Car insurance company trying to charge me £30 admin fee to change ambiguous 'purchase date'. Advice?

Carrot007

Check the fees before taking out the insurance. If you are moving house soon you can opt to get decent insurance that does not charge fees.

It will of course be more expenisve though. The cheapest always has things like this. Some will charge you for calling them and not using the app. Of course though you read and agreed to the terms right?

Ditzy_Mitzy

I know it's not, by some, deemed the most reliable source but 'Ask the Police' has this to say on the matter:
https://www.askthe.police.uk/content/Q743.htm
The OP, according to that, isn't really doing things right.  The registered keeper is merely the person or company who has day to day use of the car.  In this scenario, the OP has custody of the car, is the principle driver and keeps it at his address.  To all intents and purposes, then, he is the registered keeper.  That doesn't mean that he owns the car, his father does, but then the V5 document doesn't convey legal title; it merely records who has custody of the car at any one time.  The OP's father is well within his rights to ask for the car back, but he can do so regardless of who is named on the V5.  
The V5 doesn't convey title to the car, only a sales receipt or similar agreement can do that.  I had to write one up when I was given my mother's old car.  She didn't want it any more so we completed a separate document to transfer ownership, not keepership, of the car.  
The OP should, therefore, have nominated himself as registered keeper at the point that he became the registered keeper.  He probably needs to do so now and pick matters up with the insurance company.  
OP - were you questioned about who the keeper is at the application stage?  There are situations where the policyholder genuinely isn't the owner or keeper, therefore insurance companies usually ask a question along the lines of: 'are you the registered keeper of this car'.  Did you, OP, say 'yes' or 'no' to that question.  If you said 'no', then presumably the next question about when you bought the car or became the keeper would become void.  If you said 'yes', well it wasn't strictly true.  Even though you are the de facto registered keeper.  Either way I don't know what your complaint is.  What should be simple has become very complicated and things have, as a result, gone wrong.  

Jumblebumble

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

.  The registered keeper is merely the person or company who has day to day use of the car.  In 

This is not correct
I have a lease car.
The lease company are the registered keeper
They do not have Day to Day use of it.
 I do
Infact they have most likely never seen or touched the car and have no idea of where is it is or what it is doing.

Nearlyold

Jumblebumble said:

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

.  The registered keeper is merely the person or company who has day to day use of the car.  In 

This is not correct
I have a lease car.
The lease company are the registered keeper
They do not have Day to Day use of it.
 I do
Infact they have most likely never seen or touched the car and have no idea of where is it is or what it is doing.

Ditzy_Mitzy is correct in the context of their post which is clearly in reference to the OP's particular circumstances, it's not intended to cover scenarios such as yours.

Ditzy_Mitzy

Jumblebumble said:

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

.  The registered keeper is merely the person or company who has day to day use of the car.  In 

This is not correct
I have a lease car.
The lease company are the registered keeper
They do not have Day to Day use of it.
 I do
Infact they have most likely never seen or touched the car and have no idea of where is it is or what it is doing.

A leased car is a different situation, as it is a hire car with an extended rental agreement.  The lessee doesn't carry out the duties of a normal registered keeper, taxing and MOT testing the vehicle (leased cars are generally MOT exempt because brand new), so doesn't become the registered keeper in fact.  Lease companies seem to carry out some sort of fudge regarding MOT tests if the contract is longer than three years, with the lessee getting the car MOT tested on the hire agency's behalf.  

Jumblebumble

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

Jumblebumble said:

Ditzy_Mitzy said:

.  The registered keeper is merely the person or company who has day to day use of the car.  In 

This is not correct
I have a lease car.
The lease company are the registered keeper
They do not have Day to Day use of it.
 I do
Infact they have most likely never seen or touched the car and have no idea of where is it is or what it is doing.

A leased car is a different situation, as it is a hire car with an extended rental agreement.  The lessee doesn't carry out the duties of a normal registered keeper, taxing and MOT testing the vehicle (leased cars are generally MOT exempt because brand new), so doesn't become the registered keeper in fact.  Lease companies seem to carry out some sort of fudge regarding MOT tests if the contract is longer than three years, with the lessee getting the car MOT tested on the hire agency's behalf.  

I insure, MOT and service the car as part of the lease agreement as it is more than 3 years old
I imagine the lease company maintain keepership of lease cars so they don't end up being sold on by the dishonest.

Wolff

Bit late but thought I should provide an update incase anyone else finds themselves in this situation and comes across this thread. Long story short, I got the fee waived.

Phoned them up, explained I thought the fee was unfair as the question was unclear. The rep was polite but a little patronising, and very "computer says no". He tried claiming the wording on the comparison site clarified that it was the date on the v5. I stood my ground and told him it did not, nor did their own website and he realised he was looking at the wrong website, but then continued to stand by the admin fee and claimed it would be unfair to waive mine but not others. Again, I stood my ground and told him what I thought was unfair was that the question was not clear and did not ask for the date on the v5 or else I would have put that. He went away to speak to his team leader and came back to tell me they agreed to waive the fee.

It seems I may have flagged up on their system because I'd done another quote with the "date I bought the car" set to 2020 instead of 2019. My housemate also had the same company chasing him to provide his passport to try and find errors (which they couldn't).

naedanger

Wolff said:

Bit late but thought I should provide an update incase anyone else finds themselves in this situation and comes across this thread. Long story short, I got the fee waived.

Phoned them up, explained I thought the fee was unfair as the question was unclear. The rep was polite but a little patronising, and very "computer says no". He tried claiming the wording on the comparison site clarified that it was the date on the v5. I stood my ground and told him it did not, nor did their own website and he realised he was looking at the wrong website, but then continued to stand by the admin fee and claimed it would be unfair to waive mine but not others. Again, I stood my ground and told him what I thought was unfair was that the question was not clear and did not ask for the date on the v5 or else I would have put that. He went away to speak to his team leader and came back to tell me they agreed to waive the fee.

It seems I may have flagged up on their system because I'd done another quote with the "date I bought the car" set to 2020 instead of 2019. My housemate also had the same company chasing him to provide his passport to try and find errors (which they couldn't).

I am pleased you got a good outcome.
I wonder if the rep will now be arranging to waive the admin fees of others in the same position given that he said it would be unfair not to do so. 

Sandtree

naedanger said:

I wonder if the rep will now be arranging to waive the admin fees of others in the same position given that he said it would be unfair not to do so. 

Are you taking bets? I'd go further and wager on what they'd do if another customer phones up with the same point let alone go and do any retrospective changes without prompts