Are written insurance quotations binding?

[Nigel_O]

I had my insurance renewal through recently - about £250.

I was also contacted by a broker who asked to quote - I went through the usual questions over the phone and they came back with a verbal quote of about £450 - I told them they were WAY over the renewal and they instantly reduced the price to £230, so its clear they have a mandate to make a loss to get the customer

I said I'd think about it (which means I'll be calling my normal company to see if I can beat them down a bit) - a week later, I get another call from the broker, asking if I'd made a decision - I asked for a written quote, which they sent. The quote (with all the correct vehicle and personal details) is for £1, although there's no mention of monthly installments......

I cannot see "E&OE" anywhere on their email or their quote - can I make them honour the quote, or am I being hopelessly optimistic?

[davamer23]

Accept it and pay the £1.

[LoonR1]

Not binding, you've no chance of enforcing it.

[ging84]

If you have a quote and they don't honour it, you've got a valid complaint to take to the ombudsman
But this is obviously not a genuine quote, it's an error. You were given the price of £230 over the phone, you could lie and pretend they quoted you £1, but even if they somehow lost the recording of the call no one would believe you.

[LoonR1]

ging84 said:

If you have a quote and they don't honour it, you've got a valid complaint to take to the ombudsman
But this is obviously not a genuine quote, it's an error. You were given the price of £230 over the phone, you could lie and pretend they quoted you £1, but even if they somehow lost the recording of the call no one would believe you.

Even if you have a quote at £230 and they don't honour it, you don't have a complaint that will be upheld, even with the FOS.

[Nigel_O]

I guessed as much, and TBH, with a quote of £230 for the year, I'm not that worried. It wasn't all that long ago that my kids were paying that much per month

Still - I'll have some fun when the broker chases me next week....

[Beetnik]

I got an internet quote for ~£180 a couple of years back when it should have been ~£400. I took it but when the docs came through they had the wrong car detailed. Rang them up and they amended it but, as it was an error in their database and not my inputting that caused it, they went with the original price and didn't seek to take the extra. As I also got £100 cashback by going through Topcashback it made for a very cheap year's insurance.

Thank you Direct Line.

[LoonR1]

It's great when they choose to honour it and good customer service. There is no way to force them legally to honour the mistake though.

[Hi]

I once had an online quote come back for approx £150 when I was 18/19 ish, I accepted the quote and paid etc. A couple of months later they sent me a letter saying there was a computer error and that my actual insurance price was £2500 and they gave me the option of cancelling the policy and receiving a pro rata refund at the original price, or to pay the extra!

Needless to say I cancelled it and went with the next cheapest on the online quotes which was approx £800

[johnfm]

LoonR1 said:

It's great when they choose to honour it and good customer service. There is no way to force them legally to honour the mistake though.

My (limited) experience of insurance companies is that they're generally quite helpful and pleasant, so no surpise they honour things like that on the rare occasion it happens.