Rly annoyed looking for people's thoughts

Speedway

Hey everyone sorry if this is a bit long winded but just wanted to get people's thoughts.

I'm nearly 23 been driving my dad's company car for the past 6 years without any points or claims. The company car is part of a fleet policy which allows people with the permission of the company with a full licence to drive the car.
(I've been insured on my mom's car every now and again for a few months at a time over the past few years too.)

anyway decided to get my own car and bought a 1.4 2004 Fiat Stilo. (€10,000 with 17,000 miles on it.)

So i tried to get a quote from Hibernian and they said that they wouldn't recognise the driving experience on my dad's car cause it's a company policy and my name wasn't on the actual policy. They quoted me €1100 if i did their ignition test.

that was a bit more than i could afford so i rang quinn direct and they said oh ya no bother we just need a letter from the company that owns the car to say you've been driving it and quoted me €555 fully comp. Great i thought i rang back again a day later and spoke to someone else who confirmed this and said oh ya you just need a letter from the company saying that you were driving your dad's car without claim.

so i bought the car and got a letter from the company which was sent to them. I got a letter about 2 weeks later saying that they hadn't received my proof yet. I assumed this was just a postage delay so I rang and they said oh ya we have that letter now you're good to go no problems.

about 2 weeks later another letter saying that they hadn't received my proof so i rang and my dad spoke to them and they said that they would be fine if i just sent through a copy of the policy. Which i did and rang them to ensured they got it and they said ya that's fine now.

today a month later a phone call from them saying that they still haven't received my proof saying that i need to send a letter from the insurance company. So several phone calls later with my dad again explaining the same situation that it's his company car etc.them saying oh we didn't know it was your father's company car blah blah.

So long story short they said oh we can't actually insure you with a no claims bonus on that and want to charge me over €630 more per year. They said that they don't recognise company policies like that for named driving experience.

I got onto their customer service department and was told the same. they said they could only apologise. I am so annoyed cause I wouldn't have taken out the policy or the loan on my car if I had known this. I really just feel like they were very quick to take my money and lead me up the garden path misleading me about what they would cover. I just feel really screwed over having been told that yes they just needed a letter to prove my driving experience on my dad's car and now being told no sorry. I outlined the situation to every single one of their agents time and time again and was told oh ya no problem every time and now they are saying no sorry.

just wondering that do people think, should I take this further cause I really feel screwed over.
cheers

Henry Ford III

Contact The Insurance Ombudsman.

mike65

I think you have a case here, you bought the car beliving you had a firm price for the insurance having been told that price by a 'competent' employee of the insurer. They will of course say "well tough, we did'nt guarentee anything in writing (or did they?) and accidents happen". But I think a bit of pushing and you can get some justice. Proberly not a full refund mind you but something worth haggling for.

Mike.

pow wow

Agreed, try the insurance ombudsman. Or at least threaten it to QD and see what the outcome is. They might agree to continue the policy for the rest of the period at the quoted rate and then decline to renew next year.

As it's your dad's company car, strictly speaking, from an insurance point of view, you shouldn't have been driving it anyway as although the policies are open drive (I worked in fleet insurance for years) it's frowned upon to allow it as a free for all for directors/employees spouses and kids to drive around. And it proves a problem when trying to ascertain NCBs for these 'other' drivers. You could get the company car insurer to confirm your dad has been driving the car claims free and then a supplementary letter from his company to say you were a named driver and thus didn't claim either.

There is bound to be some argument over what you told QD (they most likely checked a box saying 'x years NCB on company car' without noting it wasn't your company car) so what the Ombudsman would rule is unclear. Hopefully the threat of it will be enough for QD to agree to continue the policy as quoted for this period.

homah_7ft

Definately take this up the food chain. In fairness you did explain the situation to their agents. Good luck.

Speedway

cheers everyone, appreciate the info i'll get onto Quinn Direct again tomorrow and then onto the ombudsman.

thanks again

colly10

Another reason why you shouldn't go with quinn, loosing/not receiving stuff is another one of the joys of dealing with them (wrote it in another thread recently) along with their handling of claims.
Take it to the ombudsman.

unkel

Yep I'll go with the other posters. You were bona fide all along and you might get some results if you fight your case. Good luck and post back here on the thread with any updates!

BnA

OP. I'd say don't waste your time trying to ring those useless sods back again. Go straight to the Insurance Ombudsman.

I had problems with Quinn Direct in the past. The system on their side fecked up and they didn't take the direct debit for my insurance for 2 or 3 months. When I noticed this and rang them up to tell them...... they cancelled my insurance....!!!!!! I must have talked to every bloody agent and so called supervisor in the whole bloody place and got the same crap from every one of them. If I paid the three months arrears they would start a new policy for me but they would not continue the old one. If that was to happen now, I wouldn't give a shoite. But at the time, I had 11 months of that policy done. i.e. I nearly had another years NCB which would have been worth a few hundred quid to me.

Anyway, After wasting about 2 weeks over and back with those utterly useless hoors (2 weeks I had to park up my car as I was uninsured) I eventually went to the Ombudsman. It was sorted in less than a day.

Eircom for me are the yardstick for how shoite customer service can be. Quinn, IMO are pretty far up the Eircom scale..

prospect

Baxtards, as said, move this up to the ombudsman.

Out of curiosity, have you tried getting a quote from the company that insures your Dad's car? They may recognise your previous experience and give you something.
I had a similar situation when I started driving and the companies insurers gave me a ~15% discount for 3 years experience on the companies policy.

BigCon

Speedway wrote:

that was a bit more than i could afford so i rang quinn direct

Ah, there's the problem right there - I hate QD with a passion. They are imo the most unprofessional bunch of money grabbing chancers I have ever met. They has me driving around for a month without insurance despite telling me over the phone that they had me covered. Luckily though I didn't have an accident or claim at the time.
Wouldn't touch them with a barge poll again, no matter how much cheaper thay appear to be...

layke

Quinn are eejits.

When I passed my test I drove up to my broker and gave them my cert of competency. They photocopied it and sent it on to QD. Now a week goes by and i've heard nothing back from them, so I call the broker who calls Quinn.

Turns out they 'lost' my documents. I said no problem, send it over to in a fax again. Then the broker started panicing trying to convince me to wait for the license to come in (3 week backlog) without giving me any explaination as to why.

I'm kicking their ass to the kerb come renewal time.

Wossack

Im with quinn cause noone else would look at me

they're eejits alright though, got about 4 missed calls while in work one day looking for the photocopy of my license they wanted. Phoned em back when I got home saying I sent it in ages ago. She goes off to look, 5 mins later, "yep, I have it here now, kthxbai". I mean, check before ringing, and if it comes in in the meantime, phone me back and say...

Just need em for the 1 years NCB, then bu-bye

Stark

layke wrote:

Quinn are eejits.

When I passed my test I drove up to my broker and gave them my cert of competency. They photocopied it and sent it on to QD. Now a week goes by and i've heard nothing back from them, so I call the broker who calls Quinn.

Turns out they 'lost' my documents. I said no problem, send it over to in a fax again. Then the broker started panicing trying to convince me to wait for the license to come in (3 week backlog) without giving me any explaination as to why.

I'm kicking their ass to the kerb come renewal time.

Sounds like the broker's **** up. When I passed my test, I didn't need to bring in any documents, I just rang QD, told them I'd passed, and grand, policy adjusted. I was only about 2 weeks till policy expiring so I didn't get a refund at that point, but I did get my €300 off my renewal.

Actually, I never had to do any paperwork with Quinn. I just bought my policy online and that was it.

daedalus2097

Stark wrote:

Sounds like the broker's **** up. When I passed my test, I didn't need to bring in any documents, I just rang QD, told them I'd passed, and grand, policy adjusted. I was only about 2 weeks till policy expiring so I didn't get a refund at that point, but I did get my €300 off my renewal.

Actually, I never had to do any paperwork with Quinn. I just bought my policy online and that was it.

I just had to ring them up when I got my full licence, no problem, got a cheque back in the post a few days later for a couple of hundred Euro... Thank you very much Never had any trouble with them and I've been with them for years. Maybe you should've gone directly to Quinn instead of through a broker, cut out all the messing in between...

Speedway

daedalus2097 wrote:

I just had to ring them up when I got my full licence, no problem, got a cheque back in the post a few days later for a couple of hundred Euro... Thank you very much Never had any trouble with them and I've been with them for years. Maybe you should've gone directly to Quinn instead of through a broker, cut out all the messing in between...

i actually did go straight to Quinn the whole time directly, never through a broker

Cond0r

I've never sent any documents/photocopies to Quinn.. now that I think of it I don't think they even have the number on my licence

georgie59

They can be slow with documents, son done a temp vehicle sub for two weeks when his car broke down and then extended it for a further two weeks, as he'd been stoped for the boys in blue ask them to send out confirmation that he was insured to drive the vehicle they sent it out but only with the second two weeks dates on it. Rang again and asked then to send out the right dates (first two weeks) got another letter for the second two weeks, rang again giving the dates we needed and she said she processed it while i was on to her and guess what it came with the wrong dates again.
Rang and chewed them spoke to the supervisor and eventually got the right dates but by this time had a summons for driving while not insured, (despite the son going into the garda and explaining). Was told that your better getting a solicitor to deal with the court, and on the day it was thrown out of court, but still had to pay the solicitor.

But they were still the best that he could get because of age etc.

Speedway

hey everyone, just an update on this. I contacted the Ombudsman and the Insurance Federation (IFF) I had Quinn Direct back onto me about 2/3 more times and I told them that I had complained them and would be taking it as far as it needed to go. They said they would get back to me.

one of the girls that I had talked to originally rang back conferred with her team leader and said that they would reapply the discount if I could get a letter from the insurance company saying that there were no claims on the policy at all. So I can get that letter no prob at all. So alls well that ends well.

just wanted to say thanks for the advice, really was worth my while to keep after them. saved me €621!

Cheers!

zuutroy

They're right muppets, and they ALWAYS capitulate when pressed. I bought and paid for a policy online and heard nothing for a fortnight, and when I rang I found out they had no intention of honouring the policy because my Hyundai Coupe 1.6 was a 'sports car' and I was under 25 at the time. Had me driving around unawares for a fortnight. My local TD happened to be passing and I told him the story.....a week later I got my policy documents....

Stephen

Hah Zuutroy, reminds me of the first time I insured my Hyundai Coupe with them. The biddy on the phone refused to believe that the 110-odd bhp 1.6 is not a sports car. She just assumed coupe = high performance. I had to go do an online quote and give her the reference number to make her believe me :rolleyes: