| Product: |
Elephant.co.uk |
| Date: |
03/06/05 (2906 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Polite
Disadvantages: CANCELLATION POLICY CLAUSE, Poor Claims Recovery Service, Poor insurance cover!
I want to warn people about Elephant.co.uk, because you will get SCREWED when you have to make a Claim!.
I have 11 years worth of NCB, I was unlucky, when a driver hit the back of my car and then "failed to stop". As the driver could not be traced, I had to claim on my own insurance.
My Policy Excess was £300 and my No Claims Bonus was protected, so I assumed the MAXIMUM that I would loose is £300?! WRONG!
Even though the damage was just rear bumper, taillight and light bodywork. Elephant told me the car was "UNECONOMIC TO REPAIR" and then CANCELLED MY POLICY WITHOUT NOTICE!!! And they told me they have the right to keep the REMAINDER OF THE INSURANCE Premiums!. I paid for a 12 month policy!. This is a rip-off!.
My preference was to have my car repaired rather then declared as a TOTAL LOSS
So now, not only do I have to buy a replacement car, but will have to BUY A BRAND NEW POLICY!. Insurance premiums are high enough, without having them cancelled on you!.
Elephant never warned me this is what they when I bought the policy. They just told me did n't you read the POLICY DOCUMENT!!!! I feel cheated, it is bad enough that i got hit by a driver, but I feel I got a punch in the face, by Elephant!!
In my view, they delibratly tried to TOTAL LOSS the car, because it is in their advantage to do so!. So when you claim, they keep your (i) agreed Policy Excess (ii) They get to keep the REMAINDER of your premiums (iii) they get to keep the salvage of the car (iv) Plus they send a Loss Adjustor to knock down your value. I sat down and did the maths, in fact they Elephant WILL MAKE MONEY IF I MAKE MY CLAIM!?
Plus, by cancelling my policy, I have to buy a new insurance policy and most insurer's will LOAD your premiums even if the accident is not your fault!.
And what is worst, is the Elephant cancelled the Policy even before I had agreed to the claim or even before payout. And my Policy allows includes the "Driving of Other Cars". So I could not drive my father's car, so I am totally stranded!!!
I wanted to get cheaper repair quotes, but Elephant refused, they told me that as the insurance was cancelled, I could not drive the car to any garage!!.
Another problem with Elephant is that their CLAIMS DEPARTMENT sucks, I told them about the accident and there was CCTV on the road where the accident, but they have not bothered to follow it up!!.
In the end I withdrew the claim and am getting the car repaired my self....
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CANCELLATION OF INSURANCE also happen if your car is STOLEN. So imagine you are a young driver who paid £1000 for his insurance and your car is worth £800. And the next day your car gets stolen. Even though your car is insured against theft (so the insurance company will give you £800 less your policy excess), but the young driver will have to fork out another £1000 for a brand new insurance policy!!! So whats the point of car insurance???
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My advice is READ THE POLICY DOCUMENT.
I phoned Direct Line, after their TV advert about uninsured drivers, but their POLICY still have the Cancellation of Policy clause. (don't believe the call centre staff... read the policy).
Norwich Union does not CANCEL POLICIES.....
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Summary:
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Last comments:
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- 23/10/08 I totally agree, Elephant is cheap but otherwise utterly useless. I did manage (after much lengthy conversation) to get them to reinstate my policy after it was cancelled following a fire caused by, wait for it, an Elephant subcontractor! (Beeches Recovery in Birmingham, who were subcontracted by Call Assist to attend to my broken down car, Call Assist are subcontracted by Elephant to provide breakdown cover) and many significant problems ensued re making the claim, getting paid, and then not getting paid out enough! |
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- 11/06/05 UPDATE (my story) ====>>
1 . I have now had my car repaired at my OWN cost.
2. I withdrew my claim, but elephant.co.uk still refused to re-instate the insurance.
3. Elephant.co.uk said that I needed to get a new MOT!! (even though I had a valid one and an invoice for the accident repairs to my car).
4. I asked them "how am I supposed to get the car to the MOT station, without car insurance?". They were being unreasonably difficult! (Even though I had receipts for repairs, this was not good enough for them.).
5. I finally managed to get an MOT for my car.
6. I email them this is done.
7. A week later, they write a letter to me and say they need to have SIGHT of the MOT!!
8. I phone them to say can I fax the MOT to you?. They said "no, they don't accept fax copies"!!. I felt offended, don't they trust their customers?. I did not mind sending them the original document, but would have liked to have my insurance re-instated so THAT I CAN DRIVE MY CAR!!
9. So, by chance, I call again. I manage to speak to their call centre in INDIA. And YES they will accept a fax copy of the MOT certificate!! HOORRAAYY!!
10 . The Indian call centre tells me - "yes, we can re-instate the Policy and WE WILL NOT BE CHARGING YOU £45 TO RE-INSTATE THE POLICY!."
What a CHEEK!!!
They should have **refunded** for the period for which my insurance was CANCELLED (they cancelled the insurance, NOT ME!).
So it is bad enough that I save them money by not making a claim, but they also tell me it is their **rules** not to refund the premium for the cancelled period.
So why do their rules only favour them???
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- 03/06/05 Keeping 12 months premiums is standard throughout the insurance industry once you have made a claim. I do not think what they did was any different to what most insurance companies would do, as reagrrds the write off.
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