# insurance companies penalties



## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

have a look at the "penalties" if you cancel your policy early...............










now i dont mind paying a slight penalty, but Budget's penalty system is f'king crazy!

i was going absolutely nuts at the guy on the phone when i supposedly filled out the details wrong, i did it through one of the comparisons websites and they forwarded it on to the insurance company, where they put the missus on as the main driver, instead of myself. i said to him that i have been dealing with insurances since 1988, and never managed to get it wrong before, so did he really expect me to not know what i was doing now?

every letter Budget sent out arrived around 6 days after the letter was dated, which i not so politely pointed out. so to cancel the one policy, that i had out for weeks, was going to cost me over £200 out of a £301 policy! :devil::devil::devil:

i kept asking if that sounded like a reasonable charge to him, until he admitted that it was, after saying that that was the standard charging system blah blah blah, to which i replied that someone programmed the computer to administer the charge, so someone can UNadminister the damn charge!

i wasnt having that, i even said i hadnt actually driven the damn thing yet as it didnt have an MoT on it, and that i only took the policy out due to new regs!

after an enormous amount of cussing at the bloke every time he added a new charge to bill, he shyly looked for a new policy, and i just kept quiet as he read things out, he waived the £75 admin charge, then the short term cancellation penalty and got me a policy for £338 fully comp!!!!!

outrageous behaviour by them i think.

anyone know of any worse penalties?

btw, i dont condone cussing at them they way i did, but i was outraged by them, will not be re-insuring with them again,....................... ever!


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## Ninja59 (Feb 17, 2009)

think the good one i saw recently was aviva charging £200 for repairs at a non aviva approved repairer :lol: so basically: - 

£200 + excess if i went to the bodyshop i want! god dammit license to print money!


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## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

Ninja59 said:


> think the good one i saw recently was aviva charging £200 for repairs at a non aviva approved repairer :lol: so basically: -
> 
> £200 + excess if i went to the bodyshop i want! god dammit license to print money!


thats outrageous, bet it was in the small print too, :lol:


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## Ninja59 (Feb 17, 2009)

bidderman1969 said:


> thats outrageous, bet it was in the small print too, :lol:


i only did a quote a started looking down and erm went hmm the quotes not bad (it was pretty good actually not as good cover as my current but bob on quote wise) but ehhhhh WTF...i cannot use one of my two fav local bodyshops, without paying someone £200 (as i dont think they are on their repairer list...i think it came to something like £500 by the time i was finished with a reasonable excess :wall:


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## 335dAND110XS (Dec 17, 2010)

I've just had a VERY crafty one that caused me NOT to renew my policy.

It's was with BMW Insurance - like many of these companies they have changed underwriters.

1) My excess doubled.
2) My policy CLEARLY said "parked on driveway" yet an endorsement had been sneaked in (on page 10 so needed to read all of the policy) saying "car must be in a locked garage overnight". I queried this and they dithered but basically, had my car been nicked, I reckon they would have wriggled out of a claim.

ALWAYS read your policy documents cover to cover - they will try everything they can to get out of a claim.

I'm now with Swiftcover and saved almost £200!


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## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

Hope you've read all that policy cover to cover, lol


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## centenary (Sep 5, 2010)

Surely its mainly to discourage people taking out insurance, getting the certificate then cancelling and driving uninsured?

And why would you take insurance then cancel in 1, 2 or 3 months? Dont have a problem with it tbh.


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## big_amir (Jul 6, 2008)

335dAND110XS said:


> I've just had a VERY crafty one that caused me NOT to renew my policy.
> 
> It's was with BMW Insurance - like many of these companies they have changed underwriters.
> 
> ...


Watch out with swift cover if you make a glass claim you wont get that years no claims bonus unlike other insurers which dont count glass claims.


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## mattsbmw (Jul 20, 2008)

Had worse than that on Classic insurance policy, anything over 6 months and you get nothing back at all, and you lose something like 30% in the 1st month :doublesho


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## [email protected] (Apr 28, 2011)

when i brought my astra they charged me £252 to change it over plus an extra £20 a month and if i wanted to change insurance it was something like £115 to cancel my insurance with M&S oh and they did have online account management so i could print out a prove of insurance like most do.


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## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

centenary said:


> Surely its mainly to discourage people taking out insurance, getting the certificate then cancelling and driving uninsured?
> 
> And why would you take insurance then cancel in 1, 2 or 3 months? Dont have a problem with it tbh.


i might only keep the car for a couple of months, if it turns out to be a lemon :thumb:


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## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

can this be moved to the motoring zone please?


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## MrBoJangles (Feb 18, 2011)

This is where longing for the cheapest quote comes back and bites you in the bum! I went through a broker and made sure the policy suited me before going ahead.


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## Pezza4u (Jun 7, 2007)

I just cancelled my policy as I'm scrapping the car and not sure when I'll be getting another one so with 5 months left I thought I'd get some money back. Admin fee will be £12.50 and the 15% commission they would've got from the insurer they charge to me, which I think will be £25. So I should get around £130 back from a policy that cost me £400. I thought that charge wasn't too bad, yours just takes the **** though! :doublesho


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

In all fairness, an insurance contract is nearly always an annual contract. The costs to an Insurer and/or Broker are pretty much the same whether the policy runs for the year or is cancelled after a month, as the majority of costs are at the inception of a policy.

Most annual contracts won't give you anything if you cancel them, mobile phone, gas or plumbing service, sky tv etc, you are responsible for the annual costs.

14 day cooling off is a bit different, the charge within this period should be a pro-rata charge by the Insurers for period of cover and, if using a broker/agent, a "reasonable" admin fee to cover costs. I've seen some Brokers/Agents also try to hold on to their full commission during this period, which in my opinion is wrong and goes against FSA guidelines, so there is always a case for ombudsman if you come against it.

Commercial policies don't have cooling off and quite a few commercial policies (liability etc) are "minimum & deposit", as such no refund is given, so always make sure the policy is suitable for you before you take it out.

No matter what insurance you are taking out, you can always ask to see the keyfacts and the terms of business before you proceed, then hopefully there won't be any nasty surprises when it comes to admin fees or cancellation charges.

As mentioned above, it's all good and well buying your insurance online without any real knowledge of what you are buying. However, if you were to buy insurance from me (ie a Broker), i can not sell it to you unless i can continuously demonstrate to the FSA that i have adequate training, insurance knowledge, product knowledge etc despite working in a high street brokers for the last 26 years of my life.

It's a bit frustrating being a Broker at the end of the day, we have to pay rent, rates, staff, software licences etc, then there is the cost of the FSA regulation, FSA fees. We are professionals, carrying out a professional occupation, on quite a low commission rate when compared to the earnings of many other professions. Stick a £25 fee on a policy though to help with your running costs, a fee which you have disclosed in advance, and you become a robber apparently! Other professions make substantially larger fees, solicitors, accountants etc, even Estate Agents, yet Brokers always seem to be bugbear, which surprises me sometimes.


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## bidderman1969 (Oct 20, 2006)

i agree with you Shiny that there should be a fee, so i accept that, its just the charge upon charge upon charge that really hacked me off tbh


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## centenary (Sep 5, 2010)

bidderman1969 said:


> i might only keep the car for a couple of months, if it turns out to be a lemon :thumb:


Yes, good point. However, it's unlikely you'd cancel a policy in that situation and instead, replace the dud car with another.

I appreciate some ins co's may charge an arm and a leg to change vehicles too but that's a different argument. :thumb:


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## Ninja59 (Feb 17, 2009)

Shiny said:


> In all fairness, an insurance contract is nearly always an annual contract. The costs to an Insurer and/or Broker are pretty much the same whether the policy runs for the year or is cancelled after a month, as the majority of costs are at the inception of a policy.
> 
> Most annual contracts won't give you anything if you cancel them, mobile phone, gas or plumbing service, sky tv etc, you are responsible for the annual costs.
> 
> ...


dam i feel i am going to be loved on here once i (hopefully) qualify as a solicitor :lol:

but i can see your points highlighted. Can you have any idea as to justifying the point i highlighted with aviva though £200 for a different repairer?


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## Shiny (Apr 23, 2007)

Talk to an approved repairer and you will understand 

Insurers really screw them down on labour costs, recovery mileage charges, the markup allowed on parts and so on. They also usually have courtesy car agreements in place, online inspection facilities (so approval can be given for damages over the internet), service standard agreements in place and quality of work guarantees. They can often crack on with work quicker and complete work quicker. All this keeps the Insurer's costs down.

Granted a local back street bodyshop that you have used all your life may be able to repair it better and cheaper, but looking at this nationally with all their policyholders, that won't always be the case.

A higher excess or limited cover is often in place where windscreens are concerned and has been the case for some years now, so in a way it is not surprising that some insurers are incorporating in their policy for damage repairs.

Take household insurance, if you damaged your TV, you used to have get two estimates for replacement then go and buy one yourself or the insurers paid the retailer direct. Now they have contractors in place that collect your TV, test it to make sure it can't be repaired and check the claim is genuine, then arrange with suppliers for a new TV to be delivered to your door, no doubt at a good discounted price to the Insurers. You get a new TV quicker and the Insurers keep their outlay to a minimum. They are just applying the same principal to motor insurance, on the basis that their approved body shop should be more than capable of carrying out an adequate repair.


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## Ninja59 (Feb 17, 2009)

true its just the first one i had noticed had taken this step tbh  cheers for the insight though


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