a "goodwill gesture" rather than get involved with the high cost of dealing with FOS (not only the FOS fee, but the management time taken up with all the correspondence etc)

paddyandstumpy

Quentin wrote: »

It's always worth escalating a complaint to the FOS


On many occasions the insurer will capitulate via a "goodwill gesture" rather than get involved with the high cost of dealing with FOS (not only the FOS fee, but the management time taken up with all the correspondence etc)

I don't disagree Quentin. I do disagree with the poster's comments that the FOS are useless as they've only found in favour of the consumer 17% of the time. What it actually means is of the cases that went to the FOS, esure were only wrong 17% of the time.

And my comment about the same poster's mindset, I stand by that too. Whilst the FOS are a useful function to keep the less scrupulous insurers honest; they do cost the insurer money, even if for an unjustified complaint. Advocating mindless complaints to the FOS to "cost the insurer" isn't the right approach, ultimately any increase in the bottom line will lead to an increase in the top line. In layman's terms, if an insurer's expenses go up, so do rates.

kacperwujek

Everywhere trouble.