Good to know: We are a Claims Management Company (CMC). You do not need to use a CMC to make your complaint to your lender, bank or insurer. If your complaint is not successful you can refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service yourself for free if the firm is still trading. For eligible failed firms, you can refer a claim to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme for free.
We are Allegiant Finance Services. We’re a claims management company. So you know, we’re regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. You can check our details at https://register.fca.org.uk.
We provide a claims management service to customers who tell us that they are unhappy with the insurance payout they received when their car was written-off due to accident or theft.
We gather information about a customer’s vehicle, insurance claim and payout, together with information about the value of the car (at the time of write-off). If we think that an insurer has undervalued the car in its payout, we will make a complaint to the insurer on behalf of our customer. If we see any issues with the vehicle’s history data that could lead to a claim against the insurance company or anyone else, we’ll also let you know about other claims we think you can bring that we help with.
When an insurer undervalues a car, we look to obtain compensation for the customer. This will usually be the difference between the amount already paid out by the insurer, and the fair valuation of the car.
If an insurer disagrees with the complaint and their response is unacceptable, we can ask the Financial Ombudsman Service to make an independent decision.
To make you aware – the Financial Ombudsman Service (also known as ‘FOS’ for short) – is an independent organisation that independently reviews disputes between borrowers and insurers (they also deal with other complaints too).
Where a customer and insurer disagree on the correct outcome of a complaint, FOS can decide what should happen based on what they think should be a fair and reasonable outcome.
FOS will make a written decision – there are no hearings like a legal matter in court. You can learn more about FOS at https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk.
There are potential positives and negatives in making a claim. Here are some things you might want to consider:-
Things you might consider positive
If you win your complaint, you will get a compensation payout from your insurer (but remember you’ll need to pay our success fee using some of this compensation – learn about our fees below).
Things you might consider negative
You may not win, resulting in lost time. Also, the circumstances of your car being written-off (due to accident or theft) may have been a stressful or traumatic event, which you may rather not talk about or think about too much.
These are things we suggest you think about, but you should think about what claiming means for your situation.
If you are paid a compensation payout because of a claim we make for you, we will charge you a fee for our service. If you don’t receive a compensation payout, you don’t pay us anything.
Our charges start at 36%, including VAT and go as low as 18%, including VAT, for bigger claims. You can learn more about our fees later in this document. For now, the important bit we want you to take away is that we offer a service you pay for, but only where your insurer makes a compensation payout.
As a transparent claims management company, we only want to help customers who have thought about the different ways of claiming and decided to use a claims management service they are happy to pay for. So, it is important we tell you this:-
You do not need to use a claims management company to make your complaint to your insurer. If your complaint is unsuccessful, you can refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service for free if the firm is still trading. For eligible failed firms, you can refer a claim to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme for free.
If you decide that you want to use a claims management company, it is always a good idea to compare different companies to work out the best fit for you.
Another way of claiming is by using a solicitor. Solicitors differ from claims management companies as solicitors can bring claims in court (a more formal process than FOS). They can also use FOS too. If this interests you, we recommend that you seek independent legal advice from a solicitor. If you have legal expenses insurance, solicitor costs may be covered (which may mean that you keep more of your money than using us).
What we will do
If you decide to use our claims management service, you must sign a legally binding contract with us.
Once you have a contract with us, we will get information about your payout from your insurer. This includes information about your car’s make, model and condition at the time of it being written-off due to accident or theft. We may use online tools which help value your car. With your consent, we can also view your bank statements to see the precise amount paid out by your insurer.
We will also use the information you provide to us in web forms or surveys.
Once we have the information we need, we will review whether your insurer acted fairly and reasonably when paying out to you for your written-off car.
When we review your case, we will think about the rules relating to insurers and your personal circumstances.
We will also think about decisions and guidance from the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) and Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS).
If we think your insurer might have done something wrong, such as undervaluing your car at the time of the write-off, we will write to them explaining why we feel that their payout was not fair and reasonable. We will usually ask the insurer to fix this by them:-
Keeping you up to date.
We will keep in touch about your claim, usually by email. We may also contact you by phone or by other written methods (letter, text message or website portal). This will often include telling you: –
If we refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service, we will also tell you: –
Sometimes there can be delays outside of our control. If this is the case, we will still update you at least every 12 weeks.
If we can’t sort things out with your insurer directly
If your insurer’s response isn’t good enough, we can involve the Financial Ombudsman Service for an independent decision.
Claims are decided based on opinion, so we can’t make you any promises about the result
If we agree to make a claim for you, this does not mean the claim will be won. So, it is important for you:-
How long it will take
Typically, we would say:-
These timescales are rules of thumb. Some cases can be resolved more quickly, and rarely, some cases can take several years if there are very complex issues.
Who will perform the work
Our team here at Allegiant will look after your claims. The team is made up of direct employees, and sometimes contractors, that we have fully trained.
Our success fee is due only if your insurer makes a compensation payout, and is calculated on the amount of the compensation payout.
The success fee amount is calculated using a band charging system. There are five charging bands. Each band has a maximum amount that we will charge.
Success Fee Charging Table
| Band | Compensation Payout | Percentage rate the Success Fee is calculated on (including VAT) | Maximum Success Fee in band (including VAT) |
| 1 | £1 to £1,499 | 36% | £504 |
| 2 | £1,500 to £9,999 | 33.60% | £3,000 |
| 3 | £10,000 to £24,999 | 30% | £6,000 |
| 4 | £25,000 to £49,999 | 24% | £9,000 |
| 5 | £50,000 or more | 18% | £12,000 |
Below are examples of how this would work in practice.
| Lower example | Higher example | |||
| Band | Compensation Payout | Success Fee | Compensation Payout | Success Fee |
| 1 | £100 | £36 | £1,499 | £504 |
| 2 | £1,600 | £537.60 | £9,999 | £3,000 |
| 3 | £12,000 | £3,600 | £24,999 | £6,000 |
| 4 | £30,350 | £7,284 | £49,999 | £9,000 |
| 5 | £55,000 | £9,900 | £100,000 | £12,000 |
If you want to see how much we would charge for a specific amount, please visit our online fee calculator at https://allegiant.co.uk/unaffordable-lending-claim-fees.
Please note that the examples in the tables are for illustration purposes only. They are not an estimate of the likely outcome or success fee.
Cooling-off period
You can cancel with us for free within a 14-day cooling-off period, which starts on the day after we receive your signed terms of engagement.
Outside the cooling-off period
After the 14-day cooling-off period, you can still cancel. You will not need to pay a cancellation fee, but you will still have to pay a success fee calculated on any offer we obtain for you and where you later accept that offer or beat it. Where this happens, our success fee will be calculated based on the offer we obtained.
If you need to make a complaint, you can do this by letter, email or phone, or any other reasonable way.
We will aim to acknowledge your complaint within five working days.
We will also send you a link to the process we will follow.
We will then write to you with a final response or to tell you that we are not in a position to give you a final response within eight weeks.
In either case, we will tell you about your right to refer the matter to the Financial Ombudsman Service.
For full details, please see the complaints section of the terms of engagement or go to allegiant.co.uk/compliance/complaints-regulated/.
Our privacy policy is available at allegiant.co.uk/compliance/privacy-policy/.
Good to know: We are a Claims Management Company (CMC). You do not need to use a CMC to make your complaint to your lender, bank or insurer. If your complaint is not successful you can refer it to the Financial Ombudsman Service yourself for free if the firm is still trading. For eligible failed firms, you can refer a claim to the Financial Services Compensation Scheme for free.
