Upheld: service failure, claim mishandling, failure to offer available policy option, misinformation complaint against AIL Insurance Limited (also referred to as Ageas Insurance Limited)

Decision detail

Summary

Mr P held a breakdown cover policy with AIL and made a claim when his car broke down abroad. AIL failed to offer repatriation as an option and provided misinformation regarding policy terms. Mr P had to arrange repairs in France at higher cost than equivalent UK repairs would have been. AIL initially offered £390.41 to cover additional travel costs but Mr P remained dissatisfied. The ombudsman upheld the complaint, finding AIL acted unfairly and directed them to pay the travel costs, £450 additional compensation (£300 for distress/inconvenience and £150 for repair cost differential), and any storage costs with interest.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman found AIL acted unfairly by failing to offer repatriation when they should have, and that Mr P would most likely have chosen this option. The ombudsman determined AIL should place Mr P in the position he would have been in had repatriation occurred. The £390.21 payment for additional travel costs was fair as these trips would not have been necessary with repatriation. An additional £300 compensation was appropriate to recognise distress and inconvenience from extended stay abroad and multiple instances of misinformation. A further £150 was warranted to reflect the higher repair costs in France compared to the UK, calculated on a holistic basis accounting for non-comparable elements between invoices and exchange rate variations. Storage costs should be covered as they would have been under the policy had repatriation taken place.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website