Hitachi Capital Closes UK Insurance Operations

According to information received today from a leading administrator of Hitachi Capital Insurance Europe Ltd's PPI business, Hitachi Capital has decided to close down its UK insurance operations and as a result will no longer be offering Payment Protection Insurance.

Hitachi Capital stopped accepting new business through it's direct to consumer operations in Q1 this year and subsequently also stopped new business via intermediary channels in Q2.

At the time of writing there is no information about this on Hitachi Capital's website, but we understand that all existing policyholders will be written to on the 12 month anniversary of their policy start date and given 60 days notice that their cover will cease. We have been assured that this will not affect any policyholders currently in claim or who might make a valid claim prior to their policy being cancelled.

Michael Cooke, Insurance Expert at The Insurance Helper, comments: "Over the past 6 months a number of PPI providers have either hiked their premiums, reduced the quality of their cover, pulled products from the market or withdrawn from it entirely; Hitachi Capital are just following suit in order to protect their margins from the deluge of claims that have already poured in to PPI schemes and which, if you look at the greater economic outlook, will probably get even worse.

Any clients who have a PPI policy with Hitachi Capital need to consider, with the trend of products either increasing in cost, decreasing in quality or disappearing altogether, should they wait until their policy is cancelled before finding a replacement and take whatever if anything is available at that time, or act now while there are still some decent products available to be sure that they are not left without a seat when the music stops?"

The Insurance Helper offers a range of PPI policies to suit all clients circumstances whether they have a mortgage or not and with cover of up to £2,000 per month irrespective of income, mortgage or rent amounts. You can discuss your needs and get a free no-obligation quote by filling in a secure online quote request form or by calling 0845 003 0065.