Why Does Changing Address On Car Insurance Cost Money?
Nosotros recently got a mail from a reader past the name of Geraldine Conaty which started with the 3 words: "Can you help?" Geraldine had just moved from Dublin to Longford only that wasn't the problem.
"My auto is insured with the AA," she wrote. "I rang them to change the address on my policy and was told at that place would exist a charge of €81. I asked why equally my car is parked in my drive in my estate exactly the same as it was in Dublin. I was told the charge was 'estimator generated'."
Geraldine was unsurprisingly unhappy with this answer and she persisted and once more asked what exactly the charge was for every bit in that location was absolutely no change to the policy except moving county.
"Once again I was told it was 'computer generated' and after putting me on concord to speak to one of her colleagues, the woman I was speaking to told me it could be that at that place is a higher charge per unit of theft in Longford or a higher rate of accident claims."
If your existing insurer wants to make information technology harder than it should be for you lot to switch from them to another provider, they can do that handily enough
Geraldine was astounded by what she was hearing and deeply sceptical that this could be the instance. She refused to buy the suggestion that Longford was a riskier prospect than Dublin.
She could not, however, decline to buy the car insurance. "Afterwards near twoscore minutes of trying to go a concrete and logical answer [which I did not get], I paid the charge purely out of fearfulness that something would happen and there would be an result about the wrong accost on my policy," she connected.
She asked u.s.a. if we could have meliorate luck in finding out why she had to pay near twenty per cent more for her car insurance merely because she now lives in Longford and not Dublin. We did our best.
Only we started out with a heavy heart as we know that when it comes to car insurance – and this is not specific to the AA – the companies have us all over a butt.
Unlike many other financial products that y'all might consider ownership, car insurance is a legal requirement and 1 we can't just go rid of unless we also get rid of our cars. And if your existing insurer wants to brand it harder than it should be for you to switch from them to another provider, they can exercise that handily enough and in that location is very piffling by way of comeback. That is not to say the AA would do that but only to highlight how difficult information technology can be when someone is in this position.
We contacted Conor Faughnan of the AA to come across how the company could justify a premium increment simply considering someone was moving from the capital city to the heart of rural Ireland.
He first pointed out that the AA doesn't go to control premium prices considering it is a re-seller of insurance. "We're non underwriters. Nosotros have a panel of insurers that we have done overall deals with but nosotros don't get to set the rates," he said.
He made the comparison between a motorist ownership one insurance policy and the AA which buys about 10,000 a month for its customers. That, apparently, gives them a lot of buying power and the take chances to squeeze insurers for good overall deals "only we can't alter individual ratings or risk factors".
Nosotros are still beingness ripped off by automobile insurance companies that are doing information technology because they can go away with it
So why are insurers' prices so evidently random? "It is a bit of a black fine art sometimes even trying to figure it out. For each risk an insurer will weigh equally many equally 50 unlike factors: age, location, occupation, car blazon, etc. Everything except gender [which has been illegal since 2012]," he says.
Geraldine can blame the whole palaver on algorithms. "All of the risks get into the hopper and it will also include the overall balance of the book of policies the insurer already has. Similar bookies, they are looking to equalise risk across thousands of polices, not individually. If an insurer is statistically over-represented or under-represented in whatever category, that can result in the software adjusting the toll offered," Faughnan connected.
He said that considering of the complexities of the algorithms, you will get "anomalies and wrinkles" on occasion. "Sometimes the software spits out a toll that is anomalously good, then by all means accept it. Other times it produces a figure that appears on the face up of information technology to be too high and so store effectually," he added.
He accepted that it was a source of frustration for consumers "because the prices offered appear capricious and anything but transparent. Overall that is a fair comment."
He so got on a hobby equus caballus of his – but as it is a hobby horse of ours we indulged him. "We all know that prices overall are too high. They shot upwards in 2014-2015 and take since normalised at high levels. This has taken the political heat out of the upshot but it is withal not solved," Faughnan concluded.
Or, to put it another fashion, we are still being ripped off past motorcar insurance companies that are doing it because they can get away with it. Although with the EU looking somewhat closely at the goings on in the manufacture here, that could be about to change.
Ryanair and refunds
"I am a great fan of Pricewatch and over the years have enjoyed reading your various articles in The Irish gaelic Times," started a mail from a reader called Adrian Gordon, a man who clearly knows the near direct route to our heart!
"I now find myself in a situation which, quite bluntly, I discover unbelievable," he continued.
"On Fri, April 26th, my married woman and I took a flying from Malaga airport to Shannon Aerodrome. Due to weather atmospheric condition nosotros were advised by the pilot as the plane began to land that we were landing at Dublin Airport due to the weather at Shannon Airport. The pilot also brash all passengers to go to the Ryanair desk-bound at the airport and that transport to Shannon would be arranged for us. The flight landed at Dublin Airport after midnight," he says.
"As advised nosotros presented ourselves at the Ryanair desk beside the luggage carousels at Dublin Airport. The female Ryanair staff fellow member there advised u.s., and indeed other passengers, that every bit a lot of flights had to be diverted from both Shannon and Cork Airports due to the weather that there were no more buses available for them to hire to convey u.s. to Shannon. She told the states to rent a car or become a taxi to Shannon and that Ryanair would refund united states the toll within seven days."
Adrian did non have his driving licence with him then he and his married woman had no option but to hire a taxi to Shannon Aerodrome at a cost of €440.fourscore.
"I subsequently filled out a claim course and sent it and a copy of the taxi receipt to Ryanair."
Information technology was 'disappointing that it takes contact from a journalist to prompt a large very profitable visitor to give a customer what they take promised'
Just Ryanair refused to refund the cost of the taxi and insisted "that surface transportation was arranged by them for all passengers".
Adrian protested and said he had been informed that no send was available simply to no avail. "I later made contact with another passenger on the aforementioned flight and they had to hire a motorcar to go to Shannon Airport following the instructions of the Ryanair employee."
Then Adrian contacted the Irish gaelic Committee for Aviation Regulation who told him that every bit the flight originated in Espana, it was a thing for the Spanish Commission for Aviation Regulation. "They provided an electronic mail link to this office which when viewed is written entirely in Spanish which I don't speak. In any case my complaint refers to what happened on the basis in Dublin so I don't encounter what it has got to do with Spain.
"Presumably my Irish taxes are funding the Irish Commission for Aviation Regulation and I should not be fobbed off to a website written in Castilian even if nosotros are all EU members. Are Spaniards in a similar situation to mine referred to a website written in Irish gaelic?"
Adrian was totally frustrated "past both the attitude of both Ryanair and the Irish Aviation Function. The fact that I am enlightened of at least ane other passenger who also had to hire send to become to Shannon confirms what the Ryanair employee told passengers. To the best of my knowledge this other passenger has not submitted their claim to Ryanair notwithstanding."
We contacted Ryanair and received a terse statement. "We've resolved this direct with the customer," is all information technology said.
It didn't really satisfy us and we were left wondering what information technology actually meant. And then we got dorsum on to our reader who was, thankfully, more than forthcoming.
Adrian told us that his wife had received a phone call from a woman in Ryanair after we had made contact with the airline. This woman stated that she had received an email asking her to go far affect with the couple to explain that they would "receive a total refund within seven to x days. When my wife told her of the upset this matter had caused u.s.a., the woman said she had just received an email asking her to advise them of the to a higher place.
"In view of our previous feel, my wife requested her to email us confirming the conversation. To date we have not received any confirmation. Obviously having been told before nosotros would receive a refund and so being categorically told that we were not entitled to any refund leaves us in a sceptical frame of listen which will remain until we actually get the money into our account.
"No apology was offered and given that we were originally told that we would receive a refund within seven days it is abrasive that nosotros now have to wait a farther seven to 10 days. The fact that nosotros received no apology or explanation or fifty-fifty a confirmatory electronic mail from Ryanair when it was requested is upsetting as Ryanair'south attitude was that we were trying to obtain money which we were non entitled to."
He said information technology was "disappointing that it takes contact from a announcer to prompt a large very profitable visitor to give a customer what they have promised them".
He got the call promising the refund on Sabbatum, May fourth so he mailed u.s. on Monday, May 15th, to say there was even so no refund.By concluding Wednesday evening. There was still no sign.
Behind the times at Bank of Ireland
Poor Bank of Ireland appears to be struggling to go on up with technological advances like using computers to update customer accounts in real time and it is appears to be constantly thrown past things like bank holidays and weekends. It is also 1 of the few banks in Ireland that seems unaware of advances in technology that permit people to use their phones every bit payment devices. Only that'south a whole other story.
This story is Deirdre Murray's. "I've had it up to here with Banking company of Ireland charges on our current account," started her mail . "They go on making carte transactions made on a Friday disappear as if they had not been done. The funds show as available in the business relationship to spend then.
"If y'all do any debit transactions that take these funds, and then not only are you in unauthorised overdraft by a Tuesday or Wednesday when the debits magically reappear, just you have been charged at money lender rates past the depository financial institution for it."
She cited the example of the Easter weekend. She gets paid weekly and on the Fri she paid her mortgage by bill of fare and bought diesel for the car and did her weekly shopping.
"On the Saturday morning all the Fri menu transactions disappeared. I used the menu three or four times for small amounts on Saturday and Sunday and on Tuesday the account was €287 overdrawn.
On the Wednesday and Thursday of the following calendar week, the bank hit her with eleven €10 referral fees on summit of that – a total of €110.
"I contacted the bank and got some rubbish nigh pre-authorisations from the merchants for the card transactions. Information technology does non wash because information technology happens for ATM transactions too. No merchants involved there. This is the banks' problem. If they take authorised a transaction, then that coin should non exist shown in available funds. In this twenty-four hours and age I should non have to keep receipts or a mental depository financial institution balance tally over a weekend, because I can't trust the bank balance shown in the app or the browser to know how much money I have [or have not]."
Nosotros contacted the bank and got the following response: "Normally when customers use their debit cards, transactions should reflect on their business relationship and their available funds should adjust immediately. However, bank vacation weekends outcome in some transactions non being fully processed and, therefore, not reflected in the balance visible to the client. We are working on improvements to this."
While a cursory reading of this response might make you lot think that the bank is working on this problem as a thing of urgency, nosotros remain to exist convinced. This is an issue nosotros take highlighted with Bank or Ireland repeatedly and problems of this nature take been experienced by our readers for years yet nevertheless the banking concern seems incapable of dealing with it.
They will arraign merchants and they will arraign other banking company'due south ATMs and they will blame weekends. Ultimately, as our reader says, it is the bank's trouble. Handily for it, information technology profits from the trouble on occasions such as this ane.
Source: https://www.irishtimes.com/news/consumer/change-in-address-leads-to-increased-car-insurance-premium-1.3893259
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