Insurance problem with Flux

[Otispunkmeyer]

Before I start a bit of background

Me and the other half own a Civc. Its insured with Direct Line. Because she was down as the registered keeper the policy was done in her name and I am a named driver on that policy. The policy certificate says the named driver builds their own no claims bonus.

This year I bought a Volvo shed for £800 and insured it with Adrian Flux for almost as much. They were the cheapest decent insurance I could find. They wanted proof of no claims and I sent them our direct line documents. This car is mine and I am the registered keeper and so took the insurance policy out in my name with the OH as named driver. Only seemed right as I will be mostly driving the volvo and she mostly the civic.

Now they turned around and said none of my NCB counts and I owe them another £377 which they will automatically take in 7 days.

I obviously don't want this to happen and was under the impression I actually had some NCB!

What have I done wrong here? How can I go about reducing or waiving that additional amount?

If they won't budge I have thought about cancelling but having read around I fear cancellation will probably cost even more than the £377!!!

policy has only been active for 2 months mind and I went for monthly payments as after buying the car (which was necessity to get to work) I was a little short of the full asking for the insurance (hadn't banked on it being so high). But understand that by going monthly, its effectively a loan so they'll want their interest.

Am I between a rock and a hard place? i.e. pay the big extra amount or pay even more to bail? Will they tack that on to the monthlies instead of taking it all at once? What are my options?!

Thanks for any help/advice!

[Otispunkmeyer]

Not sure if there is a bit of confusion as I have just rechecked a it says named driver collects ncb which they can use if they take out another policy with direct line. This makes it sound like it's only valid for direct line but I shall ring them tomorrow to confirm.

[Otispunkmeyer]

Mattt said:

That was my understanding of the situation.

As in ncb only valid for another direct line policy?

if so is there anything I can do? What are my options likely to be?

Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Sunday 15th June 15:45

[Otispunkmeyer]

Ok thanks (will still double check tomorrow mind).

I will have to see if Flux can roll that extra into the current monthlies or see how much it will cost to cancel the policy altogether. In hindsight it makes DL the better choice I think.

[Otispunkmeyer]

So have I effectively binned about 5-6 years of NCB then?

Before we got the civic, I had always had my own insurance policy (fully comp) from when I was 17. I have owned 3 cars before I then went onto my OH's policy which was originally carried over from when she had a corsa. We bought the civic and then I went on her insurance as named driver.

So if I can find proof from insurance on my other cars I have owned and been policy holder for, would that work?

[Otispunkmeyer]

right, I have a poor short term memory but thinking about this in the car this evening I suddenly remembered that I realised my NCB with DL was no good for anything else.

thinking back I remember doing quotes for the volvo using NCB of around 9 years and I got quotes around the £350 mark which I was happy with. I distinctly remember now realising pretty late in the day (like the day before I went to buy the car) that the NCB related to by the Direct Line policy probably wouldn't be applicable and so I redid my quotes. Now on the quote machine it asked for named driver experience, to which I put 5, but I did change NCB to use to ZERO. I have logged back in to the comparison site just now and can confirm this is exactly what I searched for

10, 000 per annum (later changed to 8000 by the AF lady and now can probably be halved again as I now live next door to work).
5 years named driver experience
0 Year NCB to use

and quotes were in the low to mid £500's

I have just re-done the quote right now and the prices quoted are matching approximately.

AF gave me the best quote of around £520 and I decided to go with them. When on the phone with them the lady did ask about previous experience and I told her as I have told you just now. 5 years named driver on another vehicle with Direct Line and that there was some NCB but that its likely not to be applicable. Now I can't remember what was said after that, all I know is I got asked at the end to send proof of NCB. I am not sure whether she said it would fine or not, but I am quite sure I didn't try it on because I knew before hand that it wasn't applicable.

Now I think because I went monthly the full amount payable was just over £600. But now they're asking for an additional £377 for not having valid NCB. Which makes the full price closer to £1000. This is completely out of whack here (unless this is a penalty charge or something)

Now I can't understand what has transpired because clearly, the price offered by Flux is in line with all the quotes I did for ZERO NCB (quotes with NCB are substantially lower at approximately £300). So why did they then ask for proof of NCB and why now are they effectively adding 50% to the total?

Checking on my actual policy at the moment and I can see that in a box labelled "Number of Years No Claims Bonus Discount Earned on Previous Vehicle" is filled in with a ZERO.

But on the front page it asks for proof of NCB. So which is it?

EDIT: found another part of the document which says I have 0 NCB.

For all I can see, between the price of the policy (which at £520 is competitive with others when quoting using 0 NCB) and that the policy documents themselves say I have not used any NCB to achieve a discount I am completely unclear as to why they are asking for more money for not having any NCB.

Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Sunday 15th June 23:22

Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Sunday 15th June 23:35

[Otispunkmeyer]

Will ring them first thing to try sort this out. That'll be the best bet.

[Otispunkmeyer]

Been on the blower to them but no closer to sorting anything out.

They reckon, despite there being no written proof on the policy, that they gave me 9 Years NCB. The policy says I have not had any discount based on previous NCB. They say there is two ways they can add it, but I am not sure it makes any sense still.

If I did have that level of NCB the premium price would be a hell of a lot lower at around £300. As it is, mine is £520 which is consistent with every other major insurance firm/brokerage who provide me quotes based on 0 NCB. If AF's premium for 0 NCB was nearly a grand like theyre now saying, then I wouldnt have entertained them in the first place. So something is amiss.

I mean really it sounds like they've charged me for a premium based on 0 NCB, then said I had 9 years NCB and when the proof didnt weigh up, they are then whacking another £400 on there.

Edited by Otispunkmeyer on Monday 16th June 14:22