“I must admit we are really surprised at any 5 star reviews based on our experience with Sterling Car Insurance. This is our daughters first car and we went with Sterling as they appeared to be the cheapest. Our daughter has been driving with extreme caution as she has a black box fitted from Sterling. A Flux Box. She had 1 caution that was wrong, luckily she checked and called to advise them it was wrong as the speed limit was 40 not 30. They apologised said database was wrong and changed it. I don't think as many young people may check as often as our daughter does and this can directly result in an already high premium going even higher.. Bad form on Sterlings behalf and leaves you quite wary of trusting their product.
The car was then in for work in a garage and had tyres changed. The garage was aware she had a black box, we told them when the car was taken in, They had to test drove the car as needed, and we received 2 cautions for driving and an increase in her insurance policy for next year while they had it and were testing it. I though t this would be simple once we explained to them the situation, as the garage said it can happen as they need to check the tyres, I called Sterling advised the situation, told them the car was in the garage she was not driving it, the garage drove it to test drive it (under their own insurance) we have proof the car was in the garage, we have a receipt from that day to show a new tyre was fitted, the garage are also willing to provide written and/or verbal communication, the app clearly shows the car leaving the garage doing a lap back to the garage but Sterling are refusing to take the cautions off. I advised them it was not being driven at this time under their insurance policy, and we have proof, they were extremely unhelpful and told me the cautions would remain I need to take it up with the garage, the garage are also appalled as they drove the car under their own insurance not Sterling and had to test drive it due to the issue it had. They and us are appalled that once an insurance company hear the situation understand the car needs to be test driven, would refuse to remove any cautions from a driver that was not driving the car nor was it being driven under their insurance, I am now in the process of following complaints procedure and will sadly have to take this to the ombudsman. You constantly get text messages saying the black box battery is low even when it has days left before it runs out. The box is rather large, much larger than many of her friends so due to the positioning of the box the wire to charge it has to go right across the wheel so not safe so we charge when the car is parked, again not ideal. I called today to speak to someone was told they are experiencing high volumes of calls i can request a call back but it would be at the end of the week, today is Monday, Sterling really does need to do better. It is so difficult to chose an insurance company for young drivers due to huge costs, but i wish we had gone elsewhere and i hope this review helps someone else not make the same mistake we did by using Sterling Car insurance.”
“Made insurance on Sunday, Monday received a email saying l had to call back.
Answered all the details provided and all were correct.
Bumped up my insurance amount of £540.
I wanted to cancel it and charged cancellation fee of £80.
Only had the cover for 1 day and lost £89.
Please do not use this scammers. Taking your money one way or another.
They will find an excuse to rise your quote or you will pay £80 cancelation fee.
I felt disgusting how they scam you and take your money.
Stay away.”
“DO NOT USE!! My son took his first year of car insurance with them. Black box fitted. He then accepted a place at uni where he would be commuting and had to increase his mileage which was always a possibility and was discussed during the sales call. He wasn't told at point of sale that this is a low mileage policy (meaning if you increase it you incur extortionate costs!) Adding 3000 miles cost him an extra £550 then when increasing it again was charged a FURTHER £709!! The original annual premium was £1600 so this almost doubled his insurance for the year! He had a conversation during the sales call and the first MTA call about the possibility of having to increase the mileage at a later date and was not told they charge you 10% of the current premium per 1000 miles added. Plus large admin fees of course! Made a complaint and received £35 back despite very clear FCA regulation breaches. I work in insurance and have done for almost 20 years and have never experienced anything like the disgusting service my son received. The "complaints manager" had never even heard of the basic FCA guidelines I was quoting. They should all be receiving training on this stuff annually. I do and I'm not even customer facing! Will be making a complaint with the Financial Ombudsman”
“Cowboys/girls/people. I got my insurance from Sterling, due to covid I had a payment problem, they charged me £27.50 late payment fee, then next month they tried putting my premium up roughly 50% and claimed if I didn't pay I'd get another fine. So I went to price comparison website found much cheaper providers and cancelled my policy. Even with the £100 cancellation fee and to cover me for twice the miles its going to be much cheaper still. Fairly costly experience. PTCTA320587
Just seen and added review on yell.com, now 4 1star reviews.”
