car insurance returned dd fees.

[arianna22]

hi

 

my fathers car insurance charges £20 if a dd gets returned

can they do this cause they take the money again in 3 days time as its a local insurance company he.s been with for years .

 

the date its due isn.t really good for him

but they charge you for changing it

and this company is the cheapest around for him i have checked.

[dx100uk]

if its a PENALTY charge then i should think not.

 

ask them to justify the cost by giving a complete breakdown .

 

the FOS [i think] can help here too

 

dx

[MARTIN3030]

I have had success with these charges from 3 different motor insurers.I took the Court route in one case and they settled before the case progressed.The other 2 caved in after a LBA.

You should write to them asking for a breakdown of the £20 fees to show they are a genuine pre estimate of actual loss in dealing with a missed or failed payment.

Of course they will not do this.

You can also point out that this is well above the threshold of £12 currently employed throughout the industry of Financial Service Providers.

Make it clear that you will only deal in writing because they will try calling you and say its in their terms and conditions bla bla bla.

If you have had a few of these in the past,it may be worth asking for a refund of the lot with interest and putting them on notice of filing a small claims action under common law if they refuse.

Many of the Insurance companies will say that they have 8 weeks to resolve your complaint,but this is more often than not a stalling tactic-and does not affect your rights or entitlement to file a claim inside 8 weeks.

[MARTIN3030]

Btw a complaint to the FOS does not affect your rights to make a claim or visa versa.

But the FOS is likely to expect you to give them 8 weeks to resolve things or else a final response.

If you look on the FOS website you can check the published complaints data for individual motor insurers.

These include time taken to resolve the complaint,and also how they figure in the table.