insurance renewal - a right old mess!

Wig

Someone is going to phone to sort this out tomorrow,
I've had to borrow a car to go to work in for the next 3 days while this gets sorted

Any ideas what I should be asking for?

I have so far thought that I will show them proof of no claims and ask them for a full refund of the whole of the years policy including the first 3 months i.e. £180 less any amount they already credited my card with in March. At the very least I expect a full refund of the 9 months I didn't get.

My OH wants also the full years insurance to be reinstated at no cost to us - I don't really see the point in pushing for this, we have been lucky and there are no claims and no court cases pending.

I want to ask them if any Black mark would have been left against my name i.e. had a policy cancelled by an insurer, and what they can do to remove that stigma so that I can safely answer "no" on any future insurance application forms. Trouble is I don't know how those online insurance forms generally word that relevant question, or whether it is just part of the statement of facts that you agree to at the end of the application process???

Aswell as the 1 months notice letter of intending cancellation being a legal requirement (which they claim to have done, & I did not recieve), do they not also have a legal requirement to send a letter detailing that cancellation has taken effect? So that would mean they are claiming 2 letters went missing?

Wig

I did not see any such question when i completed the direct line online quote form, and I only got this statement at the end of the process which is also not mentioning the
"Have you ever had insurance refused or cancelled"

Please ensure that the information provided by you and the statements on this page are correct. Should you decide to buy this policy, these details will form the basis of the insurance contract between us. Incorrect information could invalidate all or part of the policy. This contract will be governed by English Law unless you and we agree otherwise. Our cancellation and complaints procedures are detailed in the policy and our cancellation procedures are as follows:

• If you cancel before your policy is due to start, we will return any premium paid in full.
• If you cancel within 14 days of the policy starting or within 14 days of receiving your documents (whichever occurs later), we will return any premium you have paid less an administration fee of £26.25 (including Insurance Premium Tax where applicable)
  or;
• If you cancel after those 14 days have passed we will return any unused premium less the administration fee of £26.25 (including Insurance Premium Tax where applicable)
  or;
• If you have made a claim or if one has been made against you during the current period of insurance, you will not receive a refund.

If your circumstances change between the date you purchase the policy and the date when you require the policy to commence, please call us. Incorrect information could invalidate all or part of the policy.

If you wish to purchase this policy, details of the payment options available to you and the purchase procedure are displayed on the following pages.
We will securely store your payment details so that we may automatically renew your policy for subsequent years. Each year we will write to you before we take any payment to remind you that this is happening.

Insurance cover is subject to our standard policy wording.

View the full insurance policy wording


Mid term adjustments to your policy may result in an administration fee of £15.75 (including Insurance Premium Tax where applicable) as well as any additional premium incurred as a result of the amendment.

Please read the insurance policy summary
before purchasing this product.

• All drivers are at least 17 years of age, and hold a valid UK or EU driving licence and are permanently resident in the UK.
• The total number of accidents or claims for all drivers does not exceed 5 in the last 3 years.
• The total number of convictions, fixed penalties or disqualifications for all drivers does not exceed 3 in the last 5 years.
• Your No Claims Discount (NCD) must have been issued by an insurer from an EU/EEA country or one of the following agreed countries:- Australia, Barbados, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Faroe Islands, Gibraltar, Hong Kong, Isle of Man, Japan, Jersey, Monaco, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, Singapore, South Africa, Switzerland, USA or Zimbabwe. All NCD must be written in English and the NCD level shown in years and not as a percentage. We may be able to obtain proof of your No Claim Discount. If you do not want us to do this, please tick this box.
• The vehicle is owned and registered by you, your spouse, partner or civil partner(not business partner)at your address and has not been modified or altered in anyway (including wheels, suspension, bodywork and engine) and you or your spouse, partner or civil partner (not business partner) will be the main driver. Please note your documents will state that the policyholder is the legal owner and registered keeper of the vehicle.
• You confirm that the main driver of the vehicle is either, you, your spouse, partner, or civil partner (not business partner). Any misrepresentation made by you in order to obtain a lower premium could result in cancellation of your policy and rejection of any claims.
• If you selected one of the following occupations when obtaining your car insurance quotation then the vehicle may only be used for Social, Domestic or Pleasure purposes: Motor Trade, Retired, Housewife / Househusband, Drivers, Students and Unemployed. For all other occupations the vehicle may be used in connection with your business or those of your spouse, partner or civil partner (not business partner). If you require additional drivers to have business use or are uncertain about the type of use you require, please save your quote and contact us.
• Your business or the business of your employer is not in anyway connected with any of the following: the entertainment and fashion industry, professional sports, foreign service, foreign diplomatic personnel, mini-cab drivers or mini-cab controllers.
• The annual mileage of your vehicle does not exceed 50,000

I confirm that the above statements are TRUE and that I have read the policy

Wig

This saga has finally come to a conclusion today. First of all, Co-op were unwilling to do anything except confirm what had happened and what dates letters had been sent, and record a complaint by us. So whilst we were waiting for Co-ops response to a very vague complaint -no details had been taken, just that we wanted to "complain" about what had happened- we set about chasing our previous insurer again for a proof of no claims to shove down Co-op's throat..... easier said than done this was Prudential and we were after our "13 years" letter it started 19th Dec and all seemed to go very well on the first phone call. then we got a 6 year letter from them after xmas, phoned up and were told that was automatic and the 13 year one will come eventually.... phone us back in a week if it doesn't come.....

It didn't arrive phoned again told another would be sent... recieved another 6 years letter

Phoned again told another would be sent waited ..... no letter not even a 6 year (they're getting worse not better)

Phoned again told another was sent.... recieved a 6 year, waited without phoning because they would only have told us to wait for the full 7 days anyway---waited nothing...

Phoned again this time not willing to accept the 'status quo' any longer intended to escalate this to a line manager to take some responsibility for the letter. Spoke to a line manager who refused to do anything other than what had been done before i.e. a note request on the computer for the 13 year letter to be sent out from the relevant dept, he refused to take on a hands on supervising role to ensure we got our letter.

When I got home and heard of this I told OH we're not taking that lying down, and to phone tomorrow and ask to speak to whoever is above him. Which she did and spoke to a female line manager, who said that the request had been made and we should give it one last chance to see if we recieved the letter if not she gave us her direct number to call her back on, finally someone taking a hands on more professional attitude. Waited.... No letter except another 6 years one. Called female who was not in work, left mesage, phone female on Monday and was told she had received earlier message & taken action....written a letter herself saying 13 years and sent it...........waited....then recieved 13 year letter
Hooray! It only took 5 weeks!

Meanwhile Co-op had sent a "brush off" reply to our "vague" complaint. We decided to write a reply to expand the complaint into the specifics of the matter and enclose the 13 year letter when it finally arived from the Pru.

Sent reply (recorded) to Co-op heard nothing for 2 weeks which we thought was a poor show as we had asked for an urgent response to include a 13 year no claims letter from them for us to pass on to our new insurer. Phoned Co-op for 3 days could not get to speak to the person we had addressed the letter to as they were always out and apparently the messages we were leaving for her to phone us back were somehow not getting actioned. Finally we did get to her and she apologised for the delay and said we would get a letter soon. We received:

• a Co-Op 13 year letter
• an ex gratia payment of £30
• a premium refund of £64

to add to the original cancellation refund a year ago of £76 making a total refund of £170 from an original premium of £180 and we'd had about 10 weeks of insurance cover from Dec 08 - March 09 worth about £40

So they have refunded everything they owed us and a very small ex gratia of £30

So lucky that we didn't have a bump in all that time otherwise we would have been right up the creek, it doesn't bear thinking about what our liabilities could have been in the event of a serious accident.

Co-op has so far only refunded us and seems to have taken the view that doing this means they don't have to respond to our more specific complaints......I'm not sure whether to push for a response to the complaints.

I was going to post up the letter I sent but I don't have the final draft copy available to me at this time.

somech

can i ask a silly question if your car is on ask MID does that mean its insured.
only ask as i just checked mine and its on there even though its parked on my drive until i can afford insurance (unemployed at the mo).

Lum

No, the database is woefully inaccurate, and doesn't cover a lot of conditions (eg. driving an uninsured car using DOC cover, a car that's insured for Mr. Bloggs being driven by Mrs. Jones etc. etc.) unfortunately the police rely on it and might impound your car if it shows up uninsured, so it's best to make sure it says you are insured.

As for the OP. I wouldn't stop here, I would take it to the ombudsman if you don't get any joy from the co-op. You will be losing out financially for two reasons.

1) You will have to say yes to the question about having your insurance cancelled. This loads your premium.
2) You have failed to gain 1 years no-claims bonus to which you should have been entitled to. This obviously increases your premium too.

Both of these are going to increase your premiums, and you have probably given the wrong no-claims figure to your new insurance.

On the positive side. I'm pretty sure that the insurance have to provide 3rd party cover to you until such time as they recover the insurance certificate.

And for future reference, rather than borrow a car, someone like dayinsure.com may be worth bearing in mind to avoid this issue. (and send the bill to the co-op)

Wig

somech wrote: »

can i ask a silly question if your car is on ask MID does that mean its insured.
only ask as i just checked mine and its on there even though its parked on my drive until i can afford insurance (unemployed at the mo).

If you do a free check on askmid the results page will be either green or red

Green with a "yes" should mean your car is insured, but it is not guaranteed to be insured, if you think you cancelled your insurance check with your insurer.

Red with a "warning" means it is not insured but if you think it should be then you should check with your insurer.

What result do you get?

ukmike

I see the number A1 is on a tractor!!

Lum

You realise you're only supposed to use that service to check your own car, according to the T&Cs of that site and the data protection act.

Of course no-one takes any notice, but posting about it on a public forum may not be a great idea.

ukmike

You realise you're only supposed to use that service to check your own car, according to the T&Cs of that site and the data protection act.

What are you on about?I saw it on a tractor last week.Am i not allowed to look at tractors anymore?

Lum

ukmike wrote: »

What are you on about?I saw it on a tractor last week.Am i not allowed to look at tractors anymore?

Fair enough