norwich union car insurance paid in arrears???

sandraroffey

hello there, i wrote this somewhere else then realised i was in the totally wrong place!!. wonder if anyone can advise??

my son had car insurance with norwich union which he paid monthly. when the time came to renew we got it a lot cheaper thanks to this site, so, on the day the insurance expired, 2nd may, a DD was due to come out, so i cancelled the DD. NOW, norwich union say that he owes them for that DD that was cancelled.

this means that they take DDs in arrears, NOT in advance!! so does that mean that the first month he had the insurance, several years ago, he wasnt covered for the first month until the payment was made at the end of the month?? i asked NU to clarify and they have confirmed, in writing that it is paid in arrears but i know that when he first had insurance with NU, it was me who was paying it, and it wasnt paid at the end of the first month, it was paid up front like everyone else,

they however are insisting that he owes them, and have now taken it to a debt collection agency. has this happened to anyone else??

cogito

This is most unusual. AFAIK, insurers always collect premiums up front. If you have kept your renewal documents from last year, they may shed some light on the situation as they should tell you the amount and dates of the monthly instalments.

dunstonh

i asked NU to clarify and they have confirmed, in writing that it is paid in arrears but i know that when he first had insurance with NU, it was me who was paying it, and it wasnt paid at the end of the first month, it was paid up front like everyone else,

The easy way to check this is to look at what has been paid. There are 12 months in the year so there should have been 12 payments at that amount (although a balancing payment a few pence different may occur at beginning or end). If there was 11 payments then you know this one was due.

sandraroffey

they sent me a print out of payments over the last year, BUT it had been carried on, year on year, for about three years so we just continued the DDs until we cancelled. i cant believe anyone takes stuff in arrears and as i said before, when the insurance was inititially taken out, more than three years ago, i paid a deposit lump UP FRONT. its crazy. think we will have to bite the bullet and pay up; its been going on for months now.

lisyloo

on, year on year, for about three years

Well your bank should have details of what you paid.
Why not ask them for the details.

I know it's several years but it can't be that hard to add up.

dunstonh

The premium would change each year. The details would be on the renewal letter/schedule of insurance. The bank statements would also have the information.

Each year is an individual block and each renewal the premium would have changed. There should be 12 payments per period except perhaps year one where it isnt always possible to collect 12 payments normally due to set up time for the direct debit.

lisyloo

I recently set up house & contents insurance at the same time.
I had to make a few amendments to the contents insurance due to mistakes.
Although bnoth policies started on the same date, I'm pretty sure that one of the direct debits started a month later than the other. Mainly due to administrative issues.

So it is certainly possible.

But personally I would want it definitely sorted.
I wouldn't just give them money. I'd need to investigate it.
You should ask the insurer for a breakdown of the payments that THEY think you've made.

[Deleted User]

sandraoffey - do you have a policy number you can email to me? My email address is [EMAIL="rebecca.sibley@norwich-union.co.uk"]rebecca.sibley@norwich-union.co.uk[/EMAIL] and I will see what I can find out.

Becca

sandraroffey

heavens that is service!! have emailed you becca with the policy number. look forward to hearing from you soon.xxx

sandraroffey

hi there becca, havent heard from you at all. wondered if you had managed to find anything out for me?? thanks a lot.

[Deleted User]

hi sandra - I am looking into this.
sorry for taking so long to come back to you

Becca