insurance renewal - a right old mess!

Wig

Just about to renew my insurance expires tomorrow, wondering why the co-op has not sent me a renewal reminder......Sceptically thinking that they are probably thinking of doing a sneaky automatic renewal without telling me....... I decide to check askmid and my car is not on there!

I don't remember the last time I looked for it on there.

(The text in blue below relates to a previous run in I had with CoOp many years ago)
I've been with co-op before and they also made admin errors back then, I had been writing to them about an issue, and they said they had refunded £20 of my premium which was to be returned to me via the local rep, which to cut a long story short made no sense at the time and I never ever saw the £20 LOL

I'll be phoning them up tomorrow to find out why I am not on ASKMID and if they say I don't have a policy I'll be asking when they stopped it! I've probably been driving uninsured for 8 or more months, I even went to France in the summer. I retaxed my car in October using my certificate at the post office.

Check your askmids!

Rolandtheroadie

Fell out with the co-op years ago.
Have you checked askmid before and it was on there? Wouldnt surprise me if the useless lot had never put it on there in the first place (if thats how it works, never used it).

Failing that, autorenew?

Wig

scotsman4th wrote: »

Fell out with the co-op years ago.
Have you checked askmid before and it was on there?

Can't remember when I last checked it, but I would have checked it initially.

DaveMacD

There is always the possibility that the reminder went missing in the post....

gilbert_and_sullivan

That's a worrying situation Wig, i always found the Coop to be a decent somewhat old fashioned (thank goodness) company to deal with, and honourable if dealing with a claim.

I can't really see you being without insurance all that time, you must have pinged an ANPR device somewhere along the way.

Awaiting follow up with interest.

CHR15

I wouldn't put 100% faith in ASKMID. I have had a car not recognised on ASKMID but I was fully covered.

If you have ever driven passed an ANPR Camera whilst uninsured, you would have been pulled over. There are so many about, unless you are a carrot cruncher in the middle of nowhere, you MUST have been filmed on numerous occasions.

Kilty_2

This wouldn't the first time I've heard of the Co-Op leaving someone uninsured without informing them due to an error so I won't be surprised if it's happened to you.

Wig

It's been confirmed, I paid in full for my policy at inception.
They cancelled my insurance in March without informing me.
No letters to say your policy has been cancelled

They say it was because I did not send proof of no claims, (which I did), I just can't remember if I chased them up to see if they received it. What did happen was that I received letters asking us to forward the proof of no claims - I told co-op by phone, our previous insurer was having difficulty, and they said ok send it when you get it, they noted I had phoned them to say it will be given eventually. And also the xmas holidays were partly responsible for the delay.... and wasn't there a postal strike last January?

I got it soon after, and sent it to Co-op, I'm pretty certain I phoned to say "I have just sent you my proof of no claims" we heard nothing further from them and assumed everthing was ok.

They say now that they sent a letter of motor insurance cancellation in Feb which I never received. They also never sent or telephoned follow ups for the return of the motor insurance certificate....hence, I was able to tax the car in October.

My previous insurer has just now agreed to send another proof letter to me.

When I was asking the previous insurer for the correct no claims letter to be sent, the guy said "why doesn't the Co-op just ring us and we will tell them?". So when I phoned Co-op about proof of no claims, I told them the name of my previous insurer and said "You can phone and ask them if you want to", they said they don't do that. :mad:

Anyway, the guy (from my previous insurer) was then happy to phone my "previous, previous" insurer to get the confirmation he needed to send me the correct no claims letter, infact the guy did it on the phone whilst he was talking to me, and then sent me the correct letter. Why couldn't the Co-op have done that?

Co-op say they had deducted an amount for having 0 no claims before refunding what was left of my premium.

I'm now thinking of 2 things.....

1. Prooving to them I DID have full no claims and asking them to refund to me the deduction they took out.

2. Asking them to retrospectively (at no cost to me) re-instate my insurance for the full year.... What do you think? I think it will be not possible to retrospectively insure the car, even if it was due to an admin error.

Was never stopped by police, and never got a love letter from police. On ONE occasion a few months ago I was driving along on my way to work, and I passed a big "traffic" - "motorway type" police car going the opposite direction, in heavy traffic (my direction was an empty road) I noticed as I passed that he had his rear facing blues on (he didn't have his forward facing blues on as I approached) I thought he was either going to overtake the heavy traffic or do a three point turn and come in my direction. Anyway, 100yds later i turned right on a roundabout followed by another immediate right to go to work, if he did come after me, he didn't see where I had gone - luckily.

I did pass this once though
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=1854649

I guess crunching carrots has it's advantages, although this carrot cruncher has been doing a 20 mile motorway journey everyday since October, and was passed by quite a few police cars.

Kilty_2

Knew it.

I know someone this happened to although he did get stopped by the police and was accused of driving without insurance.

Upon contacting Co-Op they made him pay exorbinate administration fees etc to produce proof of insurance - he had no option but to pay else face 6 points + a fine (and losing his licence, new driver act)

gilbert_and_sullivan

What a horrible situation Wig, Coop must have changed a lot since i was with them which is admittedly some years now i come to think of it...dealt with a local rep who operated from his house, nice chap too.
Been with NFU for many years, again local office with good staff, and i wouldn't dream of changing.

We don't need to tell you just what devastating circumstances this could have resulted in...both for an injured or worse third party and your own finances, i'd be having retrospectiove kittens now at the thoughts of it.

What to do now?
Implications all around, i'd not want to give them any more money to cover the intervening months they already know is a safe (already passed) bet.
On the other hand i would want the retrospective insurance history to be continual, much as it goes against the grain.

I don't envy you the joy of explaining this little lot to your next insurance company when they ask you all the recorded questions.

Good luck with getting this sorted,

Quentin

Wig wrote: »

They cancelled my insurance in March without informing me...........................................

Asking them to retrospectively (at no cost to me) re-instate my insurance for the full year.... What do you think? I think it will be not possible to retrospectively insure the car, even if it was due to an admin error.

You do need to get this cancellation recinded (otherwise you are going to have problems getting insurance again).

(And of course, don't drive until its sorted)