footman james insurance policy cancellation warning.

Buying a ‘5 and Insurance advice Insurance Advice
2

Just a nice little tale regarding Footman James and there policy cancellation procedure.

I purchased my insurance through the club scheme shortly after becoming a member, primarily to get access to the club discount scheme from a reputable company that knew the car/club etc. (having owned Subaru’s, evo’s etc forum/club recommended insurance schemes have tended to be a more reliable, professional and keen to maintain the club’s business).

Following our main car renewal last month. we were granted a multi car policy for which the mx5 was also covered, so i called Footman James to inform them of impending policy cancellation and was told to pop it all in writing, returning the cover note etc.

Did the above and went off on holiday, just returned expecting to see a cheque waiting for me, instead i find a nice letter from Footman James informing that despite only providing 6 months cover and approx 1800 miles there will be no policy refund because there “acknowledgement” of receiving my letter was three days past the six month mark, and on there classic car policies they only refund under 6 months cover.

The guy on the phone from Footman really didnt give a monkies to my complaint as i was clearly past the 6 month termby the time it arrived in the post, or the fact i was part of the mx5 car club or that my annoyance to the above would also be posted on this forum.

So a word of warning for anyone running an mx5 short term, even if footman are a little cheaper, you would be well advised to insure elsewhere with a more reasonable policy towards early cancellation and not one that likes taking a years payment for 50% cover, especially with the summer months coming, people may be tempted to purchase a summer car, if you do, be very wary of using Footman especially if the period is anywhere near the six month mark.

As a result i have had to ask that they reinstate my policy and return my paperwork (as i am being charged for a year, i may as well keep it on that policy it seems), i would hope that in future the club would proactively look for an insurance partner that is more deserving of the clubs business and has a much better attitude than one with overly restrictive small print that likes charging for cover not being supplied.

 

3

Hi, thanks for the info.  I will endeavour to find out a bit more about this policy condition.

4

Cheers Martin,

seems a fairly odd clause to be imposed on a car that some would use as a summer / limited use vehicle, granted many will keep it insured through a whole 12 months, but i would hope when its garaged the premium would be a lot less than the £300 they have been charging me to use it on the road for the last 6 months hahaha…

Just spoke to a generic manager, apparently i should have read the policy documentation more clearly, (although you have to have made the payment to actually receive the documentation in the first place…) but then i could have used my 14 day cooling off period to cancel the policy for no penalty if i was unhappy with that clause, by then of course i was using the car and had little time to change as the vehicle was already in use, so stopping to refund and re-arrange with a better insurance company would have been both time consuming and costly (as i suspect getting the refund would have taken just as much arguing and waiting).

In 23 years driving i have never had a single claim or accident, but the attitude of Footman James customer service is such i am currently actively hoping to have one in the mx5 soon… although god forbid what they are like to deal with if you need to make a claim.