Your car insurance company has told you that they are going to increase the insurance amount you have to pay for your car each month. You are not happy about this. Write a letter to the insurance company. In your letter explain: - why you are writing to them - why you think the insurance amount should not be increased - what you want them to do
Sample Response
Dear Sir or Madam, Yesterday I received a letter from your company regarding a decision to increase the monthly car insurance premium by 15%, effective next monthpremium by 15% effective from next month. I, however, feel that the decision is one-sided and disregardscontradicts the interests of your customers. I hope that you will reconsider and keepI am hoping that you would reconsider and keep the premium unchanged. I have been holding both my car and life insurance policies withmanaging both my car and life insurance with your company for the last 15 years. I even updated mythe car insurance policy at the end of last year when I sold my old car and purchased a new one. According to my researchAs per my findings, I am already paying a slightly higher premium for my car insurancepaying a bit higher for my car insurance and that is why a further increase in the monthly premium is unjustified. I have always paid the premium on timepaid the premium in due time and you can check that from your database. My car insurance policy number is 2510236-254/1. Since I am not willing to pay an exorbitant amount for my insurance but want to keep my policy with your companymanage it with your company, I am hoping that you would reconsider your decision of raising the monthly amount. Otherwise, I would be forced to move my policy to another company. I really appreciate your time and would like to get a reply from you soon. Yours faithfully, Jonathan Stuart
Why this response received Band 7.5
The response communicates its purpose immediately and supports the request with relevant policy history, payment conduct, and a clear preferred outcome. The main weakness is that some reasons and requests are repeated, and several otherwise sophisticated phrases are not fully idiomatic. Prioritise a tighter paragraph structure and more natural collocations so the argument remains firm, precise, and professionally persuasive throughout.
IELTS Writing Criteria Scores
Task Achievement
The letter fully covers the reason for writing, the case against the increase, and the requested action in an appropriately formal and persuasive tone.
Strengthen the case further by stating a specific comparison or policy basis for the claim that the existing premium is already high.
Coherence and Cohesion
Information follows a clear sequence and the reasoning is easy to follow, though the single-paragraph presentation and repeated requests reduce cohesion slightly.
Group the purpose, supporting reasons, and requested resolution into separate paragraphs and remove repeated statements about reconsidering the increase.
Lexical Resource
The vocabulary is varied and suitably formal, with effective terms such as 'premium', 'unjustified', and 'exorbitant', but several collocations are awkward.
Replace phrases such as 'managing insurance', 'paying a bit higher', and 'in due time' with more idiomatic alternatives.
Grammatical Range and Accuracy
A wide range of simple and complex structures is used with strong control, and the few awkward constructions do not impede meaning.
Refine clause construction and modality in phrases such as 'I am hoping that you would reconsider' to achieve more consistently natural accuracy.
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IELTS General Training Writing Task 1
Your car insurance company has told you that they are going to increase the insurance amount you have to pay for your car each month. You are not happy about this. Write a letter to the insurance company. In your letter explain:
- why you are writing to them
- why you think the insurance amount should not be increased
- what you want them to do
Your response
Write the task yourself, then compare your choices with the annotated response.