Ecarinsurance 

Bad service ripped me off had no idea of anything I asked them about kept blabbing out the same rubbish again and again .Do not ever insure with them con artists

Took out a policy a few days ago which I need to cancel as the sale of the car fell through. I have been trying to contact them all day, have no problem getting through to the new business team but when you ask for cancellations you are just left on hold for a ridiculous amount of time. I have sent a few emails as well but have had no response whatsoever. Stay away from this company all they care about is taking your money!!!!

Paid for policy. They cancelled and demanded more money £91. Said cancel policy and they said it would cost even more than £91. 6 hours on phone. Still not resolved. Now with ombudsman. Do not I repeat do not use this company at any price.

Sorry to say that, I am one their customer who has been robbed like others. I brought car insurance from Bright Side. After reading the review, I cancelled the policy within 14 days. Their Terms and conditions say if it is within 14 days, cancellation charges of £25 apply. The lady said it is £45 until 16th Jan. When I referred the document, she said she will do me a favour by honouring T&C. I paid about £ 150 as deposit and agreed about £80 per month. For 11 days of insurance they are charging £30 on top of deposit. When I asked to explain how they are charging me, they don’t have any clue how they came to this amount. She was babbling. They are breaching the contract and it is fraud to charge customer without agreement. After speaking to the lady for some time, I realize, behind the insurance policy, there are multiple companies (more than 3) involved. Each of them is having commission and these small companies are surviving on these commissions. It seems like no one is continuing until the end of the term and their business model itself is short term large benefit. Seriously, this company does not have any long term plans. For me, it looks like a kind of Ponzi insurance scheme. Eventually, I cancelled the car insurance. The lady promised to send an email immediately after the call which she didn’t. I still don’t know whether my insurance is cancelled or not. I presume it is cancelled. One good thing I did was, I did not paid full amount. If not, they would have said I need to pay another 30 on top of full premium for 11 days. On positive side, I got great lesson by losing £150 - £200. Now, good will and reputation matters the most to me.

I will post you the updated to save other customer from this mistake.

I wish my daughter had read the reviews on this website before she insured her car. They have been totally uncontactable by phone or email ever since she took out her insurance last month. Their website is dreadful, impossible to negotiate or understand, letters and documents that are supposed to be posted there are not there. This was the first year she had insured her own vehicle it has always been on the family policy before and she is extremely frustrated and disillusioned, learning the hard way what sharks the insurance industry are - this organisation in particular.

I went with eCar because they were the best value on comparison websites. Big mistake! They have been a nightmare to deal with from start to finish. Premium rate numbers continually go unanswered when calling to complain or enquire on progress, documents were allegedly not recieved, demands for extra payments sent out, threats of insurance cancellation, awful customer service...the list is endless. The piece de resistance however was when I cancelled mid policy as they would not insure my new car...I requested (after being on hold for over 40mins) a final settlement figure over the phone so I didn't have to have any further dealings with them, was told this wasn't possible.... Insisted and juvenile call handler caved in and obliged. was told there was nothing to pay, all was cancelled (phew) and letters would be sent out in due course. Letters arrived confirming this was the case, happy days I thought. 2 weeks later I got a red demand letter saying I owed £66.41 for various charges. It also stated most convenient way to pay was by bank transfer to avoid going via call centre. I eventually called them to query it, got a whole load of charges quoted at me and told the previous call handler had made an error. Not my problem I said, please can you double check your figures, off he went and lo and behold the original figure of nothing to pay was correct! Now I'm a confident, reasonably savvy 40 year woman who doesn't take b#@*€~$t lightly and am quite prepared to query stuff like this if I believe it to be incorrect. I can well imagine more vulnerable people would have been delighted to take the 'easy' option of paying via bacs without quibbling in order to settle up and avoid further hassle and 'debt recovery ' scares. It's a pure and simple bullying tactic designed to frighten people into paying them money that isn't owed! The confusion tactics employed on the phone add insult to injury. On a slight plus side, the last call handler I dealt with was polite, efficient and apologised for the error, however was still unable to provide me with a call reference number or confirmation of the fact I did not owe eCar any money.... Not his fault really - it's company policy. AVOID THIS COMPANY LIKE THE PLAGUE.

I paid in full for my policy only to be given an additional charge of £25 for non disclosure of a no claim incident. I called their office to be told everything was ok. Whilst I was on holiday they cancelled my polocy and kept 50% of the amount paid for less that 3 weeks cover. When I called them to explain that the telephone conversation was taped by them and they should check their records they said they couldn't find any record of this because they have 1000's of calls per day and I need to tell them the day and time however they do have a record of every other correspondence! Funny that eh?

E car now Brightside gave me a new quote of 46 a month with 6 years no claims ok it went up 10 quid I was ok with that the first month went out ok, on the second 76 quid went out, they had the cheek to tell me my insurance had gone up, baring in mind they had been ok when they were E car ever since they have changed I can't get through to them on the telephone, they won't release my,no claims and have charged me a cancellation fee of 205 quid this is so wrong, something isn't right with them somewhere, trading standards it is.

WENT WITH THEM THEY CANCELLED THE POLICY,WITHOUT ANY REASON AND IS CHARGING. STAY WELL AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY !!!

First was accepted and then when the found i had no claims decided i would have to pay 200 pounds more which i agreed to the next thing was a notice to cancel policy. This on the same day they cancelled policy, so had to quickly find new company. Despite taking over 100 pounds off me they then requested 27.85 cancellation charge which was paid. Last week I received demand for 0.0 to be paid in 7 days, so i phoned asked how did they want me to pay no pounds, cheque or credit card. Today, 6days later, i have received a FINAL RED DEMAND for 0.00 to be paid immediately or else it will be sent to debt agency, what a way to run a firm, in my opinion it needs closing down

Ok, at the beginning they were the cheapest ones, as our NCD unfortunately expired.

Now we received renew documents from them... nearly 3 times more that we pay at the moment - no claims, no accidents, nothing. Can you imagine paying £2350 for your insurance policy? What's more, I checked online what can we get and the cheapest one (full comprehensive cover etc) is... £490! (Lloyds bank, Halifax at £900).

Avoid!

I had difficultly contacting the company on many occasions as I wanted to change my car . When I did eventually get in touch with Brghtside and after 43 mins ,many of this time spent on hold ,the company did not insure my new car .I was charged 45 to cancel my policy . As the company would not insure my new car why should I have to pay .
Terrible company to do business with , I had a great deal of difficulty informing Brightside of my no claims policy .
DO NOT GIVE BRIGHTSIDE YOUR BUSINESS FOR A FEW POUNDS YOU THINK YOU ARE SAVING.

I signed up for car insurance through comparethemarket.com with Brightside insurance. I was asked to send proof of NCB and my drivers licence. I tried all avenues offered by them to send the documents but they keep saying that it was not received. I phoned severally, but the customer service was impossible to get through to. their website is practically not working so I decided to send the documents through the post. it was confirmed received by them but my policy was cancelled. I ended up being charged a cancellation fees, direct debit arrangement fees and various other fees. I ended up paying nearly £250 pounds with no cover. i have never experienced this kind of treatment with any past insurance companies . please beware. don't use them. your better off with well established insurance companies even if you have to pay more.

Avoid this company at all cost ! There customer service is shocking and they keep you on hold for ages at a £1 a min. I cancelled my insurance after 6 months and was told my deposit would cover what I owed them for cancellation fees. I then recieved a bill of £140 pounds and told I won't recieve my no claims unless it's paid !! So I payed the bill straight away and still havnt recieved them this is 2 months later. What a joke !! Ive had to call them again today and been put on hold again for 15 mins I was told my account still showed debt but they could see it had been payed so they would email my no claims !! Also don't waste your time sending Emails as you never get a reply !! This is the worst car insurance experience I've ever had :((

Awful awful company ! Pay the extra and go with a company you know ! No customers service,waiting for hours before you can speak to someone just awful !

Please, please dont use this company they are an absolute joke of a company. It took me nearly a week to cancel the policy with them as they eould not accept an e-mail as confirmation. The longest i wad on the phone for was nearly 3 hours!!! I am very surprised they actually average 0.6. Terrible!!

E CAR INSURANCE.
NOW TRADING AS BRIGHTSIDE INSURANCE.
Don't deserve 1 star!
Only Minus 50 stars reflects the service they provide..
PLEASE PLEASE Do not use this company.

My experience with Ecar Insurance is far from good, i used topcashback compare to insure my car. One reason i chose Ecar was i could manage the account online. This is not what i experienced when i tried to change my car.
I was directed to fill in the new details on my online account, there i was told that i could not be quoted on line at this time? I had to call the number so a member of staff could help me.
Collectively over 2 weeks trying to get through to someone i spent around 7 to 8 hours on hold, 3hours and 12 mins being the longest wait.😠
(Strangely enough if you press option 1 for a new policy they answered within a minute? Only to be put on hold again because they can't help you with this problem.)
I have all the Phone bills to prove this and i have sent them to the ombudsman.
7 unanswered Emails i sent in desperation trying to get through to this company all of which were ignored and have been printed off and sent to the ombudsman.
Finally i got through to George, who i must say was only following a script. It seemed to me he was used to being apologetic and it rolled off his tongue like a drone.
He told me my insurance underwriter (covea) will not insure my new car as it is seen as a
HIGH risk???
A Ford mondeo 2.0 diesel.
one of the most common car's on the road today is HIGH RISK??
(After contacting Covea they told me they would insure the car but won't comment on any brokers they use.. All insurances are at a price the customer can either agree or disagree with..)
Ecar flatly refused to transfer my policy to my new car Instead they offered me a new policy at an inflated price. It was cheaper to go elsewhere.
Then they told me if i cancelled my policy, with which i had no choice, i would have to pay the cancellation fee of £45 plus any admin fees and time on cover, so after 63 days on cover it was going to cost more than the year i had payed for, then with the fees on top, it meant i owed them!!!! 😨
£225 to insure my car for 1 year.
Now It will cost more to cancel it after 63 days? Day light robbery!!!!!! 😠
Next, before even asking if i was going to pay, they told me they would withhold my proof of no claims untill I'd payed in full.!!! 😲
This is where i noticed him reading from a script, he must be used to people not paying so got in 1st with the rehearsed line.
This meant i couldn't go elsewhere untill i could prove my no claims bonus isn't being used on another policy.
My new car is still sitting on my drive waiting for this company to send out MY proof of no claims.
The famous "it's all in the T&C's" was quoted many times.

I wish I'd read the reviews on here 1st then I'd have never even considered useing these modern day con artists, please do not go for the cheapest prices, because it isn't always the best deal.
As you have probably noticed i am far from happy, the only place you can vent off your anger is on online review site's such as this one, as the law in this country allows these companies to carry on trading in any manner they see fit.

Now the insurance ombudsman is considering all the information i have put together, phone records and emails, all of which have been sent off in a last ditch attempt to restore my faith in the British law. These companies seem to get away with ripping poeple off in anyway they can and no one seems to stop them.

Steven M
A very disgruntled customer...

I took out Brightside (Ecar) car insurance through Compare the Market. They were the cheapest but stupidly I didn't read reviews first. I followed instructions and uploaded all details they asked for including photocopies of the front and back of my driving licence - never done this with any insurance company before. Two days later an email requesting documents, So I emailed them over. Few days later I had an email requesting different documents documents as mine weren't valid (!!) before policy could be issued (They had had my money almost three weeks by then). I called them and was on hold for 90 mins so gave up and emailed again. I won't go on but several emails and a total of 4 hours 52 minutes hold time on the phone (and 3 more weeks have passed) I finally got to talk to someone. Her name was Danielle Owen. She confirmed my licence with DVLA while I was talking to her and emailed me to confirm my no claims discount was also verified. she said I would receive my policy, I didn't so I emailed and called and emailed and called over and over. No response. Yesterday I had a letter of Cancellation because they haven't had valid documents. I have today taken out a new policy with a Swinton and written to Brightside to demand a refund - I paid in full already. I have no doubt I won't see my money again. I think this is why they do this, this is how they make their money. Avoid Avoid Avoid.

The ONLY thing this company did well was have a relatively short wait time to take on a new client and take my money. From then on it became a complete fiasco of receiving no reply emails reminding you to upload the evidence documents, despite the fact I did it weeks before. I had to query and resolve issues relating to no claims bonus and getting my husband onto the policy but had to give up being on hold for 40 minutes 6 times and the emails I sent were replied to irregularly and when they were it was never less than 5 days from a different person each time who had not looked into the history. I received a no-reply email telling me because my no claims was on 2 separate no claims certificates, not one, the cost of my policy was to be increased from £270 to £470. Also to let me know my husband could not be added to the policy as the licence number was not a full UK licence!! It is a full licence and I had to prove it by getting DVLA authorisation and sending it to Brightside...they didn't reply. I requested a call to cancel my policy. No call, no warning just an email telling me it has now been cancelled and I will get £132 back having been covered by them for 1 month. I was supposed to be out this morning but am listening to the on hold music waiting for a reply from Brightside whilst writing this review. Seriously just DON'T GO THERE.

I sold my car 8 months into policy when I tried to cancel it took 40 mins to get through then I was told there is a £45 cancellation fee, they also then can't tell me for up to 30 days if after taking their cancellation fee if I will get a pittance of a a refund or , wait for this if I will then owe them, in which case i would be better of just letting the policy run out.. Over a barrel spring to mind, rip off... They just put obstacles in a customer's way and tell you it's all in the terms and conditions. Nothing is customer friendly. I was even told that all this was in the T's and C's when I took out the policy and so it's my own fault for selling my car. Please don't go any where near Ecar or the Brightside group.

Just to add to this, they now want to sting me by wanting another £108 from me, in commission and cancellation fees. Why on earth would they not tell me that with only two months left to run & with their fees it would be cheaper for me to just simple let the policy lapse. No morals and dishonest and hide under Terms of business.