admin charges???

[ann1982]

i have recently moved house and rung up motaquote, my insurance company, to change my address. i was shocked when they said i had to pay them £35 admin charges. just to change a few details on the computer!!!! anyway i paid them, then today i rung them up to send out confirmation of my no claims discount as i have now gone with another company. they said as i owe them £87 they wont send it out until that is paid. basically what i want to know is 1) can they charge you to change address and 2) as i have been admin fees can they withhold my no claims documents. ( moved house in dec cancelled policy in jan )

thank you

[Loula]

Hi!

Motaquote are not an Insurance Company, they are a broker. Under FSA quidelines they are allowed to chrage for services. However these services and charges must have been advised to you previously.

I need to ascertain the following....

When was renewal?

When were you made aware of the charges?

Why do you owe then £87?

If you can answer this then I can help you further

many thanks

LOULA

[Maxie]

Charging for charge of address? I'd go to the papers! That unlawful 101

As asked, what is the £87 for?

[ann1982]

my renewal date was november and i was advised of the fee when i rang them up to change my address. i owe them £87 for a months payment plus charges they added to it. i think its unfair they wont send the no claims proof out to me ive already paid them the admin fee.

[Loula]

Ok.

I will put a letter together for you and find out who to complain to.

Check here again tomorrow for the info

Night

LOULA

[Maxie]

Originally Posted by Loula

Ok.

I will put a letter together for you and find out who to complain to.

Check here again tomorrow for the info

Night

LOULA

Was gonna do the same, but I'll leave it to you!

[Loula]

Great minds....!

Night

[ann1982]

that will be brilliant. thank you xx

[Loula]

Hello Ann

I think we should use a similar letter to one I post about a charge under the ASDA motor policies.

I cannot find anything on line about Motaquote, their own website has folded! Speaks volumes if you ask me!

Also their directors and company secretary keeps changing according to one online report.

Just found them.. changed their name to ProtectaGroup!

here is a letter you may wish to send

M. Chard Esq.
Chairman
ProtectaGroup Limited
Motaquote House
Dinas Isaf Industrial Estate
Williamstown
Rhondda Cynon Taff
CF40 1NY


Dear Mr Chard,

Cancelled Policy Number; XYZ

I changed the address on Day Month Year and subsequently cancelled my Motagroup car insurance policy, on Day Month Year and was charged £XYZ and £XYZ as administrative charges 'to cover extra paperwork'.

I believe this to be a penalty which in English (and Scottish) law for breach of contract is not legal if the penalty exceeds the actual cost of the breach. If you say that this is not then will you please demonstrate this by letting me have a full breakdown of the costs as a result of my breach in order to reassure me that your penalty really does reflect your costs?

I am frankly shocked that you have operated in this way, concealment of the charges in your literature, leads me to believe this is unlawful.

You are with-holding my No Claims Discount until settlement has been received from me. This again I find unacceptable.

Please reimburse the £XYZ taken in charges and forward my NCD forthwith.

Yours faithfully

Please can you read this carefully. If it is total hogwash let me know. I have had a very tiring day and although I think this reads well, I could be very much mistaken!

LOULA

[ann1982]

no, that letter is a great help. thank you for taking the time to help me. i will get on to them asap. thanks again.

Mod note: threads merged for reference.

[ann1982]

i put a thread on here quite a while babk regarding my insurance company. basically i changed address so they charged me £35 in admin fees. i have a balance still outstanding with them but need proof of my no claims bonus. they are refusing to give me the no claims proof as i owe them money. i explained that i paid £35 admin fees so i want the proof of n.c. i was told i only paid £20 admin fees and was told the other £15 is what they charged me because i now live in a high risk area!!!!!!! even though i live in a nice quiet peacefull street. but that shouldn't be an issue. what i need to know is can i get the admin charges back - or at least taken off what i owe them, and am i entitled to my n.c proof b4 i pay off the debt or are they in their rights to withhold this till i pay them. i need advice asap as they keep ringing me at home for payment.

[craigwalton]

Get it in writing, or request a copy of the telephone call confirming the breakdown of the admin charges / underwriting change.

If you get this in writing, also ask them to advise you the reason why they are refusing to confirm that you have x years NCD is because of this payment.

this could be a sneaky way of getting the proof you need!!!

Phone the Ombudsman regarding withholding the proof of NCD - they will advise you. If they feel that you have a case go with it. It costs the Insurance Company £100's for the Ombudsman to take on the case, even if they fall on the side of the ins co, so the Insurance Company should give the NCD.

Have you spoken to your new insurance company???? They can ring the old one for proof of NCD, and I doubt the old Insurance Company will refuse the info.

Regarding getting the admin fee: Yes, you can get it back, follow the usual steps...

[ann1982]

thats a great help thank u. also really like the sneaky way of getting the proof. i havn't rung the new insurance company as i didn't know they would be able to get the proof off the other company.

again many thanks will take your advice

[clairus99]

I had a similar thing like this today, they wanted to charge me various fees including two admin fees - one of £35 (can't remember what that was, cancellation fee I think) and one of £16 admin fee.

I asked him what this cost involved and requested a breakdown. He simply said that this covered several things such as looking for the best quotes, the time taken to deal with, blah blah blah. I said I didn't mind paying an admin charge but that the Consumer Goods Act states that they are only allowed to recoup their losses and therefore I should be provided with a breakdown of these costs. I compared it to getting a trolley full of shoping in Tescos and having the cashier charge you the first number they think of.

Off he went for a minute and suddenly came back saying they would waive these charges, with conditions. I didn't mind the conditions because it's what I wanted anyway, but if it wasn't I would have stood my ground.

I suggest you ring them and do something similar and good luck!

[ann1982]

hi thanks for that - glad you sorted them out. i was looking thru my paper work yday and found that b4 they put all the late charges etc onto me i owed them £35.11, now its gone upto £97. also found out that they are not allowed to charge such ridiculous amounts for admin fees. so the £35 i paid for that i will take off the original price and send them 11p in the post. see how they like that. i may stretch to £1.11, put y should i pay £35 just to change over address!!! no way. good luck to u all