Budget insurance

[HONESTKNOB]

Can anyone advise me on this. I was with Budget last year as they were the cheapest quote on my car. I had an accident which was not my fault and the 3rd party had admitted full responsibility. As my insurance renewal was due I ran a new quote through confused and Budget came up cheapest again, around £300 with my no claims so I decided to stay with them. Next thing I get a letter from Budget saying that my renewal would be nearly £700, I rang them and the lady said that my no claims was suspended until my claim was settled but obviously everything would get adjusted as soon as it was settled. I received the cheque and rang budget twice regarding the no claims, every time it was 'being processed'. Eventually I get the new policy through, showing my no claims allowance but it is still £500!! I feel trapped now as they dragged it out so long it's going to cost me a bomb now to cancel it. How can they show one price on confused then charge me nearly double just because I am an existing customer??? Have I got a leg to stand on?? Please help

[Beanie1]

I work in the industry, not for budget tho I hasten to add. Might not be the answer you are looking for but an honest one.

The internet will treat you as a new customer and also give you online discount. You will usually find that new customers benefit more from cheaper policies as this is the way some insurance companies work. Lure you in with cheap cover then hike it up at renewal (not always though). Have you spoken to budget to explain this.. sometimes they will lower the premium to a better rate to compete with the online quote as its more beneficial for them to renew than to process a new policy. A new policy makes no profit for them in the first year and pretty much most of the renewal premium is profit so makes sense for them.

Also with some of these sites (confused, Moneysupermarket) they make assumptions and dont always reflect the true price. Personally I stay away from them and go direct to the company, although is good for an indication.

Hope this helps...

[HONESTKNOB]

Thanks for the reply mate, I've written to them as I hate ringing them, only to get put onhold and passed around 6 departments all the time.
I had a feeling I was on a loser, I'm just wound up because they dragged it out so long after the claim was settled until they re-issued the no claims bonus, which they already held. If they'd issued it straight away then I would have known the true figure before the policy was renewed. It's now going to cost me about £100 to cancel with them and go to a different company so I'm stuck!

[Beanie1]

£100 thats a bit steep is it not ! is that with a canx charge? Surely after the hassle youve had they could waiver the charge?

Dont give up with them, push them to lower the prem and quote the ref number from the online quote, if they say they cant do that then ask them to waiver any charge for canx the policy and they may give in to that.

[HONESTKNOB]

It's something like a £40 fee to cancel and then 25% of the policy if you cancel inthe first 2 months. I'll get onto them in the morning and see if they'll budge.
Thanks for your help Mate

[Beanie1]

Did you get any joy today?

[HONESTKNOB]

Hi Mate, I decided to do things properly and sent them a recorded delivery letter of complaint. I thought this was better than phoning bangladesh and listening to piped music for half an hour. I enclosed copies of the web quote and told them I either wanted my policy reducing to this price or else they waive their cancellation fee as the delay is due to the time taken for them to process the no claims. What is the best approach if they say no? Would trading standards be interested?

[Beanie1]

Well done, youve probably done it the right way. If they say no then you should probably go through their complaints system (if they have one). From experience dont think trading standards would really look at it unless youve been through complaints and FOS.

2 things you could do if they say no...(if you havent done already..)

1) Ask them to justify why the policy you have is so much more expensive than the online quote (this puts them on the spot and more likely to back down if they cant explain it and also makes them look bad from customer service point of view)

2) Explain to them that you couldnt make an informed decision to renew the policy as the details showing were incorrect at renewal (referring to NCD) and if you had been given a guide price to go by with your NCD you would have gone elsewhere as could have got it cheaper so how can they penalise you for cancelling now !

I think you might get somewhere with the letter tho although I have no experience in dealing with Budget (only mystery shopping) . Just remember the old saying... cheapest isnt always best !

Hope this helps again mate and good luck, keep the post updated and will help as much as i can if no joy.

[shywazz]

Food for thought, i am insured with Sainsburys and after the 1st year my renewal premium only dropped by £125.93 so i went on the money market price check site, and in putted my details for a cheaper quote, hey pressed oh, guess whom was the cheapest, Yes you guessed correct, Sainsburys......Beating the postal renewal by over £150.00 and dropping the excess by £100.00 big big big differance, so i phoned the sainsburys insurance line, and explained all of my findings, the VERY nice lady on the other end informed me that there were unable to match the internet price over the telephone, and kindly suggested/informed me to cancel my renewal, and then buy the insurance from the web site, at the greatly reduced price, i asked what would happen to my NCD and was informed that would be linked together and would recieve the discount in the price, So not only did i get the insurance for a greatly reduced price but also stayed with the same insurance company, i sent the renewal documentation pack back with the word cancel through it, and within 3 days i recieved the new insurance pack and details. So not only did i get better level of cover but at a great price. Will be doing the same at the renewal next year. A VERY Happy customer indeed

[Trojan1401]

Hi Shywazz,

Can you advise though if the new quote was with a different insurer. Not sure if Sainsburys are tied to one or act as a broker.

[shywazz]

Hello TROJAN just to reply my 1st years insurance was through Sainsbury's, but there acted for... First Alternative Insurance Co Ltd .....whom underwrite my insurance/policy
this years insurance again through Sainsbury's but there changed whom there are acting for to .... Esure insurance Ltd ....whom underwrite my insurance/policy.... I'm still empressed with the huge savings whom ever the underwriter of the insurance is.

[HONESTKNOB]

Well I got a fairly quick reply off them saying the have 4 weeks to investigate my complaint so that's another 4 weeks cover I have to pay them for before I get the inevitable letter saying they've done nothing wrong!

[HONESTKNOB]

Still no reply, not even a get lost letter! Now what do I do??

[Beanie1]

Any further forward with this yet? any letters received?

[HONESTKNOB]

Well it took them over 5 weeks to reply and say they did nothing wrong so they wont budge! They reckon there were 'differences' in the online quote and my renewal policy so this justifies the £200 difference but can't state what they are. They said if I'm not happy then I can go to the financial ombudsman so that's exactly what I have done. Complaint went in the post this morning. If they say nothing doing then fair enough but at the moment I still feel ripped off!

[The Phantom]

Wait for the Ombudsman, I had a dispute with Budget as well about something else (amount of NCD, when I took out the insurance I had 12 years NC, I sent them usual proof of this, after the first year with them, I decided to change to another provider with a cheaper quote...guess what: they gave me a NCD statement showing 9 years which is apparently the maximum their computer lets them print, so I lost 4 years by spending a year with them.I complained, they refused to change it)
I took it to the Ombudsman and all it took was one letter from the Ombudsman to Budget informing them a complaint had been lodged and they immediately sent me a NCD statement for 13 years with no problem.....I don't know why they couldn't do it to start with but there you go

[HONESTKNOB]

Just an update. I've had a letter from the Ombudsman to say that they haven't managed to allocate my complaint to a case worker yet but will get back to me soon