“Extremely poor and unfair experience – avoid
I had a policy with Sterling Insurance which started off fine, but quickly turned into a very stressful experience.
I was given a quote, accepted it, signed the contract, and payments were taken. 3 weeks later, Sterling suddenly requested my V5C. I explained we were waiting for the logbook as we've transferred the ownership from a parent to myself and I've been driving the car as the main driver for 4 years. I sent the logbook once received, then attempted to re-rate my policy by £370 and stated they'll be taking the payment in 7 days.
They claimed I was a “new driver” or not experienced with my car simply because the V5C had only recently been transferred into my name. This is incorrect — I have been driving the same car for four years and have held my licence for more than 10 years. The V5 does not prove driving experience, yet it was used to justify a huge premium increase.
I was also charged an additional admin fee last week with no notice and no permission, in the policy despite having signed everything correctly through premium credit, which sterling blamed premium credit for taking.
The communication was poor, the process felt unfair, unjust and disgusting and I was put under pressure to pay a large increase caused by their own late checks. I’ve now cancelled the policy and will be taking this further, as they're now wanting a further £255 to cancel.
I checked all the same details again on compare the market and on their website, and they're coming back cheaper than my original quote.
I would strongly advise others to be very cautious — they are completely misleading, misadvising, misguided clients and just adding more and more, asking for more and more information and then jump premiums AFTER the policy has been signed. We cannot call our insurance and say 'you haven't provided me a good service so I will be deducting funds off the premium' and it cannot be done the other way round using the excuse of someone with more than 10 years experience is a new driver. Or new to driving a car that can be proven the car has been used for 4 years. Disgusting behaviour”
“A absolute shambles off a service we took a learner drivers policy out with Sterling ten months ago for his vauxhaul corsa. Before we bought the policy I phoned up to check a few things regarding no claims bonuses etc, and was told my son took out his own policy (£553) he would get a years no claims as apose to a Bolton policy to ours (£253) i asked what if he passed within 6 months etc, to be advised they would do an up date to his policy as a driver and there would be £££ for us to pay but ensured this would still be much cheaper than the alternative this way he would keep adding to his no claims etc
My son passed his test on 1st of Nov so we phoned to discuss and was told he would recive an excelerated no claims bonus for his policy and a decent discount back from the reminder of his learner policy I then got transfered through to sales went through all the details to be told sterling will not offer a policy as he drives a vaxhaul corsa and they can't insure corsas now the same car he had carried out his learner policy
The sales adviser said ahh well you won't get the no claims now as we can't offer you a policy and you will get no discount or money back either ahh well ( to be honest I felt like she was in a rush to get off the phone as she was nearing the end of her shift @ 1900 despite me pho ing around 1740-1745 and being on hold most of the time and being transfer found their office to explain it all over and over to every adviser I asked to try and change the quote etc and she basically cut me off
I then called back after work the next day and spoke to another sales member who was absolutely fabulous and understanding with me who went through several options on the quote to try and see if they could help sort something out. Unfortunately this was to know av and i was becomeing a little fraught and i explained what had gone on before and she relied although we can't insure you you will still go on your way with your excelerated 1 years no claims and posible refund of the left over policy etc but you will need to speak to service to cancel first
I then got through to service and was basically told all off the above was nonsense etc at this point I was getting irate ( i agree not through this call handler but due to being passed from pillar to post and getting conflicting info back) although the call handler was understanding and even went to check with her piers she came back and said to raise a complaint I asked about time scales she said I would get a call back but not tonight maybe tomorrow or the next day so we waited it out
I phoned back the day after to be told a complaint had been raise and to wait for there contact I said that's great but your now obstructing us from getting my son insured and on the road so again we have waited we are nearly a week on and still no end in site
Some of the staff are deliberately un helpful and can't get you off the phone fast enough
Whilst on hold the recorded message bangs on about there professional staff that are here to help and full of knowledge etc ( It's all utter rubbish to be honest )
Staff are great on takeing policy out etc they just tell you what you want to hear and basically lie to you if there was a no star option this review would be thier but unfortunately there is not
The only saving grace if any was there appeared to be one Genuine sales handler in the very middle who could not do enough to help and she was very empathetic
To be honest the rest of your team could learn so much from her you should maybe get her in your training and development department to pass her knowledge and customers service approach on to your other staff ( although her hands were tied and she was unable to help etc )”
“Fraudsters!!!
The company initially quoted the lowest price. However, shortly after I purchased the car insurance, they cancelled the policy and retained the payment. When we contacted them to resolve this, we were given the runaround without any resolution. Their only solution was to offer a new policy at a cost of more than double the original price!”
“My experience with Sterling Car Insurance was very disappointing. The first initial contact seemed good, but as soon as I had paid, everything went downhill. Communication was extremely poor — I never received the promised emails with my policy details, which was especially stressful as I was due to travel abroad.
I made multiple calls chasing this up, but the customer service team seemed to have no idea what was going on. Their lack of knowledge and support left me feeling like I had been scammed, and I was genuinely worried that I wasn’t covered while I was away.
Based on my experience, I would not recommend this company.”
“Absolutely a pain of a company. Never had car insurance that's been so stressful definitely so not recommended. All my insurance has been hassle free before using this company.
Won't use them again.”
“I paid in advance, only to find out that Sterling wanted an additional £130 or so. When I asked for a refund they instead offered me a discount reducing the extra charge to £70. I agreed.
Two days later I received another call demanding an additional £530. I requested a full refund. The second star is for the hassle-free refund process—everything else was a disaster.
They take your money upfront only to reveal that your insurance will cost nearly twice as much. Avoid.”
“Please avoid Sterling insurance st all costs especially for learner driver insurance. Set up insurance then had a change of heart the next day as my son's driving test was much sooner than expected. A cancelled online as guidelines instructed 24 hours after setting up. Followed this with a phone call but Sterling insurance would bit discuss the cancellation with me (parent) despite the credit agreement being in my name and said my 17 year old had to call. Followed this up with 3 emails and a call from my son less than 48 hours after setting it up. Sterling insurance tried to make my son keep the insurance and then informed us that we would be charged £36 for cancelling 48 hours after setting up. Disgraceful service. Avoid avoid avoid”
“Please stay away from this broker, I had a lot of faith in the company but they have disappointed me and my friends. They held a total of 113,000 btc and 600 eth. That's a lot you don't have heart and plan to block me, Scam. No trust, by then i went online because i was so worried looking for a lot of way to to solve the problem that i am going true, that was when i saw a review about a woman Sandra Ava, he connected me to a recovery company EMAIL :: ( m o r r i s m e i h u a (@) g m a i l . c o m ) the process was easy and stressful, this is a review that will help to know what you should do immediately whenever you are being scammed, i have actually lost a lot of my money to this company honestly but To God be the Glory I got it back. All thanks to "" Mrs, Morris Meihua"" you can also contact them If you are having problems with any broker which you are invested on or any website, I promise you they are going to try their best to help you out.
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“Took my money,then cancelled my insurance,due to a question about my personal life,even though ive a clean driving license and never made a claim in 40 years . Stay away unless you want to be robbed.”
“I wish I’d looked here before I got learner driver insurance for my son was told ring up when he passes we will change it over to a full licence policy did that won’t insure him and demanding £127 hold a minute you cancelled the policy !!!”
“This company is admonition. I was able to change the policy from a learners policy to a full policy when my daughter passed her test.
You are unable to setup access to the website as it does not work with multiple browsers.
I have been told that I am not able now to access the account even though I set it up yesterday.
This insurance maybe cheap and there is a reason for it its more hassle than its worth. Do not bother!”
“Absolute pathetic joke of a company preying on the vulnerable. Find a reputable company and avoid these jokers at all costs.
As another reviewer has said 'scam and predatory company extorting money out of new drivers'
My son has had his insurance cancelled after a couple of months yet they are demanding a further £140 from him. When I explained that he is autistic and he wouldn't have understood what he was signing up to I was told that this is not their problem but was in fact my fault! Disgusting customer service.”
“Do not touch them - con artists !! My 18 had a blow k box fitted. If they get 3 alerts there is supposed to be a review but it did t happen and Sterling just cancelled his policy. We had no details at this point about what he had supposed even done to warrant the cancellation (black box dept don’t automatically supply details of speed being undertaken where). Has left my 18 year old with a marker for a cancelled insurance. It’s been a week since this happened and no one has even called me back even though I said I wanted to complain. Now offered new insurance for twice the price. I’ve got an alternative quote from Admiral that is not twice and no black box. A blatant attempt to cancel on an 18 year old who wasn’t even driving that fast just to double his premium. Current quote from Sterling £4.5k on an £800 car !! Will be taking to Financial Services ombudsman.”
“Dealt with Leewis in cancellation/replace department, must say best sssservice from better than expected. Helped to sort exactly what I needed and was very friendly and helpful. Highly recommend member of sterling Insurance team
Very pleased with his services.”
