Charges on car insurance missed repayment

beaniebabe

Can anyone offer any advice on this? I recently changed bank accounts and informed my car insurance company (Close Consumer Finance) of my new account details. Despite this they failed to take the payment of £32 from my bank account and stated they were unaware I had informed them of my new account details. They charged me an additional £40 in fees. I spoke with the broker and asked if they could resolve this matter on my behalf, requesting the fee to be waived as I have never missed a repayment before. CCF refused to waive the £40 charge and I therefore stated I would use another insurance company as I thought the whole thing was extremelly unfair. I have since received a letter from the broker informing me that I must pay the £32 missed repayment, which I don't mind doing, however they are still requesting I pay the £40. Upto date I have refused to pay this. Am I within my rights and what can they do if I don,t pay the charge?:mad:

Quentin

It all depends on what grounds this is being charged. Dispute it (in writing) and see what they say. If such a charge is in line with the agreed ts + cs, then there is little you can do, and they may well pursue all the way for their money. But if they have no grounds to charge you this, then don't pay it.

Irrespective of the dispute over the £40, non payment of an instalment could leave you with your insurance cancelled, so it is always better to send any details like this via recorded delivery so that you have some proof of delivery to fall back on when they deny getting your revised instructions.

beaniebabe

Thanks Quentin. I will make further enquiries.

dacouch

Close do charge for missed payments and they do not like waiving the charges but it is possible to get done.

As you are with a broker you should be getting them to do the running around for you with Close as they earn commission from putting your instalments with Close (Close are not an insurer, they are a finance company who in effect loan you the money for your insurance premiums)

If you did contact Close about the change of banks you could always get a copy of your file from them under the Data Protection Act. It costs you a few pound, if the person you spoke to used their system it would show on the documents they send you.