Cooling off period on an insurance quote

The Guvnor

Hi all,

Very simply we filled out an online insurance application online for car insurance and paid for it with a mastercard.

Now the form came out in the mail - sign and return and all good etcetera.

The only issue is (I am kicking myself here) - I have my GF down as having 5 years NCB in her own name in this country. Now she does not have this and I cannot remember selecting this but it is on the documentation so I must have done so. idiot that I am.

Now obviously the quote is not valid but do we have a cooling off period of cancellation without explantion and without affecting our rights. I would prefer to avoid the 20% cancellation fee/ misinformation fee.

Any help much appreciated.

challengemaster

Try contacting them and informing them of the error. Say you didn't select it, but it's on the documentation... Could just have been an error on their side either. In that case they may just rectify it without a fee.

Random

As far as I know it's 14 days once you haven't made a claim. Ring them up and ask them. Simple as.

XJR

Random wrote: »

As far as I know it's 14 days once you haven't made a claim. Ring them up and ask them. Simple as.

That's pretty much correct so long as you didn't sign a waiver on the 14 day cooling off period. That aside most insurers should be pretty cool about the change - best thing is to call them and let them know of the error. If you don't like the answer and waiver aside you should be ok.

The Guvnor

Hi Lads,

I won't name the online website just yet.

I know now I did not fcuk up. I put her down as having 5+ years driving experience which is correct and 0 NCB.

I just did the same thing again and the quote emailed back to me came back at €12.00 less. I'll take this one if they like.

The point is they have it down on the form as 5 years NCB but I am not that much of an idiot!

You wonder if they are doing this as a 'genuine' mistake to get people to buy cheap quotes and then hit them with either a pricier premium or the 20%?

I'm printing out the quote online for verification purposes!

Random

I don't see why naming the online website is relevant to your query?

Insurance rates seem to change daily so it's not usual getting different prices (I notice this myself even getting quotes for changes to my existing policy, one day a named driver is €80 and another it's free etc).

I believe the whole notion of insurance could be done differently in this country but I really don't subscribe to your conspiracy theory. Yes they want to make money but I don't believe that it can be sound business practice to edit quotes so that the information is incorrect as the backlash would be enormous.

The Guvnor

Hi mate,

In the last 30 minutes I received 3 quotes:

2 were within 1 cent and 12 euro of the quote I got in the mail the other one was off by 400 euro! Double the price.

Not getting too hot under the collar just dislike mistakes especially when the look like they might cost you a packet and was not caused by an error on your part.

The Guvnor

BTW - where do I stand if they come back and say hold on you did hit 5 years NCB and I dispute this and hand them a printed off quote from their website with the exact same details and a price difference of just €0.01 cent?