Has anyone got a part-refund from Churchill car insurers?

Conrad3000

Hi all. A few days ago I received an email to say some customers may be eligible for a part refund due to the coronavirus situation.

I filled in the necessary form on the website but not heard anything since. Does anyone know how long they (or for that matter any other insurer who's offering refunds), take to look into this?

Thanks.

bengalknights

30 Days they state to give decision, mine is expiring at end of month so be interesting to see if they refund based on the term.

Dangerous78

I received an email a few weeks ago stating that I was owed a partial refund form Churchill from a policy long since expired. I assumed it was a phishing email and deleted it. 2-3 weeks later a cheque for the communicated amount arrived at my address. There was no explanation what it was for however I paid it into my account and it has since cleared. I'm not wondering why an insurance company, most of whom seem to be crooks would suddenly feel a pang of remorse for something I have no idea they have done. My suspicious side wonders whether another corporate finance scandal is in the offing and by cashing this cheque I have unwittingly accepted recompense? Or is this simly a rare business with sound ethics? Anyone else received one?

cw8825

Dangerous78 said:

I received an email a few weeks ago stating that I was owed a partial refund form Churchill from a policy long since expired. I assumed it was a phishing email and deleted it. 2-3 weeks later a cheque for the communicated amount arrived at my address. There was no explanation what it was for however I paid it into my account and it has since cleared. I'm not wondering why an insurance company, most of whom seem to be crooks would suddenly feel a pang of remorse for something I have no idea they have done. My suspicious side wonders whether another corporate finance scandal is in the offing and by cashing this cheque I have unwittingly accepted recompense? Or is this simly a rare business with sound ethics? Anyone else received one?

Did you ever have a claim with direct line for a total loss? There was a news story that they had underpaid claimants and were now making additional payments

TSx

It may be that they've identified something that was handled incorrectly previously (potentially in line with the total loss payments mentioned above). Whilst Insurance has a poor reputation, it's pretty heavily regulated and these things do happen from time to time.

When I worked in home claims, we picked up that someone had an incorrect excess printed on their policy documents - and we'd overcharged ~350 customers over the past few years. We contacted all of them, paid anyone we had an address or bank account details for without being prompted.

It's very unlikely that there will be any issues in cashing it down the line, if it did emerge you'd been misled (very unlikely), the regulators would take a very dim view of Direct Line trying to prevent you claiming the actual loss you're entitled to.

TELLIT01

I'm guessing they are considering refunds because of the lower usage during Covid.  Direct Line did it during Covid, so I'm surprised other 'names' from the same group didn't do the same thing.

Aretnap

TELLIT01 said:

I'm guessing they are considering refunds because of the lower usage during Covid.  Direct Line did it during Covid, so I'm surprised other 'names' from the same group didn't do the same thing.

This seems unlikely for a number of reasons 
(1) Lockdown is ancient history
(2) Direct Line allowed customers to apply for a partial refund IF they were using their cars less during lockdown. They didn't just indiscriminately send out unsolicited cheques to people who, for all they knew, were still doing the same number of miles as normal.
(3) Churchill is a cut price version of Direct Line's insurance product, marketed via comparison sites to people who prioritise price over quality. It's more keenly priced than Direct Line, but it's not particularly surprising if that means there's less spare money sloshing around for gimmicks like Covid refunds.

As well as the ruling over write-off valuations mentioned above, DLG are in the process of refunding some customers who were overcharged for renewals, as they were not fully in compliance with the regulations on charging new and renewing customers equally. So my guess would be that it's related either to a write-off, or a renewal.

https://www.which.co.uk/news/article/direct-line-group-overcharged-some-car-and-home-insurance-customers-are-you-owed-a-refund-aS4CP5h5eFAf