My car insurance was due to expire and because I didn’t have time to look into other options before we went on holiday to Florida, I ended up just leaving it, even though I could see that the amount had increased by a significant amount.  Now I have the Car Insurance Blues.

I was reconciling my bank accounts last night, when I saw that there were 2 separate charges on my credit card for the insurance company, so I totalled them up, checked that they agreed in total with the quotation, which they did, and then out of curiosity I checked how much they had increased.

THIRTY FOUR PERCENT!

How can an insurance company justify putting up their charges by 34% when I haven’t as much as called them since I took out the policy a year ago, let alone had an accident or driving offence.

It was then that I noticed they had the model of my car wrong, it was listed as a Rover 75 instead of a Rover 45, which is a lower model.

How they managed that I don’t know, since when you get a quote you enter the vehicle registration, and they look up the model on the central database.

Well I thought, it must be worth calling them to see is I can at least get a lower price, seeing as how my model is a cheaper one than the one they have listed.

BIG MISTAKE!

So I called them, and it seems that not only can they not offer a lower price, this is the best that they can do, but my model of car actually costs £45 ($70) more to insure than the more expensive model.  Go figure…

The operator did say that as this was within the 14 day cancellation period (actually the last day, just my luck), that they would waive the £40 amendment fee, but in order to have the car legally insured with the correct model, I need to now pay the extra £45 so that I am insured for the correct model.

I asked about cancellation, since this is now going to be costing me more like a 50% increase, but it’s going to cost me £50 to cancel the policy.

BETWEEN A ROCK AND A HARD PLACE

I really really hate being used and abused like this, but an rather between a rock and a hard place, not knowing whether to just pay even more and stick with them, or say “STUFF IT” and look for another policy.

If I do stick with them I will have to pay an extra £45.  If I can find a cheaper policy elsewhere, I will have to pay an extra £50 to cancel, but then I can hopefully save £50 on what they are trying to charge me, so I will be better off.

So whatever happened to loyalty these days? 

It seems that with car insurance in particular you are better switching companies every year rather than sticking with the same company, which is the general consensus, which costs these companies a lot of time and effort in continually updating records.

It really doesn’t make sense does it.

I will update this to let you know how things work out, but for now I have the Car Insurance Blues.

It seems that because I was paying COBRA (a way to continue your health insurance cover after you lose your job in the USA, but at an extortionate rate), I am due a refund.

Well, the money was sent direct to one of the two bank accounts that I had registered with the company I worked for, however it went to an account that I closed in June.   I managed to contact someone at HR by email to update my home address, since I am now in the UK, and also to try and get the money sent to the correct bank account, but it’s not quite that simple as usual.

They sent me a form to fill in and send back, where I can either indicate that I no longer wish to receive money by direct deposit, or I can indicate an account that I want to remove from the list of accounts that they have for me.

Well this would be great, except having closed the account they sent the money to, I don’t have any details with me, all the paperwork is being sent by ship to the UK along with my other effects.   I do have everything I need for the account that is still open, but the form doesn’t allow me to specify this one, only the one that I closed.   Grrrrhhhh!!!

So I emailed HR back, but of course no response in the last 4 hours….

So frustrating and so complicated.   Why is it that you always need information that you don’t have easily available?

A similar thing happened to me last week with my car insurance as well.

In the UK with car insurance you acquire a No Claims Bonus discount on your policy based on the number of years without having made a claim.   It’s similar in the USA, however in the UK one insurance company can talk to another and obtain proof of your No Claims Bonus, or you can get a document direct from your own insurance company.

Well trying to get something as simple as this from my previous insurance company in the USA turned out to be less than easy as is typical.

It seems that because of the Non Disclosure laws in the USA, the insurance company cannot provide this information to anyone, including the policy holder themselves.   So, I had to spend more hours on the phone trying to talk to an agency that handles the disclosures, but they couldn’t find any information on me.  Then I had to call the insurance company back again.   Finally, I went to the web site for the agency, and was lucky to find a way to get a report.   I wasn’t sure if the report would be adequate, but found out last night that the car insurance company in the UK did actually accept the report that I sent them.   If not, it would have meant me starting out with a zero percent discount, and paying twice as much as I needed to for my insurance.

I just wonder why life has to be so difficult….

I am sure I am not alone though.  Do you have a story to tell of how life has been less than simple for you?  Feel free to leave a comment and let me know.