Peter Best Insurance

[rbgosling]

Just had an awful experience with Peter Best Insurance - I’m fuming. I went for an online renewal quote, and was offered a reasonable £173. They called back to confirm details, and said I’d failed to disclose a fault claim. After much brain-wracking I recalled that, when a BMW swiped my door mirror off, and drove off, I did notify my insurance before deciding to fix it myself at my own cost - no claim submitted or paid. Anyway, this apparently more than doubled the price to over £350. I wasn’t best pleased, so I said I didn’t want to go ahead at that price. Fine, she said, we can cancel, that’ll be a £55 admin fee. WHAT???? You are going to charge me £55 for NOT taking out this policy???? That’s what got me fuming. I spent all afternoon arguing the case, by phone and online chat, the best they could offer was to reduce the fee to £30. But by this point it was the principle more than the money. They weren’t budging further, so now I’ve spent £30 on literally nothing. Needless to say, they will not be getting further custom from me - at any price.

[Dcplug]

Do not pay it.

They have provided no service or product, you are under no obligation to pay anything.

[rbgosling]

Do not pay it.

They have provided no service or product, you are under no obligation to pay anything.

Well, I already paid the originally quoted £173. So when they refunded that to me, they deducted the £30 admin fee. You can be damned sure that if the money was in my pocket right now, rather than theirs, there would be zero chance of them ever seeing it!!

[KevW]

Thanks for that info Richard. Imagine how that company would react if you were a customer trying to make a claim.

I've had very good service from Adrian Flux over the years

[rbgosling]

All sorted now. A member of a local classic club I belong to, who is also an insurance broker, sorted me out. £297 is a useful improvement on my renewal of £403 from ClassicLine, and service was a great deal better than Peter Best.

Howden Insurance - not a classic specialist, but a more old-school broker with real branches in real British towns staffed by real people who listen to your needs and put some effort into finding the right policy, rather than a computerised quote and/or an Indian call centre. And the price is still decent. If you want a quote call Lee Holmes on 01604 434130. (No personal interest here, just sharing the experience of being a much happier customer than I was a week ago after the above experience!).

[supraholic]

When the spring car shows start up again, strike up a conversation about classic car insurance with everyone who walks by your car and tell them. Make sure that £30 ultimately costs them thousands.

[AndyC]

Richard, go through the formal complaints process , don't woprry if tehy don't find in your favor but make it clear toyu'll take this all the way to the Financial Ombudsman Servuce. Generally sprking it costs a firm £50 just for FOS to receive a complaint but cists the customer nothing, so they looose $30 even if they "win" sp sometimes it's worth them making a "foodwill" gesture upto £50.

[Tanz]

I have just renewed my Elan M100 with Pete Best £173 but have yet to test them with a claim.
If you are a Club Lotus member, contact Alan Morgan. Pete Best are one of their chosen insurance company's and Alan is very good at sorting insurance disputes.