another insurance rip off!

[deerhound]

Had to cancel my motorhome insurance policy after 33 days, I took fully comprehensive again through Frank Pickles, the company being Highway. Total cost of policy was £187 (which was paid in full at inception) I was staggered this morning to hear I loose 50% of cost for cancelling and another £25 to Mr Pickles for his part! considering I have made 3 phone calls and 3 emails to Mr Pickles office. They have done nothing.Pickles informed me it is all in the small print! This rip off situation is the main reason I have sold out, increasing costs and extra charges for anything at all. I intend to write to insurance ombudsman, The return amount due to me on policy was just on £60 which I advised them to keep or give to a decent charity? Rip off Britain... I now intend to jet off to sun. Thanks guys for advise and help during last year. >:-(

[Guest Tracker]

Short period rates always apply to a new or renewed motor insurance policy although I would expect about 20% to 25% to be more reasonable in your situation.

 

It often depends on whether you are a new or an existing customer and the insurers do have discretion about what rates they apply so if your reasons are genuine and can show that you are doing this through hardship and not because you've got it cheaper elsewhere they may listen.

 

Have you tried contacting the policy underwriters direct as they are ones who should be making the decisions and if you intend insuring again you can always offer them the incentive of being your favourite choice (even if they ain't!).

 

If it is any use to you they may discuss holding the unexpired premium as a credit against a future policy?

 

If you still have the van and will use it again you could just reduce the cover to laid up F T and AD with no on road risks and the resultant credit will be worth the effort.

 

But only if these scenarios work for you?

[deerhound]

Phoned Frank Pickles and was advised I signed for this when taking policy out, total rubbish, called them and paid by card, they told me it is in small print, again total rubbish, no where on the documents Pickles sent me does it state loss of 50% plus £25 cancelling fee from them. I consider it extorsion, That loss for 30 odd days insurance is just plain hellish. At no time did they offer to hold the remainder of money as I had told them at least 3 times I intended to get quote for my 2 cars from them, so I suppose they are more interested in keeping this amount than trying to keep a customer. I have raised the issue as dispute considering there were no figures describing this amount and I certainly never signed anything at all? Thanks again. >:-)

[Brian Kirby]

I wish you well, James, but you did contract for one year's insurance, and then cancelled after just over one month. It is just a shame you didn't cancel within the 14 days statutory cooling-off period! Cancelling a contract entitles the contractor to recover his reasonable costs, and his expectation of profit. Unless the contract terms spell out the cancellation charges, or if you did not anticipate and discuss the need when you took out the insurance, it is pretty much open season when you cancel. Chalk it up to experience, and get a copy of the insurance terms before you sign up next time. Half you life will have ebbed away before you get a revised settlement, if any, via the ombudsman. Unfortunately, legally (under normal contract law), in this instance, you don't have much of a case.

[deerhound]

Again thanks for help, have been driving and fully insured since Oct 1967 with not a single conviction for driving or any other offence, where has the common sense gone in this rip off place, I have slept well for past 2 nights since selling motorhome, the outlay and continual rising cost to own, mots, tax etc, never again! I think I am better to have the cash and at my age go to the sun instead of sitting in rain. The magazines dont tell the real story of ownership and the cost. >:-(

[rupert123]

deerhound - 2011-11-15 2:50 PM

 

Again thanks for help, have been driving and fully insured since Oct 1967 with not a single conviction for driving or any other offence, where has the common sense gone in this rip off place, I have slept well for past 2 nights since selling motorhome, the outlay and continual rising cost to own, mots, tax etc, never again! I think I am better to have the cash and at my age go to the sun instead of sitting in rain. The magazines dont tell the real story of ownership and the cost. >:-(

 

I assume from rip off place you mean the UK. I sincerely hope you are not misguided enough to think that their is some utopia within the E.C. where similar 'rip offs' do not occur. While I agree these charges seem a little hard you seem to have bought your insurance cheaply in the first place and their is always a 'pay back' at some point when you do this. I have just looked at my NFU policy and the charge, if you cancel, is on a strictly pro rata basis. Out of interest why did you sit in the rain, on our last trip, six weeks, we had two days of rain the rest was sun.

[Brian Kirby]

deerhound - 2011-11-15 2:50 PM

 

Again thanks for help, have been driving and fully insured since Oct 1967 with not a single conviction for driving or any other offence, where has the common sense gone in this rip off place, I have slept well for past 2 nights since selling motorhome, the outlay and continual rising cost to own, mots, tax etc, never again! I think I am better to have the cash and at my age go to the sun instead of sitting in rain. The magazines dont tell the real story of ownership and the cost. >:-(

 

Motorhomes certainly aren't cheap to buy, own, run or maintain. I hope you enjoy your future trips, and good luck with whatever you do.

[Guest 1footinthegrave]

deerhound - 2011-11-15 2:50 PM

 

Again thanks for help, have been driving and fully insured since Oct 1967 with not a single conviction for driving or any other offence, where has the common sense gone in this rip off place, I have slept well for past 2 nights since selling motorhome, the outlay and continual rising cost to own, mots, tax etc, never again! I think I am better to have the cash and at my age go to the sun instead of sitting in rain. The magazines dont tell the real story of ownership and the cost. >:-(

 

You are absolutely correct of course, I'm sure it's been said many times, but for very many people the cost of keeping even a fairly modest van on the road makes no financial sense at all, unless you can make extensive use of it ( in the sun ) I never really do the figures, I'm sure if I did I would have a similar viewpoint to you. To buy new our present PVC would cost around £56, 000, considering most buyers are at a certain time in life that would buy them a whole lot of nice holidays before they pegged it.

 

As for the Insurance "rip off" I'm surprised you did not know this is, it has been fairly standard practice in my experience for many years. :-(

[Mel B]

Every policy has an 'admin' fee for cancellation, and a % deduction for doing it - without seeing your policy or knowing how you bought it, it is difficult to say if you'll get anywhere with the ombudsman but I certainly wouldn't waste your time. I'm intrigued, though, why you told them to give the £60 that you were owed to a charity? Surely that is cutting off your nose to spite your face? After all £60 is better than nothing!

 

Did you do all the transaction over the phone, or was any of it done on line? If the former you should have had all the terms and conditions sent to you by them and/or something to say they can be found on-line at whatever the website address is, which the onus is then on you to read. If the latter, you usually 'tick' a box to say you agree to the terms and conditions of the policy, again, you have to take the time to read them.

 

Did any of this happen in your case?

[Guest 1footinthegrave]

you usually 'tick' a box to say you agree to the terms and conditions of the policy, again, you have to take the time to read them.

 

Just to add, it doesn't take long to read through 10 A4 size sheets with a number 6 font size. (!)

[Guest Tracker]

Most of the costs relating to motorhome ownership are pretty obvious to anyone who gives it some though?

 

Depreciation - say about £5,000 first year to allow for dealer matgin and about £2,000 a year thereafter on a decent used van - and a heck of a lot more on a new one!.

 

Insurance, VED, MOT and a service add about another £1,000 and we then allow but often don't use another £1,000 a year for bits, modifications, new kit etc.

 

So that's about £4,000 before you even fill it with diesel and drive it. Based on about £400 a week average cost for a decent self catering flat or similar over the year as long as we get at least 10 weeks use a year we are happy. Any less we are still happy because we know and understand the costs!

[Mel B]

I'm sorry you've felt the need to part with your motorhome, but you can't blame the magazines for not teling you how much they cost to own and run.

 

Maybe not in your case, but I'm amazed at the number of people who don't consider the total cost of ownership when purchasing a motorhome, it's the first thing we do before we look to change our van again, indeed we do a similar thing with cars too. Its the same with people take out a loan to buy the motorhome and don't ever think of the real figure which they are committing to, or bother to look at the details of the 'deal', admin fees, loan settlement fees etc.

 

How much a motorhome will cost you each year is dependent on such things as what you paid, how much you used it, what 'toys' you put on it, what condition it is in, when you expect to sell it, and for how much, or whether you are PXing it. There are some rough figures you can estimate, and also find out what the insurance, tax, servicing etc costs are, if you don't use it much, it will work out 'cheaper' than someone who uses it, but that's not the point of owning a motorhome, to just have it as an expensive garden ornament.