75ZT Community

One of my students raised an interesting point today.

His car is insured with Direct Line and as the anniversary approached he quite sensibly decided to look around for quotes and indeed, found a combination of cover, quote and freebies that suited him perfectly. An oral quote, which he had to initiate, over the phone from D/L was apparently unacceptable.

Anyway, His insurance changed on 1st October and as of yesterday, he hadn't received a written quotation / NCD certificate from D/L and his new insurers were demanding proof of NCD. He had the good sense to cancel his direct debit with D/L and was informed by his bank that they had tried to claim another payment earlier this month.

Upon phoning D/L, he was told that they "Don't routinely send out renewal notices now", the onus, apparently, being upon the policyholder to deal with the matter or else they assume that the policy is to continue, at, in this case, a higher premium than the year before.

He told D/L to get stuffed, quite understandably, and asked for proof of NCD certificate to present to his new insurer... only to be told that, yes, they could provide the appropriate documentation but as he was no longer going to be a customer there would be a charge of £35.

Talk about rip-off Britain

Apparently, when he spoke on the phone he was told "It is part of the contract of insurance". In other words, if you stay with them you can have the document although you don't need it but if you move to another company they charge you £35 and they also do not provide a written quote at the anniversary and it is up to the policy holder to enquire.

I had a little chat with their customer service this morning and was served up no such bull-shit. They will "have his NCD document in tonight's post". The customer service representative I spoke to was unable to explain why my student had been given conflicting information.

So now I'm wondering why it should have taken an intervention by me to sort this out.

Whatever next?

Maybe they have heard the name raistlin before and know not to mess with a man of impeccable reputation

Sounds like some staff retraining is in order. Hard to believe they could get it so wrong. Or maybe not.

I had a similar thing some years ago.My renewal was way over the top,so I told them I was moving to another company ...a much better quote,only to be told a large fee for proof of NCB.Lo and behold,they matched the other quote to keep me on board.

Yes, D/L..... I once went to insure a LR Discovery with them. 'You need to have a Thatcham alarm fitted'. I informed them that it was a standard fit on the model. 'In that case we will need to charge you £40 to come and inspect it'. I explained the joys of sex and travel to them.

Would not touch them now with a barge pole.

I know most people are aware but.
For every bodies information the factory fit alarm and immobiliser systems on our cars is Thatcham CAT 2

ZT and 75 Alarm and Imobiliser Thatcham CAT2
EWS (Engine immobiliser (EWS from the German, Elektronik WegfahrSicherung)) 3 TE2 –1033/1198 T S D MG ZT Jul 01 – on S

EWS3 - Is the type of Thatcham system fitted

TE2 1033/1198 - Is Thatcham's evaluation code

TSD - Is Thatcham's feature code for that particular alarm system (T=Transponder, D=Suitable for Diesels, etc)

S - Standard fitment to R75 from November 1998 onwards and ZT's from Jul 2001 onwards

Mick wrote:I know most people are aware but.
For every bodies information the factory fit alarm and immobiliser systems on our cars is Thatcham CAT 2

Except in the case of the V8s which are Thatcham Cat 1, I believe.

Thatcham cat 2 is for an electronic immobiliser that meets the security criteria. Cat 1 is for immobiliser and alarm.

The standard 75 didn't have interior monitoring, except as an option, so wouldn't have met the criteria for Cat 1. However I believe the V8's did have this as standard. There are a few other subtleties too, which mean the alarm wouldn't meet Cat 1 (though I believe some facelifts had changes that would have allowed complaince). What makes it harder, is the requirements actually change over time. We are currently on issue 3 of the criteria, though 75s would probably have been assessed against issue 2.

Bernard wrote:

Mick wrote:I know most people are aware but.
For every bodies information the factory fit alarm and immobiliser systems on our cars is Thatcham CAT 2

Except in the case of the V8s which are Thatcham Cat 1, I believe.

V8 owners are a special case............... I'm not saying what kind as I quite like my head where it is.

Mick wrote:V8 owners are a special case............... I'm not saying what kind as I quite like my head where it is.

Too late! You've thought it.

Bernard wrote:

Mick wrote:V8 owners are a special case............... I'm not saying what kind as I quite like my head where it is.

Too late! You've thought it.

i did as well car insurance is such a mine field to which we mostly lose.....

bunch of rip-off merchants!!