Hi there,

Before I dive straight in to the current situation, I'll give a quick recap of previous events:

Me and my girlfriend have been learning to drive from last year on wards. I passed my test in April and we were given a car off my girlfriends dad soon after. We took out a policy on 2nd May, with my girlfriend as the policyholder (down as a provisional license holder), and me as a named driver with a full license.

My girlfriend then passed her test in Setpember this year, so we promptly updated the policy to reflect this change; luckily at no extra cost. She then gave the advanced 'pass plus' course some consideration, but before she started, I emailed Churchill to ask if we would be eligible for a Pass Plus discount. The reply we received was as follows:

Thank you for your recent letter regarding the Pass Plus discount.

 

I would like to confirm that we do offer a Pass Plus discount to the policyholder only which is subject to the following critera:

 

a) The policyholder having no No Claim Discount;

b) The policyholder having a full licence held for less than 1 year;

c) The policyholder being claim free; and

d) The policyholder has no convictions other than 1 minor conviction.

Should you require any further assistance regarding the Pass Plus discount you will need to call the relevant telephone number below.

Depending on which car insurance company you use, the discount for having successfully completed Pass Plus training will vary. With Churchill, you will get 10% off your premium.

We then got back in touch with Churchill on the phone and asked for the pass plus discount. This probably won't come as a surprise to many, but they, at first, refused to offer a discount due to complications with our policy (apparently as it was mid-term and we were asking for a discount). We then mentioned the aforementioned email, to which they then decided they could offer a discount, but not all of it.

We send in the Pass Plus certificate, which they require to process the reimbursment, along with an accompanying cover letter - please read it here.

In response to this, we have received just over half of the 10% they say you get (£84.17). This is not even enough to cover the cost of the course.

Where do I stand from here? I contacted Churchill before going ahead with the Pass Plus course to confirm my girlfriend would get a discount, to which they mentioned nothing about receiving less than the 10% they stated on their website. We have also gone through the terms and conditions on their website, and these state nothing relating to the 10% discount being subject to circumstances. Also given that we are both students, the remaining £80 or so is a great deal to us.

Any help with this would be greatly appreciated.

EDIT:

We've received a letter back from Churchill today. It contains the Pass Plus certificate, and another sheet saying 'With compliments'. I wish I could say the same.

Hi slug56!

This is a bit confusing! Firstly I think it is unwise to factor the cost of cheaper insurance from the Pass Plus discount against the cost of the course itself. I know it is a financial incentive for you, but the insurance company won't see it this way, so any argument you have with them along this line would be unproductive. The reason they offer the discount is because they believe that Pass Plus drivers are safer, and they give a discount to undercut the competition but still make money.

Now the reason why I say this is confusing is because I don't know exactly how Churchill rate their policies, and so I'm not sure as to exactly where the discount is being applied. This means I have no idea as to whether they are trying to con you (or have made an error), or if they have priced it correctly then whether they explained things fully to you.

So here are a couple of things that could make a difference:

Firstly are they applying a mid-term adjustment charge to you, and deducting this charge from your Pass Plus discount?

Secondly, over what period is the Pass Plus discount being applied? If the policy was taken out on 2nd May and your got the discount from (say) 2nd November then it would make sense to only give you half the discount. Make sure the discount is applied retrospectively from the date your gf passed the course.

Finally check to see whether the discount is applied across the entire policy, or just to 'her' part of it. For example if the policy for her alone was £800, and it cost an extra £800 to put you on, will the Pass Plus discount only apply to her part of it?

I hope you see what I mean by them maybe rating the price right but not explaining things to you properly - the third one for example might be how they do it, but if they don't explain it to you then you could argue that they have misled you, see?

Until you know these things I'm not sure you can work out what the correct discount you should have received would be. Ask them to explain it.

If you are half way through your insurance term, then the 10% will clearly apply pro rata, hence the approximate half rebate. They clearly are not going to give you discount for the existing 5-6 months when your GF did NOT have pass plus.

I dont see the issue.

Yes, I can see the points you are making, and I do admit they are valid. But what gets me is Churchill don't mention any of this on their website or in their terms and conditions. They simply state 'you will get 10% discount'. What they don't say is "you will get 10% discount if you obtain pass plus before taking out a policy". I think the way we have done it is completely logical. If we see '10% discount' on their website, and get an email from them stating criteria which we fulfil, why shouldn't we believe that is what we will get back.

Thanks for the comments. 8)

You have got 10% discount on the term of the policy during which you have the pass plus. This works out at about 5% on the ENTIRE policy.

They have perhaps not clarified this explicitly, but (and this honestly isnt meant to offend!!) I would have thought that this would be fairly obvious.

Perhaps Chirchill will give you a furhter 6 months on discount when you renew the policy, so that you get the full benefit on pass plus....

That's a really good suggestion I never thought about that. Worth a try, but knowing our luck they'll try and wiggle their way out of it.

And I'm sure they will be happy to give a driver that is entitled to a 1 year NCD discount a (most likely lower) 0 NCD introductory discount

Remember Pass Plus is not 10% off your bill, it is like having a special sort of 0 NCD - you're better off rebuilding your actual NCD. Also if you are both co-drivers of the car it might be worth getting an insurance policy that allows named drivers to build NCD as well. When you renew the Pass Plus won't matter so you won't be penalised relative to your girlfriend.