Car insurance - cancelled

[lolliew]

I had a letter from my car insurance company yesterday stating that they have cancelled my policy and that i owe them money for them doing it. The letter was not even to tell me my policy has been cancelled it was to say they have passed on my debt to collection - i didnt even know i was in debt or uninsured.

 

When i questioned why they had cancelled it they said a payment was rejected in JANUARY. I know i should have checked my bank statements but i havent - and why did they not try to take a payment in Feb? or March or April? it was on direct debit so a payment should be automatically retried.

 

I spoke to my bank who told me that they have not attempted to take payment in the months following.

 

They have not contacted me about this either in a letter or by phone and i have been driving my car around for the last month without insurance - which is a bit scary with the 'what if's'.

 

Has anyone else had this happen to them?

[mrmist]

Not with car insurance, but Pet Plan did much the same thing to us with cat insurance. Absolutely useless. No communication for months and then a letter to say they've cancelled the policy. God knows what the situation would have been had we needed to claim in the mean time.

[Ginner]

You'd have to check your T&C's, but I thought insurance companies had to give 14 days notice in writing of intention to cancel a policy.

 

Did you ask them if they'd tried to contact you (they may claim they've letters)?

 

I'd also ask them on what date the policy was cancelled. If they haven't been collecting DD's for a couple of months it seems strange they would cancel the policy without warning so long afterwards.

 

Get these facts and then take it from there. Financial Ombudsman Service is usually the last resort.

 

For more help, you could check out the Consumer Action Group forum.

[Berberis]

Also try http://www.consumerdirect.gov.uk/, they should be able to give you plenty of advise of your rights etc.

[ASPGuru]

Something similar happened to me with British Gas.

One day a huge demand for money turned up threatening all sorts because I had not been paying.

Long story short, the root cause was that months previously they had tried to amend the amount they were drawing down on a Direct Debit but somehow BG cancelled the DD instead.

They blamed the bank, the bank blamed them, and eventually I proved the bank was right, cue apologies etc from BG and everything got sorted.

 

I suspect something similar has happened to you. Now you have proof from your bank that the insurance company has not even tried to draw the money go back to them and they ought to be able to sort it out.

Chances are that some data entry clerk has made a mistake.

 

Then, next renewal date - switch to another provider.

[Darbees]

ed.

 

When i questioned why they had cancelled it they said a payment was rejected in JANUARY. I know i should have checked my bank statements but i havent - and why did they not try to take a payment in Feb? or March or April? it was on direct debit so a payment should be automatically retried.

 

Looks like you have been technically uninsured for a few months so you've saved a few bob by not having an accident. Just ignore them and get insured elsewhere. You're quids in at the moment.

[lolliew]

I am now insured elsewhere - i sorted it out within an hour or so of finding out i was not insured.

 

I have proof from the bank that they did not attempt to take any payments - the only problem is they have charged me £195 to cancel the policy and sent it to a collection agency.

[Darbees]

I am now insured elsewhere - i sorted it out within an hour or so of finding out i was not insured.

 

I have proof from the bank that they did not attempt to take any payments - the only problem is they have charged me £195 to cancel the policy and sent it to a collection agency.

Is that a charge for the unpaid instalments or just for the cancellation?

[KenH]

I am now insured elsewhere - i sorted it out within an hour or so of finding out i was not insured.

 

I have proof from the bank that they did not attempt to take any payments - the only problem is they have charged me £195 to cancel the policy and sent it to a collection agency.

 

Tell them to get stuffed, and if they threaten to do anything such as register you with an agency then threaten to sue them.

[ricky36]

you were insured all the time, you were insured until the companytold you were uninsured and technically the company should have sent the letter recorded delivery so they could prove they were cancelling the insurance, and you were aware until you know you were still insured