Car Insurance rip-off by One-Call

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Chubber

Established Member
UKW Supporter
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Location
Devon PL21
At the end of August, I got a Notice of Intended Prosecution (N.I.P) for a speeding fine, SP30. I completed the paperwork, sent it off and received the resultant prosecution result letter a month later, the day before a trip to Scotland. I now had 3 points. Knowing it would almost invalidate any claim I might have had to make if I failed to inform my insurers, I telephoned One Call, informed the operative and asked her to re-negotiate my premium to reflect my 3 point penalty, my first and only (to Date!)

In August I had just renewed for £330.

After much faffing and unlikely sounding figures I relented, paid by card under pressure over the 'phone and resolved to sort it out on my return as I clearly had to be insured for the long forthcoming journey.

On my return I appeared to have paid One Call the £330 in August, and in September a further £270, i.e. £600! Puzzled at the huge jump I completed an on-line quote, disclosing the conviction to check their figures.

This is a print out of the on-line call-

To One Call Insurance on line Me 'What are you charging me per year for my insurance, I can't find the total figure on the portal'

Kirstin B You have paid a total of £600.72 this includes your policy and the conviction added.

Me Thank you. I have just filled in a quote request on Money Supermarket, your One Call quote is only £457. Why? I have disclosed all the details of my SP30 conviction .


Kirstin B You paid 330 but then we found an undisclosed which added £270.67 to your policy. These are the rates set by your insurer

Me What do mean 'you found an undisclosed'?? I contacted you as soon as I knew I had the conviction to inform you. The same details as I have put into the on line quote.

Kirsten B I am sorry but these are the rates which you insurer has charged. We do not set the prices as the broker then insurers do

Me So why does the online quote for One Call give £457 with the conviction taken into account ? £270 is a huge jump, its normally £35-55 extra for 3 points


Kirstin B The conviction was added mid term. I am sorry but we do not know why the insurers charge the rates they do...


Basically, they are saying they knew of the conviction before me, raised my premium by £270 and expected me to pay until which time I was not fully uninsured. I asked to cancel the policy and accept the lower One-Call on-line quote. They agreed to cancel the policy, but I would still have to pay the £270 as at the time I was insured I had an 'undisclosed conviction'.

It took two more calls, with persons of increasingly less numptiness to agree to cancel my policy, return only £365 of my £600, and then ask if I wanted to set up the £457 quoted One-Call policy.

It took a great deal of self control to tell them what to do with it, and re-insured with Tesco for 12 months for £404, including the SP30 conviction.

The point of this rant?

1. If you get a notice of intended prosecution (NIP) for a 30mph speeding offence tell your insurers right away or it migh become an 'undisclosed'.
2. By failing to update your insurers of the N.I.P. on receipt you may find that in the interim (before receipt of an actual notice of prosecution) you may be insured only as far as the Traffic Act requires, no comprehensive, no protected no claims, no recovery etc., etc..
 
To the best of my knowledge insurers have no access to upcoming prosecutions and can only see a prosecution once your licence has been endorsed on the DVLA system.
IMO they're pulling a fast one and I would strongly suspect that's the broker who has used the underwriter as an excuse.
 
At the end of August, I got a Notice of Intended Prosecution (N.I.P) for a speeding fine, SP30. I completed the paperwork, sent it off and received the resultant prosecution result letter a month later, the day before a trip to Scotland. I now had 3 points. Knowing it would almost invalidate any claim I might have had to make if I failed to inform my insurers, I telephoned One Call, informed the operative and asked her to re-negotiate my premium to reflect my 3 point penalty, my first and only (to Date!)

In August I had just renewed for £330.

After much faffing and unlikely sounding figures I relented, paid by card under pressure over the 'phone and resolved to sort it out on my return as I clearly had to be insured for the long forthcoming journey.

On my return I appeared to have paid One Call the £330 in August, and in September a further £270, i.e. £600! Puzzled at the huge jump I completed an on-line quote, disclosing the conviction to check their figures.

This is a print out of the on-line call-

To One Call Insurance on line Me 'What are you charging me per year for my insurance, I can't find the total figure on the portal'

Kirstin B You have paid a total of £600.72 this includes your policy and the conviction added.

Me Thank you. I have just filled in a quote request on Money Supermarket, your One Call quote is only £457. Why? I have disclosed all the details of my SP30 conviction .


Kirstin B You paid 330 but then we found an undisclosed which added £270.67 to your policy. These are the rates set by your insurer

Me What do mean 'you found an undisclosed'?? I contacted you as soon as I knew I had the conviction to inform you. The same details as I have put into the on line quote.

Kirsten B I am sorry but these are the rates which you insurer has charged. We do not set the prices as the broker then insurers do

Me So why does the online quote for One Call give £457 with the conviction taken into account ? £270 is a huge jump, its normally £35-55 extra for 3 points


Kirstin B The conviction was added mid term. I am sorry but we do not know why the insurers charge the rates they do...


Basically, they are saying they knew of the conviction before me, raised my premium by £270 and expected me to pay until which time I was not fully uninsured. I asked to cancel the policy and accept the lower One-Call on-line quote. They agreed to cancel the policy, but I would still have to pay the £270 as at the time I was insured I had an 'undisclosed conviction'.

It took two more calls, with persons of increasingly less numptiness to agree to cancel my policy, return only £365 of my £600, and then ask if I wanted to set up the £457 quoted One-Call policy.

It took a great deal of self control to tell them what to do with it, and re-insured with Tesco for 12 months for £404, including the SP30 conviction.

The point of this rant?

1. If you get a notice of intended prosecution (NIP) for a 30mph speeding offence tell your insurers right away or it migh become an 'undisclosed'.
2. By failing to update your insurers of the N.I.P. on receipt you may find that in the interim (before receipt of an actual notice of prosecution) you may be insured only as far as the Traffic Act requires, no comprehensive, no protected no claims, no recovery etc., etc..
Not the same issue but intriguing nevertheless.
We have had car insurance with one call for a number of years on auto renewal, so this year for various boring reasons we actually changed to a new smaller less powerful car on the date the new policy started, already paid for a few days previously. Logged into our account to change the details and there was an additional £270 to pay. We thought "this can't be right" so rang up instead to be told it should be £290!
Needless to say we cancelled which they then tried to charge the previously paid renewal fee "for admin purposes" until we invoked the 14 day cooling off clause and received a full refund.
Until this debacle we have been very happy with our renewal quotes for many years. We're now with someone else who quoted us around what we expected for the changed car.
Makes me wonder if one call have changed ownership or management in the last year🤷
 
Would you have been eligible for a speeding awareness course?
 
No, 37mph in a 30. No excuses, the roads accessing Gatwick Airport are a maze of 30 & 40 limits. They must make a fortune. I though I was on a 40, hence the 37. No excuses, hands up.
 
No, 37mph in a 30. No excuses, the roads accessing Gatwick Airport are a maze of 30 & 40 limits. They must make a fortune. I though I was on a 40, hence the 37. No excuses, hands up.
I thought 40 odd was the threshold for a course but perhaps it's at the discretion of the local cops/authority.
All academic now anyway.
 
Did you renew your policy or shop around? When did your old policy expire and when did you take out the new one? When did you receive the intial letter and the judgement, and when were they both dated? It sounds like renewal and offence are close together so the exact dates matter. In general if you are pissed off by an insurer (or a broker if it's a matter concerning premiums as here) raise it as a complaint as see what happens. If the case is arguable most insurers will err in your favour because the cost of a referral to the ombudsman is more than even your higher premium even if your case is thrown out.
 
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