Car insurance

goodtan1

my son changed his car and got a quote from his car insurance to cover the remainder of the policy. he paid this upfront. the insurance company are now saying they mis-quoted and he needs to pay an extra £500 per month. surely they cant do that....

tacpot12

They should allow him to cancel the policy. He needs to shop around for better company, and use a comparison site. 

goodtan1

tacpot... thank you...they did offer that but he doesn't have 2 year no claims until the end of this policy so its too expensive

Wonka_2

In which case he either pays or he changes the car for something cheaper. Was the ‘mis-quote’ at their end or on the basis of information he provided ? And is the insurer one of the main names that you can talk to/trurst their complaints process or one of the cheaper options often raised on here re problems ? 

goodtan1

wonka_2 they have admitted it was their error,,,yes its Admiral...already raised a complaint and spoken to Citizens Advice...but they cant give much advice

goodtan1

and the information was correct

Wonka_2

Ok - will Admiral honour the original quote until the complaint is dealt with ? Buys some time to either change vehicle or source alternative insurance 

DullGreyGuy

goodtan1 said:

my son changed his car and got a quote from his car insurance to cover the remainder of the policy. he paid this upfront. the insurance company are now saying they mis-quoted and he needs to pay an extra £500 per month. surely they cant do that....

What car did he have before?
What car did he get? 
What was the original premium?
What was the original revised premium?

Is "son" an 18 year old or 45 year old? Clean licence? No claims etc?

Are they buying direct from an insurer or via a broker/other intermediary?

Was the error purely on their end or his?

Given the past tense of changed it sounds like he bought the car first and thought about the insurance second rather than got a quote for the car, thought that was reasonable and so then when out and bout the car?

Assuming my assumption about the order of events is correct then they realistically only have to allow him to cancel "today" without any additional back premium due for the period he's had the new car for to put him back in the same position he would have been had they correctly calculated the premium in the first place. If he'd already bought the car and called them and they said it was an extra £500/month for the rest of the term he'd presumably of cancelled so if anything its a slightly better position as he got some cover extra cheap. 

On the basis its a £6,000 additional premium for the year it sounds like he's 18 and gone from a Ford Escort LX to a BMW M1 type switch and so the original £10/month was clearly wrong and so could be rescinded.

born_again

goodtan1 said:

my son changed his car and got a quote from his car insurance to cover the remainder of the policy. he paid this upfront. the insurance company are now saying they mis-quoted and he needs to pay an extra £500 per month. surely they cant do that....

What sort of timeframe between taking the insurance & the mis-quote?

goodtan1

so he got the quote days before buying the car... he is 20, went from a Corsa to a Leon. there are only 3 months left on his policy. he has a clean licence, but not quite 2 years no claims.
the quote and initial payment happened on the 30th Sept. car change on the 5th Oct. 9th Oct Admiral tried to take over £500 and say thats due monthly. the investigation by Admiral states they made an error and all of the information given was correct.   

Aylesbury_Duck

I think they're allowed to correct a clear and obvious error.  Has your son checked annual quotes for the new car with just the one year of NCD?  Is the Admiral price (with the extra £500 a month) in line with those?  If so, then I think he has to choose between paying the extra for three months, or cancelling the policy on the basis of their error and looking elsewhere.  At least he will have got almost a month's insurance at the old rate.

Can he actually afford the car?  Even with a second year of discount, I can't imagine the pricing is going to move significantly, so he's going to face a problem in three months' time anyway, even if Admiral were minded to honour the mistaken quote for the last months of the current policy.