Insurance scam?

MikeyH

MikeyH

Elite
 Devon
Today I received 2 email supposedly from my car insurance company, Hastings. I say supposedly as although they had an order number of some kind on it the email looked rubbish made. They wanted photos of the outside of the car, in the boot, under the bonnet and inside the cockpit. If I didn't do this I would be in lots of trouble. I binned them both. Has anyone else had anything like this and do you think it might have been real? :? If it was, they will no doubt send it to me in the post. A couple of years ago I had something similar shortly before my renewal, this was to renew my policy but again looked iffy, I rang Hastings and they couldn't give a dam. That time they had my details correct. Needless to say I will not be using them again.
 
That sounds like a scam.

Are you sure they were actually from them, not somebody who had used an e-mail address that looked like theirs?
 
Mr Tidy said:
That sounds like a scam.

Are you sure they were actually from them, not somebody who had used an e-mail address that looked like theirs?
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I don't think it was from them as the artwork etc was crap but they did have a Hastings email address.
 
Give them a call. If it’s genuine, they’ll have a record of it.

I always heed the advice my bank gave me once, which is if you’re unsure call us - if we don’t have a record of the ask, it’ll be a scam.
 
Worcester_spoon said:
Give them a call. If it’s genuine, they’ll have a record of it.

I always heed the advice my bank gave me once, which is if you’re unsure call us - if we don’t have a record of the ask, it’ll be a scam.
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I will :thumbsup:
 
Worcester_spoon said:
I always heed the advice my bank gave me once, which is if you’re unsure call us
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Have you actually tried calling your bank recently? It takes an hour to even find a number to call. Then they spend ten minutes telling you to go online as it is 'easier' (for them not you).
I would go into my local Barclays branch (5 minute walk away) but I can't.........because they closed it last week! :x

It will probably be another Starbucks, or Polish shop selling 500 variations of pork sausages next week.

I didn't realise the High Street banks (that's become ironic) were so hard up TBH.
 
Coop bank, always easy to get through to and nice friendly people on the phone. Always very helpful. :thumbsup: pay cheques and cash into a named post office, most customers now pay by BACS so not a problem. Don’t have a local branch but one in Exeter :thumbsup:
 
So the latest is that it might be real. Had a letter yesterday from Hastings Direct along the same lines. Must contact them before 23rd May 2024 to answer questions to make sure everything is true and accurate. If not they will charge me £30.00 to change the details or £45.00 to cancel the policy. WTF. Has anyone else had this crap, ever. I am ringing their complaint line on Monday and making it clear that I will not be using them again.
 
You do not want your insurance company cancelling your insurance. If that happens you have to disclose you have had a policy refused or cancelled. It will have a negative impact on future insurance costs.

Have you declared your car as modified? When I used to modify my cars I have been asked to provide photographs of the changes I had made.

Or maybe they suspect the car has been modified and not declared?
 
MikeyH said:
So the latest is that it might be real. Had a letter yesterday from Hastings Direct along the same lines. Must contact them before 23rd May 2024 to answer questions to make sure everything is true and accurate. If not they will charge me £30.00 to change the details or £45.00 to cancel the policy. WTF. Has anyone else had this crap, ever. I am ringing their complaint line on Monday and making it clear that I will not be using them again.
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Did you contact them when you had your front bumper scrape?
Even if you didn't claim they will have logged it. Maybe they want to see if the risk they are insuring has changed?
 
Beerman said:
You do not want your insurance company cancelling your insurance. If that happens you have to disclose you have had a policy refused or cancelled. It will have a negative impact on future insurance costs.

Have you declared your car as modified? When I used to modify my cars I have been asked to provide photographs of the changes I had made.

Or maybe they suspect the car has been modified and not declared?
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They only thing different as far as I can tell from standard are the 224 wheels and they know about that.
 
Pondrew said:
MikeyH said:
So the latest is that it might be real. Had a letter yesterday from Hastings Direct along the same lines. Must contact them before 23rd May 2024 to answer questions to make sure everything is true and accurate. If not they will charge me £30.00 to change the details or £45.00 to cancel the policy. WTF. Has anyone else had this crap, ever. I am ringing their complaint line on Monday and making it clear that I will not be using them again.
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Did you contact them when you had your front bumper scrape?
Even if you didn't claim they will have logged it. Maybe they want to see if the risk they are insuring has changed?
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No, didn't. I have however checked my mileage and it is 1600 mls over the stated 5000mls. Just had an mot so they have checked it. How the hell I have done that much god knows. And no I hadn't noticed. Checked on the internet and it turns out I am now uninsured. :thumbsdown: It's the only thing it can be.
 
MikeyH said:
No, didn't. I have however checked my mileage and it is 1600 mls over the stated 5000mls. Just had an mot so they have checked it. How the hell I have done that much god knows. And no I hadn't noticed. Checked on the internet and it turns out I am now uninsured. :thumbsdown: It's the only thing it can be.
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Not sure where you checked, but IME that is not the case. Does it specifically say in your documentation that you MUST keep under your insured milage? Because that is where you need to be looking, not 'on the internet'.

Your proposal asks you to estimate your milage for the forthcoming year. During Covid mum was ill and I was her bubble, 200 mile round trip twice a week. After a few months I realised I'd blitzed the milage on the proposal so I phoned up Admiral and their reply was more or less...
"Yeah, don't worry about it, you're still under in total for he last few years - we only bother if you regularly do it".
 
DevonPaul said:
MikeyH said:
No, didn't. I have however checked my mileage and it is 1600 mls over the stated 5000mls. Just had an mot so they have checked it. How the hell I have done that much god knows. And no I hadn't noticed. Checked on the internet and it turns out I am now uninsured. :thumbsdown: It's the only thing it can be.
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Not sure where you checked, but IME that is not the case. Does it specifically say in your documentation that you MUST keep under your insured milage? Because that is where you need to be looking, not 'on the internet'.

Your proposal asks you to estimate your milage for the forthcoming year. During Covid mum was ill and I was her bubble, 200 mile round trip twice a week. After a few months I realised I'd blitzed the milage on the proposal so I phoned up Admiral and their reply was more or less...
"Yeah, don't worry about it, you're still under in total for he last few years - we only bother if you regularly do it".
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That's good as last year I was under and I had raised it from 4000mls to 5000mls the previous year to be safe. Well I will ring them on Monday and not use it in the meantime. I am quite worried as 1600mls is a lot. Got this from https://www.cuvva.com/how-insurance-works/updating-your-mileage.
 
So, managed to get through to someone on a 13 pence a minute line ans explained about the mileage was wrong and he wasn't bothered and raised it to 8000mls for just over £6.00. :thumbsup: He didn't know what the problem was except that there was a discrepancy of some kind and to ring Monday.
 
You are lucky to get away with £6. Sure, going over the mileage isn’t a big issue (I’d be hugely surprised if it invalidated your insurance, but depends on the small print), but I might expect them to apply the £30 “change of details” charge.
 
MikeyH said:
So, managed to get through to someone on a 13 pence a minute line ans explained about the mileage was wrong and he wasn't bothered and raised it to 8000mls for just over £6.00. He didn't know what the problem was except that there was a discrepancy of some kind and to ring Monday.
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Could be worse....
I had a letter come through the other week form the "insurance database" thing (can't remember who it was TBH) saying their records show my F31 isn't insured and to check with my insurance provider! I actually thought it was a scam at first!
I know I changed the cover over when I got the car in January this year, and checked my credit card statement from January. The payment was taken by them (SAGA) in January for the increased premium.
So firstly I checked on my account online and low and behold the old car was showing as insured, not the new F31.
I phoned them and it turned out their 'system' hadn't updated the new car details. The lady on the phone was very apologetic and couldn't understand why it had happened. I made a fuss (unlike me I know :wink: ) about not being insured for the last four months when I had paid for it. So she re-started the policy from the date I called for a year at no extra cost. I got over 6 months free insurance, but it still wasn't a good thing.
 
Well over 6 months free cover certainly wasn't a bad thing either!

The best I've managed was 3 months free RAC breakdown cover.
 
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