The true cost of insurance fees and charges

Oct. 1, 2010 - PRLog -- AGE UK COMMENTS ON WHICH? MAGAZINE’S PROBE INTO THE TRUE COST OF INSURANCE, PUBLISHED TODAY



Which? Magazine’s article ‘Revealing the true cost of insurance’, published today**, names and shames car and home insurance providers who are cashing in on a series of hidden costs enforced on customers. Age UK Enterprises*** comments on why more transparency is needed in the insurance industry and details why they are different from the rest.

The research from Which?, which is based on analysis of over 300 car or home insurance providers, highlights the many ways in which insurance companies are duping customers with a series of unnecessary fees and charges.  Most significant are the large amounts some providers charge customers for making small changes to their personal or policy details, cancellation and renewal fees, high APRs applied to monthly instalments, as well as fees applied when duplicating documents, and the techniques used to strip policies down to improve rankings on price comparison site search listings.



Adding to the poor perception of the financial services industry as a whole, the findings from Which? demonstrate how some providers are continually failing to deliver good customer experience and instead keep two eyes on profit margins only.



Commenting on the findings, Gordon Morris, Managing Director at Age UK Enterprises said: “It is frustrating some companies are clearly using unfair charges as a way of making money as they continue to charge for initial administration fees, duplicating documents and simply changing the name on a policy. It is no wonder the industry suffers from little trust when companies continue to levy charges on unassuming customers, which is hardly demonstrative of treating customers fairly. Age UK is fully committed to meeting the needs of our customers so no hidden extras are charged in any of our new and existing insurance offerings*.



“If a change needs to be made on either a new policy or an existing one*, which makes no difference to the insurance risk, we do this for free and consider this part and parcel of our dedication to providing good customer service.”  



Age UK Enterprises are specialists in offering insurance to those in later life. Fully committed to meeting the needs of their customers, and in recognition of the financial pressures customers often face, Age UK Enterprises is committed to ensuring no hidden extras are charged on any of its insurance offerings.  



Age UK Enterprises highlights below their charging structures.



Sign up fees

We value every customer who holds a policy with us so we don’t welcome a new customer by way of charging them extra administration set-up costs. Similarly customers can renew with us without being charged an admin fee for the privilege.



Big charges for small changes:

As Which? highlights, some providers impose big charges for small changes. So long as the changes made to a new or existing policy do not impact the level of risk being underwritten, we will not charge an extra fee for amends.



APR’s

The research from Which? details how some providers charge over 30% APR for customers choosing to pay premiums via monthly instalments. When paying for one of the insurance policies we offer we don’t do this. New and existing policies offered by Age UK Enterprises* have a 0% APR TYPICAL.  



No frills policies adding up

Due to the popularity of price comparison sites, insurance providers have had to strip policy features back in a bid to remain competitive on price in search listings. Only after consumers have bought the policy do they realise they need to add on features to their policy (often at additional costs). Insurance products offered by Age UK Enterprises do not appear on price comparison sites. We pride ourselves on our transparent sales technique and being upfront with customers on the product and the benefits they will receive from insuring with us.  

- Ends –

*Age UK Enterprises’ insurance products are provided by Fortis Insurance Ltd.

For further information, please contact Jo Roberts or Charlotte Elmehagen on 0207 360 7877 or ageuk@teamspiritpr.com.



** In July 2010 Which? Money analysed 151 car insurance providers and 180 home insurance providers. The full article ‘Revealing the true cost of insurance' appears in the October 2010 issue of Which? Money magazine.



***Age UK Enterprises is a trading name of Age Concern Enterprises Limited.



Notes to Editors:

Age UK is the new force combining Age Concern and Help the Aged. The Age UK family includes Age Scotland, Age Cymru and Age NI. Age Concern England and Help the Aged, and their trading and other associated companies merged on 1 April 2009. Together they have formed the Age UK Group, dedicated to improving the lives of people in later life.



Age UK is inspired by the belief that it can improve the lives of people in later life. It celebrates ageing and believes it presents unprecedented opportunities and challenges at home and abroad.  The charity will challenge ageist prejudice in society, provide services that address market failures and support the public and private sectors to design age-friendly products and services.  It will support people to remain in their own homes through campaigning and practical services and its Information and Advice service will offer millions of people support on a range of issues from claiming benefits to staying fit and healthy.  



Age UK will fund biomedical research that helps tackle the ill health and poor quality of life that are too common as people age.  Working with over 350 partners across the country the Charity will help influence local decisions and deliver the most appropriate services.  Its network of over 500 shops will act as a focal point for the local community, providing information and help with local services.  Age UK works across the globe as well as in the UK, championing older people’s rights and needs.



The new organisations will have a turnover of more than £150 million, nearly £400m with its brand partners. In addition to campaigning and influencing, their work will include providing information and advice to over five million people, commercial services for over one million customers and reaching 14 million customers through over 500 retail shops. Internationally, they will support a global network for older people in more than 70 countries and will fund pioneering research into all aspects of ageing.



AGE CONCERN ENTERPRISES



To fund its charitable activities, Age UK needs a constant flow of independent income. It seeks to achieve this through a balance of traditional fund raising and trading activities.



The trading activities, through Age Concern Enterprises, (ACEnt)  enable it to meet the needs of older people, through products specifically designed to meet these needs; quality products such as general insurance and energy Services.



ACEnt incorporates: Age UK Energy, Age Concern Insurance Services and Age UK Guaranteed Funeral Plans. Log on to http://www.ageuk.org.uk/buy/ for details.



Age Concern Enterprises is part of the Social Enterprise Coalition; an organisation that represents a wide range of social enterprises with the overarching aim of working in partnership for the creation of effective sector products, services and knowledge-sharing networks to help stimulate and encourage growth, development and sustainability of social enterprises in England.



Age Concern Enterprises scooped up the ‘Customer Care Award’ at the prestigious 2010 British Insurance Awards. The judges singled out Age Concern Enterprises for its exceptional customer service which is provided by Fortis Insurance Ltd (soon to be known as Ageas Insurance Limited), as well as for glowing customer testimonials with a ‘world-class’ customer satisfaction score of 85 per cent, and 89 per cent of customers saying that they would recommend Age Concern Enterprises/Fortis (Insurance UK).