Insurance cost??

Ilovestyle

I rang a certain car insurance for a quotation for car insurance for my son. They quoted me 1900 which I took. I paid my deposit by my lazer and they sent out his insurance along with the proposal form and other documents. On all the documents it stated Mrs instead of Mr. so I rang them up and three days later the same documents came with Mr on them. My son was told that his insurance now would be 4500 and not 1900. By the way Michael is my sons name surely they knew he was a male. Can anyone advice me what I can do?:mad:

bigbadbear

The contract is void as there was a mistake in the contract which was unknown to both parties. Therefore you are 100% entitled to your money back as you entered in contract to be insured for 1900 but never for 4500. I would say if you ring them in the morning and explain what happened it should be fine. If they try and argue in any way tell them what is in bold. If you are getting nowhere ask to speak with a supervisor and if that fails threaten to bring them to the small claims court.

This is a doomsday scenario though as I'm sure they'll be very helpful when you explain the situation.:)

Ilovestyle

bigbadbear wrote: »

The contract is void as there was a mistake in the contract which was unknown to both parties. Therefore you are 100% entitled to your money back as you entered in contract to be insured for 1900 but never for 4500. I would say if you ring them in the morning and explain what happened it should be fine. If they try and argue in any way tell them what is in bold. If you are getting nowhere ask to speak with a supervisor and if that fails threaten to bring them to the small claims court.

This is a doomsday scenario though as I'm sure they'll be very helpful when you explain the situation.:)

Thanks for that Bigbadbear ! but they made the mistake and my son and I are so annoyed and

bigbadbear

Ilovestyle wrote: »

Thanks for that Bigbadbear

You're after reminding me I need a new username:)
I definitely wouldnt worry about it anyway as things like this happen all the time

Ilovestyle

Ah your username is fine!! Thanks for advice. Just wondering if anyone else was in this situation before?

Ilovestyle

Any more suggestions!

PeakOutput

bigbadbear i think she wants the insurance for 1900 not her money back

op there is nothing you can do sure it was their mistake but its obvious it was a mistake the most you can get is your money back

HermitHorace

As stated by the bear, you are entitled to a full refund and I think they will try and accommodate you as best they can for the business so be firm and it should work out fine.

Best of luck.

Del2005

PeakOutput wrote: »

bigbadbear i think she wants the insurance for 1900 not her money back

op there is nothing you can do sure it was their mistake but its obvious it was a mistake the most you can get is your money back

Can they not ask for a recording of the call, under FOI, and if it's clear the OP stated male instead of female do they not have to give it to them as it wasn't the OP's fault? I know I had to force a company to insure me before using similar methods.

bigbadbear

Del2005 wrote: »

Can they not ask for a recording of the call, under FOI, and if it's clear the OP stated male instead of female do they not have to give it to them as it wasn't the OP's fault? I know I had to force a company to insure me before using similar methods.

Unfortunately I don't think so. 'A mutual mistake as to the subject matter of the contract' renders the contract void eg. If 'X' offers to sell oranges to 'Y' and Y offers to buy the 'apples'

See:Raffles V Wichelhaus (1864)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raffles_v_Wichelhaus

Also see: Lewis v Avery [1971] (note this is british law so has no legal standing in Ireland. It probably still would be taken into consideration in court though

I'm not a practicing lawyer or anything so if there is more case law that will give a different view please post it

NuMarvel

Del2005 wrote: »

Can they not ask for a recording of the call, under FOI, and if it's clear the OP stated male instead of female do they not have to give it to them as it wasn't the OP's fault? I know I had to force a company to insure me before using similar methods.

Small correction here - the policy holder can ask for a recording of the call, but under the Data Protection Acts, and not the Freedom of Information Acts.

The Data Protection Acts relate to information held by any business about the person in question. The FoI Acts relate to any information held by publically funded bodies (Govt Depts, HSE, etc) and, within reason, aren't limited to just information about the person in question.

Nitpicking finished and sorry I can't give any further advice, but I think getting a recording of the call is a good idea. I'm sure the OP used the words "son" and "he" at least once in the conversation.

FYI - Insurance companies are under the remit of the Financial Ombudsman, so if the OP's son doesn't get statisfaction from the insuer's internal procedures, it is possible to refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman. I'm not too sure what way it would land though, as it depends on the contents of the call.

jor el

Check the insurance proposal form, as it should state whether the quote was for a male or female, regardless of whether they put Mr or Mrs on the name. If it was down as a quote for a female, then it's completely void, and they would need to re-quote, which would be where the 4,500 came out of.

bigbadbear

Can I add that if there was agreement to Insure "your son for €1900" at any time then the contract would most likely be a valid one.

Can I ask who on earth is quoting you €4900 anyway. It must be a huge engine. I started on a 1.4L as a named driver when I was 17 (I'm 21 now) €1200 for me and my dad. That was with FBD. I think FBD and to some extent Quinn are the cheapest for young people. What age is he and how big is the engine?

Ilovestyle

Thanks everyone! Under drivers details is Michael ...... No Mr or Mrs. I am going to ring them later. I will post update later on.

Ilovestyle

Sorry about the delay in getting back. My son got his insurance for €1900 after all.:D

dudara

Moved to banking & Insurance & Pensions

dudara

100gSoma

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bigbadbear

100gSoma wrote: »

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I agree

IBTL

Thomas Drennan

I thought under European law they can not discriminate, their was a time when woman drivers got cheaper quotes ,but that was supposed to have ended so the insurance companys hiked up lady drivers and yet they quote €1900 for a lady driver and €4500 for a male something wrong their so where is the regulation. two sun's one got a quote of €5000 19 years of age the other 2800 for 25 years pure rip off no regulation once again