To try to cancel this car insurance policy and complain

[Menora]

I took out a new policy this month and paid up front £314

I declared the one non fault accident I’ve ever had in the last 5 years that was admitted by the other driver. It was about £300 to repair my car and didn’t affect my no claims bonus

I got a letter from them shortly after saying I had not declared a second claim and they were going to take a further £85 from me for this.

I can’t speak to anyone on the phone usually (no answer), only a chat function online which is very frustrating.

I went to my previous company and asked them what this claim was. They said there was no claim for that date, but recalled that I had notified them that I clipped wingmirrors with another driver on a tight road. I stopped they didn’t and I thought to be safe I would call them up. The company said totally fine, they would log it as a notification which would stay on file for 6 months then drop off. No damage.

When company 2 did a check on me this showed up. So I got company 1 to send me a letter stating it wasn’t a claim it was a notification, no damage, no effect on my NCB. I uploaded the letter to their portal.

Company 2 still took £85 from me today and say that this letter is not good enough. They want ‘details of the claim’. I’ve been on the chat saying to them THIS WAS NOT A CLAIM for about an hour.

Then I tried to cancel and they will only refund me £213 out of the £400 I have paid. I will lose so much money on this - at Christmas. I could cry.

Can anyone help? Or just let me whinge

I’ve asked to speak to a manager and they are saying that isn’t possible either

How frustrating. Who is your policy with and are you still within 14 days of taking the policy out?

No not 14 days, so I know there will be a charge - I’m just upset the admin fees are so insanely crazy. Its Onecall insurance underwritten by LV. It’s the underwriters demanding something else in a letter

I’m upset they gave me no extra time to get the exact letter they want, can’t even guarantee I will get any of the £85 back (admin fees) even if I do produce the right letter

It's classed as a loss not a claim.
You should tell them about any claims or losses you've had in the last 5 years.
It could potentially affect the price of your policy.
Not doing it's right but those are the rules of insurance

Threaten them with the Ombudsman, and if they don't escalate the issue then put in a formal complaint to ombudsman. It prob won't be resolved for Christmas unfortunately but sounds like you are running low on options!

Also ask them for their written definition of a claim. They should be able to provide that and I doubt your issue will meet their own criteria!

#saying not doing

They say I have misrepresented and gave me 14 days to get the letter in - which I did. But the first letter did not lay out what was required from company 1 - so I took it that their letter would be sufficient. If they had told me from the start exactly what they needed (they just said provide proof that it is incorrect) I would have made sure company 1 did that

@purpleme12

Then this is on me for not knowing it’s a loss. Company 1 told me it would just fall off the file after 6 months. Company 1 said its not on their database as a claim or a loss that was ever active

I’m still on the chat

I have managed to get some of the admin fee back. The letter says the admin fee is £39.99 - and they say it’s £36! I feel like they are just carrying on ripping me off

Also the notification was in January 2018, and I have since insured the car with a completely different insurer for the last year who never brought this up

So OneCall are a broker and it sounds like LV are your insurer (two separate companies).

The problem you may be facing is that both the broker and insurer may be charging you cancellation fees which is why they are so high.

Although this is going to take up your time I would contact OneCall again and ask them to detail exactly what they are looking for. Then ask your previous insurer to provide those details.

LV will have probably used CUE (claims underwriting exchange) to carry out a claims search on you and that is where they have picked up the details about the incident with the wing mirror. Ask your previous insurer to remove this information from the database (it should never have been put on there and / or they should have removed it after the 6 months had expired).

If this doesn’t work or even if it does. You can then make a complaint to the broker about how you have been treated.

But it should have been on the policy as a loss. That's what they ask for.

If you go with a broker it's still only 1 cancellation fee. They can't charge 2. So the high cost is either high admin fee (not particularly high above in thread) or the additional premium

Sorry I didn’t see your updates before I posted.

1st central are company 1 and say it isn’t on the database. They provided me with a free letter

Esure I went with last time also did not mention this issue either from their checks

I’ve just asked the online bot how to make a complaint or contact the broker and I will show you their response. This is after I have asked to speak to a manager and have broker contact details

I have just done a dummy quote via onecall, I had to state any accidents in the last five years whether a claim was made or not.

Did you declare both of your accidents?

Not particularly high fees? I would lose almost 50% of what I have paid in 30 days
Seems high to me!

Not particularly high for insurance companies no. It's how it is unfortunately

I went via compare the market like I did last year

I didn’t put it in this year or last year and no issues with insurance. This is based on 1st Central telling me it would ‘fall off the system’ after 6 months.

This is from OneCalls q&a page

Q - I have received a letter saying I have a misrepresented claim but it was for notification purposes only, what proof do I need to send in.

A - We would require written proof from your insurer at the time of the claim to confirm it was settled as notification only.

It may be one cancellation fee but it will be made up of two parts.

Cancellation - Taken from OneCalls T&C’s
Day 15 to the end of the policy - you will be charged for any time on cover as calculated by your insurer; this is normally pro rata and an insurer fee. We will include any administration fees and the full cost of any value added products. We will include a cancellation charge of £55.99. We will also take off any discounts that have been applied to the policy.

So I am to understand that 1st central saying ‘fall off the system after 6 months’ and just a notification does not actually mean that at all, and it’s still a loss. This was not understood by me. It is not even showing in any of my documentation on the 1st central portal, it has no reference number, nothing.

I did not understand that and Esure didn’t pick it up last year either.

I’ve had car insurance for 20 years and I will never ever notify them of anything ever again unless it’s a proper claim. I didn’t declare something I understood to be irrelevant

@sherl0ck

I have done that and that’s exactly what it says - notification only
But LV apparently are the ones saying that it is not good enough so Onecall are claiming this doesn’t mean anything on their website

From what you have written to them OneCall should already be raising it as a complaint for you.

Sorry I’m doing a lot of copying and pasting from their website but at least will give you what you need;

All staff within the company have been trained to give a high level of service and will try to resolve any dissatisfaction where possible. If an agent is unable to reach a satisfactory resolution for you they will refer you to their line manager who will also try to resolve your complaint to the highest standard possible. You can also register your complaint to the Complaints Handling Manager directly at;

The Complaints Handling Manager
One Call Insurance Services Limited
First Point
Balby Carr Bank
Doncaster
DN4 5JQ

We aim to resolve your complaint within 24 hours from when we receive it, however, if this is not possible then we will acknowledge your complaint in writing within five working days. Once we have acknowledged your complaint we will perform a full investigation into the matter and ensure that all areas of the complaint are covered.

@menora Failing to notify insurers of any accidents will most likely go against your insurance T&Cs.

He closed down the chat when I asked why I couldn’t speak to a manager

You have to declare everything. You failed to do that so they are correct to charge you.

@SimonJT

I provided what they asked for within the timeframe they asked for it, and still got charged for it. The letter said if you provide it, you won’t be charged. The FAQ’s tell me what I need to provide. I provided it.