A young lady friend of mine had her car quite badly vandalised at the weekend probably several grand in damages - several smashed windows, large dent to B pillar, dents to doors, bonnet and roof from bricks being thrown at it etc. Police response was pretty much 'thats the roughest road round here, stupid to park there everything gets vandalised' which doesnt help if you dont know (it doesnt look rough but cuts through to rough estate).
Anyway...
On contacting her insurance company they informed her that the excess was now £850 (previously £150) and had increased to that on automatic renewal due to the age of the car. However they do not seem to have sent her a new set of terms & conditions stating that this excess would increase nor did she sign anything to agree to this?
a) Is this legal? - surely you would assume that you are renewing you policy on the same terms unless specifically stated otherwise.
b) Surely you would have to sign an agreement to the revised terms and conditions etc?
Anyone had any experience of this and know any of the case law regarding it?
Any help appreciated as this happened on her birthday two days after splitting with her bf and as you may imagine she isn't too happy...
tell her to check her last renewal notice - that would have had the terms conditions excesses etc.. on...
They have to send that out by the way automatic renewal or not...
'Apparently' (having not seen it myself) the renewal notice pretty much simply states what her renewal will be and what the direct debit payments will be and doesn't mention excesses.
Just wondering if this was a common occurrence with insurance companies being the money grubbing charlie uniform november tangos that they are.
If they change the excess they would need to inform the policyholder. I'd imagine that this information would be in the renewal quote somewhere.
Bear in mind that any renewal is just a QUOTE until accepted by the policyholder and it's up to that person to read through the T&Cs, inluding the xs, themselves before accepting.
If she hasn't read the info thoroughly, she's only got herself to blame.
Was it a broker or a direct insurer?
Again 'Apparently' she has not signed anything in regards to the renewal it was a case of debits just continuing to go out. I would have expected a policy document with excesses etc. She says all she got was a letter saying you renewal is X, cancel within X days If you don't want it to automatically renew.
The policy was direct with a large well know supermarket brand insurer.
I deal with corporate insurance rather than personal, but I'm pretty sure that any material/meaningful changes in T&Cs need to be clearly stated.
If the address has changed for claims notification, fine for that to be buried, but not the excess increasing from £150 to £850!
It could be that it was clearly shown on the renewal notice and she didn't bother to read beyond the premium. Sounds like something plenty of others will have done.
btw, I've no idea what constitutes "clearly marked" but from experience of these things, it'll be sensible from the viewpoint of the policyholder.
If she's in the right and not getting any joy, threaten to go to the Financial Ombudsman Services. Free to the complainant, but £600 per case to the insurer being complained to, so worth it to the insurer to get it sorted - only £100 difference for them to resolve.
one_happy_hippy - Member
Again 'Apparently' she has not signed anything in regards to the renewal it was a case of debits just continuing to go out.
As I said, even though it's auto renewal, it's just a quote - she didn't need to accept it. She should have read the T&Cs before allowing the DD to continue.
I would have expected a policy document with excesses etc. She says all she got was a letter saying you renewal is X, cancel within X days If you don't want it to automatically renew.
I'm pretty sure that in the documents the XSs would be printed or there would instructions on where to find them, ie directions to the relevant part of the website.
Most people only ever look at the renewal price and ignore anything else.
As already suggested, the ombudsman is an option, but I'd put money on your friend just not reading the correct details.