£250 charge from insurance company after black box shows bad driving

[JoeyJoeC]

Colleague's boyfriend took the car and was speeding. (If it at all matters, he took out temp cover with another company).

 

The insurance company Policy Wise has now sent a letter to say they want £250 or they will cancel the insurance policy.

 

Just checking that they are able to charge this amount? Surely they have to have a breakdown of costs otherwise it is seen as a penalty?

 

Thanks

 

Edit: Just checked the policy documents and it does refer to the £250 charge as a Penalty.

 

http://imglnk.uk/img?i=oOoujV.jpg

[CrappoMan]

You may need to explain a bit better.

 

Has your colleague received the 'penalty' via her insurers, but it was her boyfriend who was driving, on his own insurance policy ? If so, get her to tell them that.

 

The linked doc shows a £250 penalty for 6 points. Has anybody got 6 points ?

[unclebulgaria67]

Colleague's boyfriend took the car and was speeding. (If it at all matters, he took out temp cover with another company).

 

The insurance company Policy Wise has now sent a letter to say they want £250 or they will cancel the insurance policy.

 

Just checking that they are able to charge this amount? Surely they have to have a breakdown of costs otherwise it is seen as a penalty?

 

Thanks

 

Edit: Just checked the policy documents and it does refer to the £250 charge as a Penalty.

 

http://imglnk.uk/img?i=oOoujV.jpg

 

Totally reasonable for insurers to include underwriting terms in the policy, particularly black box cover which charges based on driving stats.

 

If you are silly enough to let someone else drive your car which has a black box fitted, then you have to accept the consequences. Perhaps there is a process of notifying insurers in advance, if someone else will be driving the car. E.g if you booked a car into a garage for a service it would be driven by the mechanic.

 

Worth sending the Insurers a copy of the temporary insurance in the other persons name with a statement they were driving on the day in question and to ask the insurers to consider the matter. Whilst the insurers have right to charge the £250, they could out of discretion agree to waive it as a one off.

[JoeyJoeC]

Are they allowed to call it a penalty? As far as I know only the police and government agencys can issue penaltys.

 

Also I thought it was illegal to have more than one policy on a car?

 

The policy does say that they will give a warning for the first time but this would be the first.

 

The black box is fitted under my colleagues policy, her boyfriend took another policy out for temp cover and drove the car excessively.

[unclebulgaria67]

Are they allowed to call it a penalty? As far as I know only the police and government agencys can issue penaltys.

 

Also I thought it was illegal to have more than one policy on a car?

 

The policy does say that they will give a warning for the first time but this would be the first.

 

The black box is fitted under my colleagues policy, her boyfriend took another policy out for temp cover and drove the car excessively.

 

Yes they can call it a penalty. You are thinking of excessive charges on credit cards or excessive fees charged for administration on insurance. This is underwriting penalty and is detailed in the policy. If they want to question it, then they could go to the FOS. I am not keen on these black box policies, as they can become a nightmare, with resrictions on driving hours and insurers coming up with reasons to charge more, based on their opinion on the data.

 

You can have more than one policy, but cannot claim on both policies for the same loss event. The temporary policies are used by people to cover themselves whilst driving a car they may not own.

[JoeyJoeC]

He was going 90mph in a 70mph road. which is 29% over the limit, but the policy says they only record when going 50% over.

 

Anyway, she has managed to get them to agree to a warning and waiver the fee.

 

Thanks all.

[unclebulgaria67]

He was going 90mph in a 70mph road. which is 29% over the limit, but the policy says they only record when going 50% over.

 

Anyway, she has managed to get them to agree to a warning and waiver the fee.

 

Thanks all.

 

Just remind that they should notify insurers when the car will be driven by someone else e.g garage while in for service, some long stay airport parking providers.

 

I have read about some garage staff and airport car parking staff using clients cars to drive around in clocking up miles, speeding and parking tickets.

[JoeyJoeC]

I doubt they would pay much attention. Could easily say someone else is going to drive for the rest of the year.

[Conniff]

Have moved your thread into the Insurance section Joey Joe - http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?453888-%A3250-charge-from-insurance-company-after-black-box-shows-bad-driving