Insurance !!!! up

BillTrac

Quite long winded so sorry

My OH car insurance was due for renewal in February. Expired at midnight Feb 16th. The renewal cost from Admiral had gone up considerably so OH searched around and found a much better deal with Tesco.

She went on-line 16th Feb and took out fully comp cover starting 00:01 17th Feb.

Documents arrived after several days, put away and all seemed ok. Myself and DD are also on the policy. The money was paid by CC.

Fast forward to today and DD got pulled over by the Police. ANPR had tagged her as having no insurance!! Found out that the insurance didnt start until 17th May!!

Policeman was very kind but said it would be £200 and 6 points. None of us has any points at the moment. He said she could take it home if she could get insurance co to bring start date to today. Done there and then so Ok so far.

OH and DD came home and checked the policy which does say 17th May. Looked on CC bill and money taken 16th Feb.

Timeline ; we obtained quote, and took out insurance on 16th Feb to start 17th Feb. Money taken out 16th Feb. Received docs soon after and also received £50 Tesco card.

My question is does anyone think we should take this to court?

DD is taking docs to Police station Friday and I am going with her and need to know if I have to tell them them what we want to do.

It isnt as if we were avoiding paying for insurance as we paid it 3 months ago!

Also, does anyone ever insure their car three months in advance?

Any advice welcome, and yes I realise one of us should have checked the policy document.

bodybutter

Afraid driving without insurance is a strict liability offence, i.e. iether it happened or it didn't there are no mitigating factors.

Have you spoken to the insurers and asked if its possible there was some failure in the transmission over the internet of your requirements? Did you get one of those automated emails confirming cover and start date and time?

The bitter pill here is if its not a clerical error on the part of the insurer, then you will have to accept the penalty points and declare them, which in turn will increase your insurance premium.

Sorry its not better news.

pedro123456

Bill............"and yes I realise one of us should have checked the policy document"..........but you didn't and at times neither would I so dont beat yourself up

Its a genuine error from how you have explained it, maybe when you go to cop shop you could put your case and possibly "prove how you paid (does CC mean Credit Card)........

If so.........they ought to be ok about it, my gut reaction is that you will be ok................but........ if there is a mistake that has been made by the IC rest assured you will be held responcible for not checking you docs. cos thats what bandits do...........good luck

Pete

toptip

Just a quick point

Most UK car insurers will only allow you to set up car insurance within 30 days of policy start date, but I have noticed that Tesco compare will let you choose a date up to 90 days in advance.

As it appears that you bought exactly 90 days in advance, could this be a glitch on your/their computer system - and did you receive a confirmation e-mail from that would confirm policy number and start date.

Don't forget you must inform Tesco about the driving conviction (IN10 I believe) and be prepared to have your credit card. Unfortunately for you, the true cost will be far greater than the £200 fine.

I don't want to come across mean spirited as this sounds like a genuine mistake either by you or Tesco so I do hope you get a speedy resolution.

BillTrac

Many thanks for the replies.

As I said we had paid on the 16th for the policy to come into force on the 17th.

More info, Tesco told OH when she first called them that there was no record of the payment being received(even though we had documents and the £50 voucher)they then wanted paying again. After much searching they suddenly found proof of payment.

Dont think next years insurance will be with them.

Sorry, yes CC means credit card, and we have the statement showing payment to Tesco on the 16th. Thing is that our statements run from 17th-16th of each month so we wouldnt have bought this on the last day for a policy three months away,anyway.

Cant find confirmation e-mail, think OH may have deleted it when we received the documents. (anyone know any way to retrieve deleted e-mails from a hotmail address?)

Anyway, going with them to the Police station tomorrow morning and we will see what transpires

The one thing tha concerns me is that when you buy insurance on-line you are informed you are covered from a certain date and time. Well until you get the actual documents you cant sure that you are covered.

Next time we will renew much sooner...........lol

again thanks

BruceyBonus

Ask Tesco if they can check the online system to see what was actually entered.

Not sure what Tesco do, but some insurers will re-type (yes, seriously, some companies still do this) the details of new policies from their website into the mainframe. Ocassionally, mistakes can happen during this process.

dacouch

Billtrac the Police see things in black and white as far as they are concerned you are either Insured or you are not. If you do not take a Certificate, Covernote or Letter of Indemnity that shows you were covered when you were stopped then in their eyes you were not insured and have commited an offence. By all means speak to the police and explain the situation, however normally the person you will produce the documents to are normally civilian front desk staff and they are generally not that helpful.

As the other posters have suggested you really need to find the confirmation email from tesco to see what details this contains. In addition I would recommend you contact a Tesco and speak to a superviser. Explain the situation and that your current policy expired on the 17th Feb and that your intention was to take cover out effective from the 17th Feb. In the circumstances they might see sense and correct the mistake. If they do this they should be able to issue you written proof that you were covered on the date you were stopped which the police will accept.

Obviously do not drive the vehicle until you have sorted out something Insurance wise as technically the car is not covered until May

The police will have given you 7 days to produce your documents, if you explain the situation they will normally give you an extension. It is important that you ask for an extension as otherwise when the 7 days expire they will forward the file on for prosecution.

If you want to check any future policies are current you can check you are covered here https://www.askmid.co.uk

cogito

The insurers won't be able to issue a backdated RTA certificate but they may give you a Letter of Indemity which basically states that they would have dealt with any claim. That should satisfy Plod.

dacouch

I agree cognito, only problem for the client is getting hold of the right person at Tesco who is prepared to do this (If they can) as it will be a lot of work and a lot of people cba

raskazz

I would be very surrpised if Tesco agreed to provide a letter of indemnity. They wouldn't have dealt with any claim before the 17th of May simply because there was no cover inforce. The OP had plenty of time to check the documents before they were stopped by the Police.

dacouch

I agree Raskazz, its unlikely they will help but there is an outside chance. Its worth giving it a go especially as previous posters have pointed out not only will they get the fine and points for an IN10 (Insurance Conviction) but they will also have to declare the pending conviction to the "new" Insurers which is very likely to put the premium up.

Moral of the story is Insurance is a very important purchase and should not be treated like just buying a game on the internet. You should check very carefully the information you supply to the Insurer, the policy cover and the policy documents you receive. Unfortunately when you buy Insurance on the internet and put incorrect information in (I'm not saying the OP has just making a general statement) there is no one else you can blame it on.