I received my annual letter from Elephant.co.uk telling me my car insurance was about to expire. In the letter they explained that if they did not hear from me with any amendments to my policy, or to cancel then they would automatically renew, charging the quoted figure for another years worth of insurance. Seemed OK, I’ve been with them for years and they have always been reasonable when it came to quotes in the past.They have all my details correct on the form they sent me, except my banking details have changed. I telephoned them, pressing all the buttons to eventually get through to a human.
I explain why I am calling, and give the new payment account details. I then ask if it is possible to decrease the quote, I alwayswill pay less if I can.
We talk through the policy, changing two details:
1) The car is now a year older, I reduced its value by £2,000.
2) My job title changed from University Researcher to Company Director.
The man from Elephant pressed the buttons to get a new quote. The overall quote increased by £40.
Now either the quote had gone up because my car was worth less money, which I doubt, or Company Directors are assumed to be able to pay more money. Or is it University Researchers are considered less of a risk?
I stated that I’d get back to Elephant because I’d now need to phone around other insurance companies for comparative prices, all of a sudden the price dropped back down to the first initial quote.
I hate insurance, it is such a con.
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January 22nd, 2007 at 6:14 pm
I sympathise with you completely, but can offer you some explanations from my own experience.
three things here:
- Insurance companies treat certain occupations as carrying less risk. Anyone connected to an educational establishment is treated favourably, in fact public service employees, even more so.
- Cost of car ownership increases year on year, so however you look at it, the cost of replacement / repair also increases - hence a gradual year on year increase in the premium.
- Costs incurred with accidents will also increase.
However, I think your “Company Director” title has most to do with the recent price hike.
You might consider reviewing your Insurance company and look for those that specialise in certain occupations. Endsleigh Insurance has long offered considerable discounts to those in Education, for instance, hence the company I use since no one else touches them on price.
January 22nd, 2007 at 8:09 pm
Wow wish I’d known about that when I lived there! I paid three times the value of my car to get it insured third party!!!!!!!!
But then again, your cars are probably more than 200 pounds and you probably have a record of insurance in the UK and you are probably well kinbd of more normal than me….
January 24th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
INdeed ! a con but it is one of life’s necessities sadly. I moved from TT to a Skoda (OK…. OK…so now you’ve all had a laugh at my expense I’ll carry on) the insurance quote only fell about £75 pa same company, same no claims bonus, etc etc - nothing different just the car (which btw is the best wee car I’ve ever had the fortune of owning…..milels better than the TT and wow…what a saving on tyres, servicing, fuel….(51mpg, 205×45x15 @ €45 each, service is €170 and diesel is €0.97 per/l) anyway…..the innsurance renewal came in last Nov and I did nothing….accepted it and it was paid (£160)……I needed another small car to buzz about in back home and boought an old Escort 1.4LX…it needed ins TPFT will do and called up Elephant - quote accepted but had to declare 3 points that I had been kindly given by Borders Constabulary in Sept 06 (never declared it at re-newal….well they never asked!!)
1 week later I get a letter in from Elephant saying that they had deducted another….wait for it…..£80 for the ins renewal on the Skoda due to the 3points !!
Eh ! What? err…….its 3 points and the only 3 I have.
My point being….how come the ins is loaded 50% on my first 3 points? Is it because for the first time ever I have 3 points and they are with a Skoda or is it because ins companies are all b#*~!”ds and simply any excuse to make another addition to your policy (at cost?)
I dunno….but whatever they are…‘elephant’ never seem to forget !!
August 22nd, 2007 at 6:08 pm
There are a lot of variables but they should at least explain the increase. I doubt the new Job title alone caused the unexpected quote. Good decision to shop elsewhere, though. Often, online you’ll get a lower premium. This shouldn’t be the case if your renewing but that’s the way it is.
December 24th, 2007 at 5:23 pm
Whilst insured with Elephant my Lexus was “written off” after beind rear ended , when stationary and forced into the rear of a 4×4 with projecting spare wheel. I could had the car repaired for a quarter of what Elephant allowed me. But they insisted the car was taken off the road, and my policy cancelled.
Gave a verbal insurance quote for another Lexus this time an LS400, When I telephoned a few days later to give the vehicle registration number the price had almost doubled. As it was late and I needed to travel to collect the car agreed to the price on the verbal understanding that when the claim has been settled by the 3rd. party who caused the accident I would be refunded the extra I had paid from thier original quote. Later I asked for this in writing, from both the representitive who made the statement and thier customer services dept. This statement has now been renegade in writing stating they had made a mistake.
When asked why thier price was by far the most expensive, could not give a satisfactory answer.
Elephant are not a company I would recommend. They may initially appear competitive but do not have any form of accident whilst insured by them.
I should state that I have maximum protected no claims bonus, and this is the first claim I have had.
I accuse them of extremely sharp practice.
Paul Whitmore.
October 22nd, 2008 at 5:39 am
Having hit a deer, ending up in the car being a total writeoff, Elephant.co.uk kept the remaining £900/10months of my policy and pocketed it. They say that this is policy… Their quote was “it was llike getting a bag of chips knocked out of your hand” Rubbish. we we had a 12 month contract for insuring a risk. Elephant.co.uk have broken it using jargon.
Please contact me if you have had this problem and we can get publicity to prevent this happening to other people. I all ready have BBC watchdog on board. Any more stories will help. Mabe we can have this policy banned and our money returned. we pay that much for insurance, we deserve to get what we pay for and not have to fight for poor settlement.
snipppycat at hotmail dotcom. place insurance in the subject field and send me your stories. Lets stop these scammers and get back to quality service.
Charlotte and Colin