Young Driver’s Insurance Cancelled for Passing Test
Posted on September 11th, 2010
You may have spotted this article in the Independent over the weekend, relating the case of a young driver who has had his insurance policy cancelled by Marks and Spencer, for the heinous crime of passing his driving test.
They are unlikely to release an ad about this boob-up. (via Sky)
As the article rightly points out, there are plenty of valid reasons for prices going up when drivers pass their test. The main one being that they are always going to have an experienced driver sat next to them, who, if not a professional, will be mum or dad, with the result that many potential hazards are noticed well before the young driver has a chance to overlook them. And while a parent is alongside him, any mates in the car are unlikely to distract him, or, worse, pressure him into any reckless course of action.
So it would be fair enough, perhaps, if, when the poor lad passed his test, M&S had decided to charge an additional premium on top of the £2,750 they had already pocketed. But instead they decided to cancel his policy altogether, on the grounds that he was now too risky to insure.
This kind of behaviour gives the whole industry a bad name, and unfortunately this kind of obejectionable, money-grabbing behaviour has been spreading like wildfire recently.
Marks and Spencer have, in true weasel style, come out with a barrage of dissembling nonsense. “M&S Money does not underwrite car insurance. We use a panel of insurance companies that can offer a range of cover and premiums.”
Well that’s true of course, M&S Car Insurance is actually administered by the meerkat-hawking outsourced broker specialists at Budget. And as a broker Budget do indeed have a panel of insurance companies whose premiums vary widely depending on circumstances.
But being a broker does not mean you can abdicate any responsibility for your actions. On the contrary, as a broker you have even more of a responsibilty to put the customers needs to the fore, even if it loses you the business, and that means that selling a product that you know will shortly become unsuitable for your client is absolutely beyond the pale.
It is a fact of life that there is less risk associated with a provisional driver, but if you want to offer a cheaper premium as a result, then you must ensure that the customer is aware of any increase in premium that will become due down the line. It may cost, at most, a tiny bit more in time and effort, but anything less than this tarnishes the perception of the entire insurance industry. Shame on you, Budget, and shame on Marks and Spencer too for allowing this shambles to be perpetrated in their once-illustrious name.
It is already hard enough to find cheap young driver insurance, without idiotic behaviour like this.
Similar Posts:
- Young drivers forced to pay ‘sky-high’ premiums for car insurance
- Gender discrimination for pension annuities and motor insurance premiums
- Do you know what to look for in a policy?
- Car insurance quotes ‘rise by £50 in three months’
- Bad news for Women Drivers
Tags: Cancelled, Cancelled Passing
Filed under Insurance News |