I recently searched for car insurance via a well-known comparison site
("CS").

I didn't know the value of the car, so said that when asked by CS.
Without my knowledge, CS inserted a ridiculously low value for the car
without telling me. The quotes they obtained were on that basis.

Obviously, these quotes were very attractive, and I bought through CS.

Only weeks later, when I received my policy documents, did I spot the
stupidly low valuation. I have now contacted the insurer and paid the
extra premium, they asked for.

The insurer denies any responsibility, saying it's the fault of CS. But,
CS is their agent, and they pay CS for introductions.

CS is not regulated, and they have a clear incentive to undervalue cars,
in order to get the business.

On 08/01/2024 19:56, GB wrote:
> I recently searched for car insurance via a well-known comparison site
> ("CS").
>
> I didn't know the value of the car, so said that when asked by CS.
> Without my knowledge, CS inserted a ridiculously low value for the car
> without telling me. The quotes they obtained were on that basis.

> CS is not regulated, and they have a clear incentive to undervalue cars,
> in order to get the business.

IME, there are a number of ticks and boxes needed to fill before asking
for quotes. You would have had the chance to put in a figure, but didnt.
I cannot see how it can be the websites fault for putting in a default
figure, you had the chance of putting it in, but didnt.
There would also have been your details in front of you when you went to
pay and accept the quote, along with the Policy details, exemptions etc.
You clearly didnt notice then either.
Your fault in my view.

--
Remove the '+' and replace with 'plus' to reply by email

On 08/01/2024 19:56, GB wrote:
> I recently searched for car insurance via a well-known comparison site
> ("CS").
>
> I didn't know the value of the car, so said that when asked by CS.
> Without my knowledge, CS inserted a ridiculously low value for the car
> without telling me. The quotes they obtained were on that basis.
>
> Obviously, these quotes were very attractive, and I bought through CS.
>
> Only weeks later, when I received my policy documents, did I spot the
> stupidly low valuation. I have now contacted the insurer and paid the
> extra premium, they asked for.
>
> The insurer denies any responsibility, saying it's the fault of CS. But,
> CS is their agent, and they pay CS for introductions.
>
> CS is not regulated, and they have a clear incentive to undervalue cars,
> in order to get the business.

You can cancel an insurance policy within 14 days of receipt of the
policy documents without penalty (providing you've not made a claim / do
not have a claim pending, etc.) and receive a full refund of premiums
paid, minus a pro-rata deduction for the period on cover so you could
have cancelled the policy and taken your business elsewhere without
penalty had you chosen to do so, which means your losses would seem
difficult to quantify.

That said, I would recommend asking for a copy of the recording of your
initial telephone call to the CS along with a copy of the data recorded
on their system whilst the call was in progress, both via a Data Subject
Access Request.

Simultaneously, I would also recommend invoking the formal complaints
procedure with the CS on the grounds that they've put an unreasonably
low valuation on the vehicle to win the business.

If you get no job with the CS, I would recommend escalating the matter
to the Financial Conduct Authority by which time you'll have a copy of
the initial recording, the data captured during the initial call, (so
you can prove the valuation as theirs rather than yours), and a
communication from the CS as to how they've dealt with your complaint.

Regards

S.P.

Alan Lee <alan@darkroom.plus.com> wrote:
> On 08/01/2024 19:56, GB wrote:
> > I recently searched for car insurance via a well-known comparison site
> > ("CS").
> >
> > I didn't know the value of the car, so said that when asked by CS.
> > Without my knowledge, CS inserted a ridiculously low value for the car
> > without telling me. The quotes they obtained were on that basis.
>
> > CS is not regulated, and they have a clear incentive to undervalue cars,
> > in order to get the business.
>
> IME, there are a number of ticks and boxes needed to fill before asking
> for quotes. You would have had the chance to put in a figure, but didnt.
> I cannot see how it can be the websites fault for putting in a default
> figure, you had the chance of putting it in, but didnt.
> There would also have been your details in front of you when you went to
> pay and accept the quote, along with the Policy details, exemptions etc.
> You clearly didnt notice then either.
> Your fault in my view.

Interestingly, I tried this with a few comparison sites.

The opera singer, the rodent and the puzzled site are all upfront about
estimated valuations when you enter the car registration.

The money grocery store never shows you the valuation at all, and will hand
you off to an insurer without any mention of valuations. Depending on which
insurer you choose they may not show it either. It's only in the 'your
cover needs' section which is a button in the search results is the
valuation shown. It's also there if you go back and edit the quote, but not
the first time around.

For a vehicle registration I made up off the top of my head (AJ15WRD) I get
valuations:

Money groceries: £4010
Puzzled: £6050
Opera: £4410
Rodent: £5740

and the opera singer one also quotes more detailed figures from 'mycarcheck':
Estimated forecourt sale price: £5,620
Estimated private sale price: £4,820
Estimated trade in sale price: £4,410
Estimated auction sale price: £4,010

So they seem to be all over the shop.

The fact that the valuation is there when you edit the quote and not first
time around sounds like a bug in the money grocery store, so I would suggest
taking it up with them.

Theo

GB <NOTsomeone@microsoft.invalid> wrote in news:unhk1s$1lej9$1@dont-
email.me:

> I recently searched for car insurance via a well-known comparison site
> ("CS").
>
> I didn't know the value of the car, so said that when asked by CS.
> Without my knowledge, CS inserted a ridiculously low value for the car
> without telling me. The quotes they obtained were on that basis.
>
> Obviously, these quotes were very attractive, and I bought through CS.
>
> Only weeks later, when I received my policy documents, did I spot the
> stupidly low valuation. I have now contacted the insurer and paid the
> extra premium, they asked for.
>
> The insurer denies any responsibility, saying it's the fault of CS. But,
> CS is their agent, and they pay CS for introductions.
>
> CS is not regulated, and they have a clear incentive to undervalue cars,
> in order to get the business.
>

I sympathise as I was put in a similar position using a different
comparison site, "MS". Having bought the car recently I had researched the
values of similar cars and knew the going rate but chose to only enter my
reg no as I was encouraged to do "for a more accurate quote". The
comparison site assumed a value which as in your case was ridiculoulsy low,
as it turned out, only 60% of an engineer's assessment of it and was way
below any valuation estimate I could access for even high mileage cars in
poor condition, even using the 'any car' purchase discounters. The assumed
value was not stated anywhere during the transaction which I was able to
confirm as I had taken screenshots of the complete data entry and purchase
process.

Whilst the low valuation was stated in the schedule I missed it and sadly
suffered a total loss on the vehicle shortly after. The claims agent
offered only the insured value and I countered that the assumed valuation
should have been stated at the time of purchase to enable me to make an
informed choice on the insurance product.

Long story short it had to go to the Financial Ombudsman Service to get it
settled who agreed with my position and instructed the insurer to pay the
full amount of the engineer's valuation.

Lesson learned, enter your own valuation, read the schedule carefully and
failing that make a very persuasive case to the ombudsman.

In message <VCk*rB1zz@news.chiark.greenend.org.uk>, at 14:42:15 on Tue,
9 Jan 2024, Theo <theom+news@chiark.greenend.org.uk> remarked:
>Alan Lee <alan@darkroom.plus.com> wrote:
>> On 08/01/2024 19:56, GB wrote:
>> > I recently searched for car insurance via a well-known comparison site
>> > ("CS").
>> >
>> > I didn't know the value of the car, so said that when asked by CS.
>> > Without my knowledge, CS inserted a ridiculously low value for the car
>> > without telling me. The quotes they obtained were on that basis.
>>
>> > CS is not regulated, and they have a clear incentive to undervalue cars,
>> > in order to get the business.
>>
>> IME, there are a number of ticks and boxes needed to fill before asking
>> for quotes. You would have had the chance to put in a figure, but didnt.
>> I cannot see how it can be the websites fault for putting in a default
>> figure, you had the chance of putting it in, but didnt.
>> There would also have been your details in front of you when you went to
>> pay and accept the quote, along with the Policy details, exemptions etc.
>> You clearly didnt notice then either.
>> Your fault in my view.
>
>Interestingly, I tried this with a few comparison sites.
>
>The opera singer, the rodent and the puzzled site are all upfront about
>estimated valuations when you enter the car registration.
>
>The money grocery store never shows you the valuation at all, and will hand
>you off to an insurer without any mention of valuations. Depending on which
>insurer you choose they may not show it either. It's only in the 'your
>cover needs' section which is a button in the search results is the
>valuation shown. It's also there if you go back and edit the quote, but not
>the first time around.
>
>For a vehicle registration I made up off the top of my head (AJ15WRD) I get
>valuations:
>
>Money groceries: £4010
>Puzzled: £6050
>Opera: £4410
>Rodent: £5740
>
>and the opera singer one also quotes more detailed figures from 'mycarcheck':
> Estimated forecourt sale price: £5,620
> Estimated private sale price: £4,820
> Estimated trade in sale price: £4,410
> Estimated auction sale price: £4,010
>
>So they seem to be all over the shop.
>
>The fact that the valuation is there when you edit the quote and not first
>time around sounds like a bug in the money grocery store, so I would suggest
>taking it up with them.

Car valuations are all over the place, anyway.

I recently churned my car and as a trade-in, the old one got less than
half the amount one might have expected selling it privately. But I just
needed to get it done quickly.

The dealer was very up-front about this and said he'd be sending it to
auction and needed to make enough margin to at least pay for the
logistics of that. I expect a dealer will have bought it, glammed it up
a bit, and then sold it at a forecourt price.

Similarly, the one I bought was about 10% more than most estimates for a
"forecourt sale price" (which in turn is quite sensitive to the recorded
mileage as well as the model spec and manufacturing data).

But it was on that forecourt two miles away, and any other candidate was
hundreds of miles away, which if I'd taken a whole day out to go view,
might well have not turned out to be a better-buy.

In both cases, had they been a total loss just before/after I flipped
them, what would the insurance company have paid out?
--
Roland Perry