The Great No Claims con!

jeanette251978

aj76 wrote: »

The fact they they didn't tell me or produce any literature for me to read meant they denied me my right to make an informed decision and, as far as I'm concerned mis-sold me the policy so I have initiated the formal complaint process so that I can take this all the way and will let you know how I get on.

I just thought you should know that this would have happened if you had insured at any other company, it is industry standard! its not this particular company its every company that does the same, there would be no informed decision to make, unless its to decide whether to have insurance or not lol.

Steve1981

aj76 wrote: »

I have looked at a lot of insurance companies and found the average to actually be 7 years companies like direct line are using the fact they have lower limits to reach your maximum to effectively entrap customers as they don't disclose the full facts and this is what has really got my goat.

The fact they they didn't tell me or produce any literature for me to read meant they denied me my right to make an informed decision and, as far as I'm concerned mis-sold me the policy so I have initiated the formal complaint process so that I can take this all the way and will let you know how I get on.

I think you will find that nearly all the big insurers take 5 years as maximum, and you will be asked if you have 5 or more years ncd when you take a pol. entrapment sounds a bit harsh to me, I know it doesnt help but insurance is like any financial product in that you should ask all the questions before taking the product. i dont think they will change their stance and for them to be able to sell the pol in the first place the FSA must be happy with what/how they word things/sell their policies

jennifernil

Steve1981 wrote: »

I think you will find that nearly all the big insurers take 5 years as maximum, and you will be asked if you have 5 or more years ncd when you take a pol. entrapment sounds a bit harsh to me, I know it doesnt help but insurance is like any financial product in that you should ask all the questions before taking the product. i dont think they will change their stance and for them to be able to sell the pol in the first place the FSA must be happy with what/how they word things/sell their policies

I don't know about that. I was doing a search using moneysupermarket and confused.com, they both spat out M&S as a good price. I had selected 9+ years NCD, protected, from the choices on the website as we had not got our renewal at that point. I then got a quote from M&S using Fortis. Then our renewal arrived.

We decided to take the Fortis policy, but the girl started asking about "modifications", which in most cases means to the engine, or flashy wheels. So I said we had a towbar, extra parking sensors, running boards, mud flaps and roof bars, all original equipment fitted by the dealer before we took delivery. Suddenly the price went up £18 !!

So I said she better also know that our renewal said "Protected bonus equivalent to 7 years". And the price went up another £10 and we had to be referred to the underwriters! And now the policy was with NU.

It's still £50 less than our renewal.

jeanette251978

jennifernil wrote: »

I don't know about that. I was doing a search using moneysupermarket and confused.com, they both spat out M&S as a good price. I had selected 9+ years NCD, protected, from the choices on the website as we had not got our renewal at that point. I then got a quote from M&S using Fortis. Then our renewal arrived.

We decided to take the Fortis policy, but the girl started asking about "modifications", which in most cases means to the engine, or flashy wheels. So I said we had a towbar, extra parking sensors, running boards, mud flaps and roof bars, all original equipment fitted by the dealer before we took delivery. Suddenly the price went up £18 !!

So I said she better also know that our renewal said "Protected bonus equivalent to 7 years". And the price went up another £10 and we had to be referred to the underwriters! And now the policy was with NU.

It's still £50 less than our renewal.

Ive have mentioned before, dont get so wrapped up in years, look at the percentages instead, even though some insurers will show more than 5 years it doesnt mean you are getting any more discount! once you reach 5 your on max discount!

thegreatbargainhunter

I managed to get a good price from Tesco for car insurance on line. I followed Martin`s tip and entered `shop50` at the checkout giving me a £50.00 shopping voucher. I was paying with my Tesco Credit Card and wanted to enter the code `ccpoints 0108` to give me 500 points a month for a year - another of Martin`s tips. I couldn`t do this on line but spoke to Tesco Customer Services who said that this code had to be entered manually by them once I had got the policy number. I then rang them with the number and as good as their word the code was entered. It did take about 25mins for them to do this but I think that the call was well worth it! The lady at customer services was surprised that I go such a good deal.

ashburnham

I know you think your loosing out but once you've got to 5 years, you are getting the maximum discount from 99.9% of insurers. Some companies keep incrementing the number each year to make it look like you are earning more bonus but as soon as you have a claim they will take 2 years off the 5 years maximum leaving you with 3 years.

This is not standard across the board but most insurers go by these rules or a very similar version. At the end of the day, they have to make these terms available to you before the insurance is sold and it is then up to you to check you are not getting an out of the ordinary deal - in this case you are not.

Protected/Guaranteed NCB is the easiest way to avoid such issues...

jennifernil

jeanette251978 wrote: »

Ive have mentioned before, dont get so wrapped up in years, look at the percentages instead, even though some insurers will show more than 5 years it doesnt mean you are getting any more discount! once you reach 5 your on max discount!

So why did the quote go up by £10 when I said we had 7 years protected rather than the 9 I thought we had?

ashburnham

jennifernil wrote: »

So why did the quote go up by £10 when I said we had 7 years protected rather than the 9 I thought we had?

As I said in earlier "99.9% of insurers". Some insurers who do recognise more than 5 years may give a small discount (in your case £10) but in the event of a claim they may take off more than the standard two years. Keep in mind that this £10 could have simply been an administration charge (and a harsh admin charge if so).

jennifernil

What? I do not understand. Admin for what? We have not taken the policy yet. If we do take it, the policy is now with Norwich Union, not with Fortis who we were first quoted for.

mattymoo

Most insurers only recognise 5 years but some, Admiral for one I believe, recognise up to 9. The scale goes something like this:-
1 yr = 30%
2 yrs = 40%
3 yrs = 50%
4 yrs = 60%
5 yrs = 65%
6 yrs = 66%
7 yrs = 67%
8 yrs = 68%
9 yrs = 69%
10 yrs = 70%

So from 9 to 7 is only a 2% difference and would explain the £10 price difference perhaps.