Car Insurance Admin Fees

[mrs_overall]

A friend of mine has just changed his address and rang his car insurance company to notify them. It took the girl on the phone less than 2 minutes to update his details on the computer while he was talking to her. He has now been stung with an admin fee of £36.
In the small print it states the company charge an admin fee but they do not mention the cost.
He is willing to pay a nominal sum, say £10.
He only made the phone call to them last week and since then he has received a call from them on a daily basis threatening him with all sorts if he doesn't stump up £36 pronto. One of the threats was that they would make sure he was blacklisted and would never get car insurance again from any firm.
Any thoughts on this one please?

[albaqwerty]

My first instinct would be to tell them that after the third phone call, he has taken to recording phone calls and is going to report them to the appropriate authority regarding the threats.

[mrs_overall]

He is logging the threats but the question is could he get away with paying what he thinks is a reasonable sum (£10).
He has repeatedly asked them to justify their fee of £36 and they won't answer him and change the subject

[johnny37]

I would have thought change of address is not chargeable, though it may affect the premium. Ring the FSA, see what they say. I suppose it would cost another £36 to cancel the change.

[Peter Pedant]

I wold pay - he needs the insurance
and then take it through the appropriate channels

first the firm - 1977 Unfair contract clauses act seems to need a mention
and also check with Trading standards - ther eare a few cases where the charge has to match the activity ( but not insurance ... changing names on air tickets rings a bell )

[Peter Pedant]

Being insurance the calls are being recorded so he can demand copies from them under the Data Protection Act
and no they dont have to tell you the calls are being recorded so long as the caller knows ( one sided consent )

[factor-fiction]

It's galling but I'd grudgingly pay it as a one-off cost of moving house and then when it comes to renewal time I'd shop around and check carefully on any admin fees for mid=term changes

[Svejk]

they make me sick.
morning x

[douglas9401]

Grasping, chiselling, cheating, self interested, lying, manipulative, profiteering, cartel forming weasels.

In my humble opinion.

[tonyav]

douglas is correct . Haven't heard of the Blacklisting ploy before though.

[Prudie]

They are everything douglas says. Having said that I was aware there was an admin fee although I thought it was nearer £25. The threatening is a different matter and I might consider complaining to another body (Trading Standards????) and certainly agree that your friend should take their business elsewhere when policy expires - mind you everyone should do this as you nearly always get a better price as a new customer.

[factor-fiction]

£36 seems a lot, but I think the whole process costs a bit more than the cost of 2 minutes work. First of all the person answering the phone has to be there to answer queries and make changes but may have to wait around between calls, so the actual cost of the service is quite a bit more. They may also need to check the effect on premiums and send out new documents. Some calls may not be straightforward and may involve 30 minutes' work.
But I'd have thought £10, £20 at most, would be sufficient.

[Svejk]

that was cat an all, prudie. Loyal 20 year customers paying twice as much as newbies.

[Nibble]

tell it like it is, douglas :))

[tonyav]

mrs o, are you allowed to name and shame this insurance company so that we can avoid it.

[Svejk]

give us a clue, lol.

[Prudie]

How many letters and do you have any placed?

[Nibble]

Do they do shops as well, mrs o??

[tonyav]

Is it a bull dog with an old prime ministers name ?.

[TWR]

Contact the Insurance Omb.

[kloofnek]

This happened to us...I was quite shocked at the admin fee...we have been with the same car insurance company for years...I think they could have just charged a nominal fee.It is not fair,is it.