Motor Insurance: Complaints
The question
To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of expanding the scope of the Financial Ombudsman to permit investigation of complaints about motor insurance companies where the claimant is not a direct customer but has accepted an offer to proceed with Third Party Capture.
Answered by Emma Reynolds
The Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) was set up to resolve complaints between consumers and their own financial services providers. It cannot consider disputes between insurers and third parties as the third party is not the policyholder.
The rules on how the FOS should handle complaints, including the jurisdiction of the FOS and what complaints it can deal with, are determined by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and set out in the FCA Handbook. Whether a complaint is eligible or not is a matter for the FOS to consider.
The FCA requires that insurers treat their customers, including third party claimants, fairly. The FCA actively monitors insurers and has robust powers to take action against firms that fail to comply with its rules.
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