Mother of all premiums... Vauxhall quotes £100,000 to insure Vectra

Sian Jones, 28, received a letter from Vauxhall Insurance to let her know her annual payment would be £100,034 – a huge leap from the £700 it had cost her the previous year.

When she rang the company to query the quote she was told that it was the cheapest available that it was able to offer for her 2007 Vauxhall Vectra.

“I just laughed in the end,” she said. “How can they honestly expect me to pay £10,000 a month?”

And when Miss Jones, of Flanshaw, Wakefield, did not take up the company’s offer it sent her a reminder letter quoting the same amount.

The quote even added that the total insurance for the year would have been £112,038.08 if she had signed up to pay by monthly instalments.

A shocked Miss Jones thought there must have been some kind of error so she rang the company up to query the quote.

But she was surprised by the firm’s response. She said: “At first I thought it was a printing error but I rang them up and they just said it was the best quote they could give.

“They have done all the calculations for APR and legal protection.

“If they don’t want to insure me they should just say”.

Yesterday Vauxhall Insurance said the letter had been sent out in error and it apologised for any inconvenience caused to Miss Jones.

She has since signed up with another insurance company, with her premium coming in somewhat lower – at £390.

Vauxhall Insurance said the amount had been quoted because of a one-off system error and not because of increased insurance premiums.

A spokesman said: “We apologise to Miss Jones for any inconvenience caused.”