11 replies to this topic

[Lewis998]

Today I woke up to a letter from premium credit agency, stating that Adrian flux will be increasing my monthly payments for insurance, when I called AF to ask what was going on I got a clueless woman who finished every sentence with an inflection as if it were a question, who also diverted from my one very basic question, why?.

Is this even legal, to enter into a contract as quoted and then have them raise the price ?
It should be fixed payments according to what I was quoted to begin with.

I couldn't be more stumped.

Also after this policy is up I won't be going near them again, and advise anyone around my age and area to stay away, absolute mongrels the lot of them.

[86mayfair]

What the hell are you on about?? I suspect we may have a spammer among us!

[ibrooks]

So what was their answer? If you stick to a simple question and just don't let them wander off topic then you have to get one.

I assume you've paid for the policy on installments? Insurance companies are increasingly getting into the nasty habit of offering installments that aren't really installments. What they actually do is arrange a loan with a credit company (often part of the same group) who pay the insurance premium. You are then paying off the loan over the 12 month period. This bites you in the bum if you want to cancel a policy or make significant changes - as far as the credit company are concerned they have given you the money (whether you actually had it in your hand or not, you have bought something with it) so there is no negotiation about you making the rest of the payments.

I have a VERY low opinion of Flux anyway and wouldn't touch them if they offered to insure all my cars for a penny. Unfortunately it seems that lots of other insurance companies are heading in the same direction with regards to "sharp" practices and customer ripoff (sorry "service").

Iain

[lewBlew]

Sure it wasn't up for automatic renewal recently and they've just increased your premium?

Obviously to do this midterm is illegal - unless you have changed your policy (e.g. informed them you've put alloys on) or the policy has somehow been cancelled or you need to pay the remainder e.g. you've claimed or missed a payment or whatever.

The other thing it could be is that you've taken the basic pay-in-full-at-the-beginning price and divided it by however many installments you pay in your head, and forgotten to add the interest charged for paying in installments.

[lewBlew]

P.S. Go with Lancaster, used to be the cheapest and is now thereabouts, but never had a problem with them. Always get through on the phone straightaway to a British person too, who knows what they talk about. They also respond to emails PDQ and do agreed valuations.

Only thing I don't like is paying 20% extra to pay by direct debit, so going to save up and pay in full next year!

[Ethel]

Read the small print to see the precise terms of the policy.

It might be a monthly policy, in which case you ought to be able to cancel rather than accept any price increase.

If they've actually sold you a variable rate loan they should should have made that clear and there'd have to be an agreement between you and the lender.

There doesn't seem to be any justification for an increase in interest rate, the base rate is low & stable at the moment thanks to the recession.

[Lewis998]

What the hell are you on about?? I suspect we may have a spammer among us!

Edit: I apologise, was un-aware of the (now removed) post. Just been annoyed all day about this whole debacle.

Ethel: I was in no way informed about variable rate payments, and It wasn't up for renewal, I've made no modifications to my car (short of fitting a thatcham device at their request).

P.S. Go with Lancaster

Thanks for the tip man, I'll take a look at them next time.

Edited by Lewis998, 20 June 2012 - 01:54 PM.

[lewBlew]

The spammer comment was because someone added a spam comment after yours which has now been reported and removed. He doesn't mean your original post!

I've never heard of variable rate payments for car insurance, loans perhaps. What exactly does the letter say? If it doesn't make it clear try to contact them again and simply ask them why the payment is increasing.

Just be very careful about missing a payment or cancelling your direct debit mid-term. In the small print of my agreement, because I deal with a third party credit company much like Premium Credit, if they try to take the money out of your account and it doesn't work, they charge you £20 and try twice more at £20 a time if it doesn't work. So that's £60 if you've cancelled it. They then have the right to demand all of the money in one go and cancel your policy. Ouch!

[Lewis998]

The spammer comment was because someone added a spam comment after yours which has now been reported and removed. He doesn't mean your original post!

I've never heard of variable rate payments for car insurance, loans perhaps. What exactly does the letter say? If it doesn't make it clear try to contact them again and simply ask them why the payment is increasing.

Just be very careful about missing a payment or cancelling your direct debit mid-term. In the small print of my agreement, because I deal with a third party credit company much like Premium Credit, if they try to take the money out of your account and it doesn't work, they charge you £20 and try twice more at £20 a time if it doesn't work. So that's £60 if you've cancelled it. They then have the right to demand all of the money in one go and cancel your policy. Ouch!

General overview was that the the debit payment will be increased to the aforementioned amount at the request of AF.
I had never heard over VRP either, fortunately I don't think it's in my agreement as it was never mentioned.
I haven't missed any payments but am weary of cancelling as credit agency's are shifty with this stuff, going to phone back later and re-evaluate the situation, hopefully get it reverted the original amount. If not they're could well be a mini up for sale, as AF were the only group who would insure me for a decent amount. (19 years old, 2nd year driving and no NCB)

Also edited my previous remark.

Edited by Lewis998, 20 June 2012 - 02:07 PM.

[86mayfair]

Haha No worries, interested to see what you said now ;)

[lewBlew]

Maybe they have moved the payments to over 10 months instead of over 12? This is what happened to me after my first year, hence they go up? You might be lucky!

If I was 19 again (I'm 28) I wouldn't be able to afford to insure a car. I'd buy a Mini and a bike and spend all my money not driving the Mini doing it up until I'm at least 21!

[Lewis998]

Possible I suppose however I'm not aware,
yeah I am in a fortunate position, I would like to garage it do it up and wait a couple years but I'm central London no where to keep it off road, I have been thinking about selling and get a 600cc bike, like to get my hands on my dads R1 but that's a pipe dream haha.