Driving without insurance

[alchresearch]

Its not daft, when i pay my car insurance i notice that the money has gone out, if it doesn't i would ring the insurance company and ask why.

 

Same here, its such an important purchase that you'd be a fool to not check.

 

There's really not much more to add to this thread. Let the OP contest it and allow the insurance company to prove they attempted to contact them.

[Balpin]

As a matter of interest, when was car insurance introduced, and what caused it?

Surely all claims should be civil, and not crimnal?

[andrejuan]

Today I got stopped by the police for driving without insurance.....news to me as I am the proud owner of an Insure insurance certificate insuring me from 12th September 2011 for 12 months. However it would appear that the cheeky monkeys at my insurance company have cancelled my insurance as there was something wrong with my debit card details and never bothered to tell me!!!!

I have been issued with a £200 Fixed Penalty Notice and 6 points on my license. I can afford to pay this however I am not wanting to accept the 6 points as it will more than double my premiums.

I have never received any phone call or letter from my insurance company to say that there was a problem or to inform me that my policy had been cancelled.

Fortunately I was able to purchase insurance at the roadside and didn't end up having my car seized.

I appreciate that driving without insurance is an absolute offence i.e. not need to prove intent, you have it or your don't however I was wondering whether it might be worth my while in going to Magistrates' Court to explain the circumstances re the insurance policy and try and mitigate on the offence? Any ideas appreciated.

I have logged a complaint with the insurance compnay. They have told me they tried to ring me but could not get through so they cancelled the policy though they are unable to say what number they called from or at what time- is it just me or how can I trust they called at all?!

 

 

A very similar thing happened to me. Luckily I didn't get caught which was amazing cos I was un-insured for 6 months!!!!!

 

When I contacted them they said they had written to me to tell me it would be cancelled (I didn't get the letter)

 

Also during the un-insured period someone attempted to take the vehicle so I would have been left high and dry, and I can't bear to imagine what would have happened if I had had an accident

 

I only found out when I rang them to ask for a no claims cert for another vehicle.

 

The end result is more shocking,,, when I asked them to put the insurance back in force, they refused to insure me for driving without insurance

[Rageness]

I take it you've never been to a Magistrates Court then?

 

Please continue to make assumptions you are wrong about...

[*_ash_*]

Please continue to make assumptions you are wrong about...

 

I assumed things based on what you have written and what appeared like poor legal tactics that you posted. Perhaps I assumed wrong and you're an expert in legal matters. If you are an expert, then I would apologise for assuming things about you, but not for pointing out poor legal advise...

 

If I were you Charlotte I would take it to court, Explain in detail what happened and more than likely they will let go of the points and some of the fine.

I would defiantly give the court a go, It is nothing like as bad as people make out! Good luck!

I had already posted what the law says in post 11. You suggested that she should explain in detail to the court (I assume you meant her personally), and that she would 'more than likely' get let go of the points and some of the fine. She wouldn't.

 

Based on the law, and her opening defense... then she won't have a chance...

Today I got stopped by the police for driving without insurance.....news to me as I am the proud owner of an Insure insurance certificate insuring me from 12th September 2011 for 12 months. However it would appear that the cheeky monkeys at my insurance company have cancelled my insurance as there was something wrong with my debit card details and never bothered to tell me!!!!

I have been issued with a £200 Fixed Penalty Notice and 6 points on my license. I can afford to pay this however I am not wanting to accept the 6 points as it will more than double my premiums.

I have never received any phone call or letter from my insurance company to say that there was a problem or to inform me that my policy had been cancelled.

 

Which was why I posted to this...

 

I have decided to speak to a solicitor today who actually knows something about traffic law and weigh up my options.

 

That's probably the best decision. Some high flying lawyer would be your only chance to get off from this, I think.

 

And I stick by this.

[swordfish1]

For all the holier than thou's saying she should have checked her statement, what if she'd paid by credit card?

You may not get the itemisation on your bill for 5 weeks if purchased at certain times of the month. So in these 5 weeks you may not be insured but you have a nice shiny insurance certificate in your possession. Still your own fault?

 

Incidentally I'm just off to check whether mine was drawn out in August. I have no idea. I don't really check my bank account apart from seeing that no fraudulent withdrawals have been made.

[SnailyBoy]

When I paid for my insurance over the phone I gave my debit card details. Usually there's a short delay and then I'm told 'That's gone through okay, your documents will be in the post'

 

My point being is that the confirmation of payment is almost instant. They're not the sort of companies that will wait a few days to try again and see what happens.

[Stomp]

I don't want to get into any "holier than thou" opinions here, but I will post my experience in the hope that it helps:

 

I renewed my motor insurance on the 5th November, and changed from Elephant to the IAM policy. I recieved in the post a couple of weeks before the renewal date a policy statement, and insurance certificate from Elephant that was valid from 00:01 on the 5th November to 23:59 on the 4th November 2012. I called them to advise I did not wish to renew with them, and I would be changing to another supplier. They advised me to send my certificate back to them. If I had have chosen not to do this, and had chosen not to buy insurance from another company I would have still had (on the face of it) a valid certificate of motor insurance. Unfortunatley this is how some criminals try and get away with this.

 

So, my old insurance cover expired at 23:59 on the 4th November 2011, and my new insurance cover started at 00:01 on the 5th November 2011. Technically I am uninsured for that 2 minute period.

 

I do not regularly check my bank balance, but I have SMS alerts set up, so I noticed when payment was taken, however at the time, on the phone some weeks before my renewal I gave the company my card details and also recieved a new certificate. Now, if my card details were wrong the payment would have failed on the 5th November, and I would have been uninsured.

 

To those who are saying that the insurer would have known straight away whether the card details were valid or not: This is not neccessarily the case, as above. Usually the insurer would try and contact the policy holder to explain the situation, either by phone or post.

 

To the OP: If the insurer cannot prove they tried to contact you, then I would say you have a case for mitigating circumstances, and I would get a lawyer. However I suspect that the insurer will produce letters with all sorts of dates on to prove their case, and then the onus is on you to prove that you did not recieve them, which is likely to be very difficult indeed.