1st Central

pjhrt

Hi all,

Long time since I've been on here, but wondering if anyone can help. I want to start by making it clear there are some bits of this which are entirely my own fault and I'm not trying to get out of anything in that regard. 

OK, so I purchased a second car back in August. Just a little Ford B-Max to do family runarounds in, with me as the main driver. When I bought my policy online, I entered 20 years NCD, 6 points, no faults. I genuinely had no idea that I couldn't apply NCD to more than one car at a time. 1st Central informed me that they would be changing it to 0 NCD. OK. They also informed me that they had found a Fault on my name from an incident back in March; someone swiped the front of my car changing lanes - somehow, it was found in the favour of the other guy, but they since agreed it wasn't my fault, yet it seems a database somewhere hasn't been updated.

Anyway, they added that as well. This has increased the cost of my policy from £312 to nearly £1000. If that's the price, then that's the price. HOWEVER...if I go to buy a policy from them, with all those details included (the 0 NCD, the 6 points, the Fault) I can get a policy FROM THEM for £440.

I phoned up to discuss this and how nearly £1000 was reached, but nobody was willing (or able) to explain. They also want to charge me £212 to cancel.

Any help?? If I have to suck up the £212 and walk away, that's what I'll have to do.

fimacdoodle

Terrible company - I used to be in that insurance business and they were one to avoid. Cheap = rubbish service and problems with payouts and related. I made a mistake with old claims with lloyds insurance  and all they did was inform me I had forgotten to tell them and added it to my policy at no cost.
Make a formal complaint. 

pjhrt

Yeah, I should have gone with a company I'd actually heard of. So you think they're in their rights to charge me more than double what they would charge a new customer? Is this because they know they've got me one way or another?

ButterCheese

pjhrt said:

 Is this because they know they've got me one way or another?

Yes that's right.  In their eyes, you either pay them £1000 for a policy or you pay them £212 for doing nothing; win'win for them.  Put in a formal complaint and ask/try to find out who the CEO is (this worked for me when I had to complain about Virgin media but there was a whole FB group on it which made it easier).  If it were me, I would try to bring the cancellation fee down and also go with someone else.  The cancellation fee is usually a nominal admin fee (say £55) plus any unused full months of insurance that you have paid for but not used.  Sometimes also a cancellation fee on top.  It will say what the cancellation fees are in the small print of the policy.

The only thing I would query is; they are charging you a hefty cancellation fee based on their inflated (and revised) policy of £1000.  This is not the policy that you paid for.  It would be up to them to prove that the policy you signed up for, and paid for, was null and void due to you providing the wrong information.  As I write this it's looking more and more likely that you'll have to suck up the £212 and go elsewhere, unless you have the time and eneergy to follow it through

DullGreyGuy

pjhrt said:

Hi all,

Long time since I've been on here, but wondering if anyone can help. I want to start by making it clear there are some bits of this which are entirely my own fault and I'm not trying to get out of anything in that regard. 

OK, so I purchased a second car back in August. Just a little Ford B-Max to do family runarounds in, with me as the main driver. When I bought my policy online, I entered 20 years NCD, 6 points, no faults. I genuinely had no idea that I couldn't apply NCD to more than one car at a time. 1st Central informed me that they would be changing it to 0 NCD. OK. They also informed me that they had found a Fault on my name from an incident back in March; someone swiped the front of my car changing lanes - somehow, it was found in the favour of the other guy, but they since agreed it wasn't my fault, yet it seems a database somewhere hasn't been updated.

Anyway, they added that as well. This has increased the cost of my policy from £312 to nearly £1000. If that's the price, then that's the price. HOWEVER...if I go to buy a policy from them, with all those details included (the 0 NCD, the 6 points, the Fault) I can get a policy FROM THEM for £440.

I phoned up to discuss this and how nearly £1000 was reached, but nobody was willing (or able) to explain. They also want to charge me £212 to cancel.

Any help?? If I have to suck up the £212 and walk away, that's what I'll have to do.

They are broker. When you buy from a broker you lock into not only the broker but the insurer too. So when they are repricing the policy for your mistakes they are getting the price from the insurer they placed the policy with. When you do a new quote they will be checking the prices from all of the insurers on their panel and be presenting you with the cheapest one. 

Its probable that as a good risk (20 years NCD and 0 claims) that a different insurer was selected to the one thats cheapest for you as a poor risk (0 NCD and 1 fault claim). You can ask them to confirm who the underwriter is on the current policy and the quote to validate this. 

You can always ask them if they'd consider doing something on the fees were you to cancel but buy from them again at £440, they may consider waiving their fees and just leave you paying the underwriters cancellation fee. It's fairly unlikely they'll go for it but if you dont try they certainly wont

pjhrt

Thank you for the comments so far; very helpful as I plan what to do next.