Retarded Direct Line..

West · 27 Mar 2008 at 15:23

Now since when does it cost £139 to change a car on a policy??

Well as of yesterday.. now I paid my insurance off on the car for a year the other day after my 7 days free, and bare in mind I had already paid one installment in January, and the over-all cost for my insurance was about £1,200.. the other £1,100 was taken a few days before, and then this £140 completley seperately. So off I go to Direct Line for an explination.. and they gave me the above "It's the charge that you pay as you changed the car on the Policy"

Now at this point I thought to myself, I would remember you telling me about such a charge, and considering you sent me a letter stating that they would not seek anymore funds from my account..

So now they are going to listen to the tapes and ring me back tomorrow morning..

Anyone else ever experienced this?

Fr0dders · 27 Mar 2008 at 15:27

West said:
Now since when does it cost £139 to change a car on a policy??

im not following here

Unless you swap a car for something of less value and lower insurance group, it quite often costs to change the car ?

how much you get charged depends entirely upon what car you changed it for no ?

Firestar_3x · 27 Mar 2008 at 15:27

Nope, been with direct line for ages, had two cars with them for a few years, they only ever charged me £19 admin fee each time i changed a car on or swaped the cars between the policy's.

Clearly thats unless its as above, and the new car is costing more per year to insure.

West · 27 Mar 2008 at 15:31

MrLOL said:
im not following here

Unless you swap a car for something of less value and lower insurance group, it quite often costs to change the car ?

how much you get charged depends entirely upon what car you changed it for no ?

Well I did it a month after renewal, and the quote I got was for the car, which worked out LESS than the Mini. Thats my point, in which case they should have only charged the Admin fee as the Full ammount was taken.

Malt_Vinegar · 27 Mar 2008 at 15:33

Your orginal quote was built around your original vehicle.
You changed the vehicle, they changed the policy

West · 27 Mar 2008 at 15:36

Malt_Vinegar said:
Your orginal quote was built around your original vehicle.
You changed the vehicle, they changed the policy

No. It was on the Focus, not the Mini.

The quote was done online, I rang them up and they offered to match the online quote as it was less than the one I got on the call, that was based on th Focus. Not the Mini. So they told me what I would be charged, that was taken and then on my normal collection day from the DD, they took a furthur £139, which I was not informed about.

[TW]Fox · 27 Mar 2008 at 15:38

Focus 1.8 is a higher group than Mini One isnt it?

West · 27 Mar 2008 at 15:39

[TW]Fox;11379940 said:
Focus 1.8 is a higher group than Mini One isnt it?

It is but its only by 1 or 2 groups, but for some reason the quote came out cheaper on the Focus than the Mini.

Tesla · 27 Mar 2008 at 15:39

You have now said your original quote was on the mini and focus. Which was it?

[TW]Fox · 27 Mar 2008 at 15:39

Looks to me like you screwed up getting a quote - the fact they have charged you more and its a higher group suggests its a more expensive car to insure.

West · 27 Mar 2008 at 15:43

Tesla said:
You have now said your original quote was on the mini and focus. Which was it?

Where did I say that? :confused:

The quote was done on the Focus online as I was shopping around, and DL came up cheapest, so I went back to them and carried on with the quote over the phone as I already had a Policy with them.

Burned_Alive · 27 Mar 2008 at 15:45

Did you actually ask them?

Getting a quote online isnt the same as they treat you as a new customer and there's a discount associated with buying online.

If you've just swapped the car on the policy without asking them the cost, its not necessarily going to be the same as what the website quotes you. However if they've told you different, then they've made a mistake and this thread is pointless?

Tesla · 27 Mar 2008 at 15:45

West said:
Where did I say that?

Well how come they say it's a charge for changing a car (ignoring the value of the fee) if you've never changed car?

If you already had a policy with them, what was this for?

West · 27 Mar 2008 at 15:47

Burned_Alive said:
Did you actually ask them?

Getting a quote online isnt the same as they treat you as a new customer and there's a discount associated with buying online.

Yeh, I made a point of that.

The lady I spoke to said that as I had done an online quote they were willing to go through with that one for me. As I previously paid monthly, not all at once, Not the one I would get over the phone as it was a lot more expensive, and there are phone records to that effect.

Majago · 27 Mar 2008 at 15:50

So is the £139 an administration fee for changing the details?

If so that's crazy! When I changed the car on my policy in December (also with DL) I didn't have any form of change to pay - only the difference in premium for going from the Punto to a Focus.

West · 27 Mar 2008 at 15:54

Majago said:
So is the £139 an administration fee for changing the details?

So they're saying yeh.

Fr0dders · 27 Mar 2008 at 15:56

West said:
Yeh, I made a point of that.

The lady I spoke to said that as I had done an online quote they were willing to go through with that one for me. As I previously paid monthly, not all at once, Not the one I would get over the phone as it was a lot more expensive, and there are phone records to that effect.

so its simple then

you've been charged the full rate and not the discounted internet rate

just need to get them to own up to the fact somebody offered you the internet rate over the phone once they listen to the tapes

im guessing that person shouldnt have done it, hence them insisting on listenning to the tapes before they give it you.

West said:
So they're saying yeh.

ive worked in call centres long enough to spot that one a mile off. Somebodys offered a discount they shouldnt have. Because they're not allowed to offer internet rates on policy changes, they charged you the full ammount thinking you'd agreed to it

Now somebody else has realised their mistake, they're trying to wangle their way out of it. If the person really did say you could have those rates, dont settle for anything less than a refund. Their staff making mistakes , not you.

West · 27 Mar 2008 at 15:58

MrLOL said:
so its simple then

you've been charged the full rate and not the discounted internet rate

just need to get them to own up to the fact somebody offered you the internet rate over the phone once they listen to the tapes

im guessing that person shouldnt have done it, hence them insisting on listenning to the tapes before they give it you.

Yar.. then they're gonna have to fulfill it none the less aren't they, i'll just have to wait for the call tomorrow morning.

Fishman · 27 Mar 2008 at 15:58

I recently changed my car from Nissan Almera 1.5 to Leon 1.8T FR and it cost ~140 quid to do so including <20 quid for admin. There was roughly 5 months left on the policy and based on web quotes that was about what I was expecting to pay to switch cars.

In your case clearly someone has messed up, whether that was you or them I dunno. Havent read all the posts in detail, just offering my experience with DL.
I then told them about car audio and they updated me for free and sent me a new schedule.

moss · 27 Mar 2008 at 16:01

Ive read a few times today in both this thread and another about admin charges for changing a car on a policy, I changed the car on my insurance about 3 times last year with admiral and they didnt charge me, is it the norm to have an admin charge?