The Great 'Car Insurance Cancellation & Administration Fee' Hunt

D4WNO

Hello everyone, I was hoping someone could advise?

I currently have a policy with Elephant and will be moving house. I decdied to get a quote as if I was a new customer as I'm moving house soon, I wanted to see roughly what the difference in premium (almost £300) less. Now I asked Elephant to then updae my address to the new one and they said they need £85 from ME! I queried why my premium is increasing and not decreasing and they just keep repeating the same thing...we cannot change a preium part way through the year. So when asked what the £85 was they said it's due to a higher crime rate at my new address. How can this be true when it's £300 less for a brand new policy? It makes absolutely no sense, does it to anyone else?

TomFTJ

No takers then? Everyone on here fine with multiple admin fees?

Happy Christmas, everyone.

TomFTJ wrote: »

* * * Shysters Always Help Themselves to Your Money First * * *

Prud charged me £15.90 for swapping cars on motor policy. They call it an additional premium. TWICE. Boring Boring Boring.....

In the SAME phone call, I pointed out that my address was HR8 and no longer HR4.
This they chose to ignore, I discovered when new documents arrived.

Chased Prudential (by post as phone is security hassle) to correct address. Then receive second letter 'following requested amendment, an addl premium of £15.90 is due.' SECOND admin fee (love it, you shysters)

Any way of not paying these shysters? Absolute hassle for cost of £15.90 to point out THEIR mistake in not recording address change in first phone call.

How many people give in and and don't bother chasing refund because so much hassle chasing less than £50?
Anyone real out there who might be interested in stopping Insurance Co. DODGY marketing? For goodness sake who has the time to read their mindless small print (is why they do small print!!)?

Anyone want to set up a ROGUE'S website for DODGY marketing practices? Prudential, Esure, Talk-Talk? No?

dunstonh

No takers then? Everyone on here fine with multiple admin fees?

You are mixing up fees with premium. The £15.90 is additional premium not a fee.

You havent indicated any wrong doing.

triumph_rs_sprint

Cancellation charge from date of policy to cancellation date.

carpy

triumph_rs_sprint wrote: »

Cancellation charge from date of policy to cancellation date.

don't think that's right.... they charge a £50 cancellation fee!

i'm looking for somewhere with the lowest possible cancellation charge to enable me to get road tax for a car in order to sell.

louloubelle76

I knew that there would be a charge but £47 for admiral for my policy to be cancelled as having the car scrapped, !!!! take or what, only took out the policy in January and they have took this month's money already hope i get something back

dunstonh

I knew that there would be a charge but £47 for admiral for my policy to be cancelled as having the car scrapped, !!!! take or what, only took out the policy in January and they have took this month's money already hope i get something back

£47 is a strange amount. It woudl indicate that its possibly outstanding premium and a cancellation charge and not just a cancellation charge.

Therefore not expensive and quite understandable.

james_slater

BELL warning

I renewed my car insurance with Bell in Feb 2012. I received a letter in March from their fraud department informing me that my dad (2nd driver on my policy) had 3 points (SP30) awarded to him in 2008. I had asked my dad if he had any points and he said he hadn't (he was correct, as the 3 points were no longer valid). This I admit was a simple mix up, I should have asked him if he had points in the last 5 years and I explained my error to one of Bell's customer service advisor.



The letter stated that my monthly payments would rise, meaning I would be paying an extra £400 a year on top of my £660 policy), ridiculous and absolutely unrealistic, especially as I am a charity worker.


I contacted bell and explained that I wanted to take my father of my policy expecting the extra charges to be dropped and explained the mix up. Bell said that because I had been dishonest I would have to continue to pay the increased figure. I then asked to cancel my policy. I was put through to a call centre in India and the agent could not understand me. It took half an hour to for him to grasp the situation. The Bell 'customer service' advisor said that I needed to pay £350 to cancel my policy. I informed him that this couldn't be correct as it states £47 in the T's and C's. He put me on hold, came back, and confirmed the charge. I then replied can you put me through to someone that can explain this to me, which he could not. I said that I can't pay that. He put me on hold again and came back to me asking for £160. I quoted him the agreements cost of cancellation again, and again I was put on hold. He eventually came back to me quoting £60, I said yes fine cancel my policy and I will pay that. 1 week later I received a letter from Bell asking for £174 to cancel. I am at a loss as to what the hell is going on and I am yet to summon the strength to phone Bell to discuss a way forward.

I would advise that nobody deals with Bell, and since discussing with a few friends and colleagues I have heard further horror stories relating to them and their brother/sister companies; Admiral etc.


I took a policy with Churchill, which has given me a total saving of £550, UK call centres to.

If anyone has any advice it would be appreciated.


Thanks

dunstonh

I had asked my dad if he had any points and he said he hadn't (he was correct, as the 3 points were no longer valid).

That is a common mistake.

I contacted bell and explained that I wanted to take my father of my policy expecting the extra charges to be dropped and explained the mix up. Bell said that because I had been dishonest I would have to continue to pay the increased figure. I then asked to cancel my policy. I was put through to a call centre in India and the agent could not understand me. It took half an hour to for him to grasp the situation. The Bell 'customer service' advisor said that I needed to pay £350 to cancel my policy. I informed him that this couldn't be correct as it states £47 in the T's and C's. He put me on hold, came back, and confirmed the charge. I then replied can you put me through to someone that can explain this to me, which he could not. I said that I can't pay that. He put me on hold again and came back to me asking for £160. I quoted him the agreements cost of cancellation again, and again I was put on hold. He eventually came back to me quoting £60, I said yes fine cancel my policy and I will pay that. 1 week later I received a letter from Bell asking for £174 to cancel. I am at a loss as to what the hell is going on and I am yet to summon the strength to phone Bell to discuss a way forward.

I would expect the position as you wish to cancel is that you would need to pay the premium you should have paid up to that point plus the cancellation charge.

I took a policy with Churchill, which has given me a total saving of £550, UK call centres to.

And is that after you told churchill about your non-disclosure?

pseudopensioner

Due to my lassitude/inertia/other more pressing issues I "allowed " RAC to renew my insurance early January this year.
Cost inc. Fully Comprehensive Insurance
Breakdown Cover
Legal Cover
£523.96
£64.93 credit
Payments = 1@ £49.12 ---- 11 @ £49.07
To date, payments made have been 4 which = £196.33 actual money paid.

Renewing/new insurance yesterday on another family member's vehicle and subsequent enquiries highlighted my stupidity in overlooking the issue.

So I asked for a cancellation price.
"That will be £234.63p

Spoke with someone at the Financial Ombudsman yesterday and his response was that the terms were 'Draconian'

Not sure it's worth the hassle of complaining to/about the company, not just about the costs to cancel but also the abysmal customer service and the even more abysmal (read-non existant access to) their complaints department.

Lessons learned, in future:-
1) No matter what else is going on in your life, make darn sure you research new insurance costs and options before the renewal date
2) Avoid RAC services like the plague.