car insurance , probable points

kingkelvin

I took out car insurance last november 08(virgin) , on my renault clio and had a year go by problem free, when i rang my insurers in september 09 to ask about my renewal ,they mentioned about automatic renewal and that the price would be the same or better.
To save trawling the net come renewal time i stated to the person that i would be happy to opt for this and he said everything carries on as normal for another 12 months and i dont need to do anything,
I was pulled over on dec 21 09 and basically the officer informed me to my surprise that i had no insurance, which my insurers confirmed had expired in october... :-0.......i spoke to virgin and they said that because i made a payment late one month i did not qualify for automatic renewal...
I was under the impression that i was covered until oct 2010, i suppose i should have checked my bank statements .
do i have a leg to stand on or should i just take the 6+ points...any advice would be great

lisyloo

Well you could get proper legal advice.
But I think it's up to you to ensure you're insured before you drive and not rely on what someone told you 12 months ago.
You should have had renewal documents so this should have rang alarm bells when it didn't arrive.
It's a serious reposnsibility and up to you to keep on top of it.

So get legal advice if yo want, but I believe ultimately that you are responsible for not having insurance.

You need to notify the conviction to any new insurer which may increase your premium.

kingkelvin

I do remember having renewal docs but was advised not to worry about these because i was still under the impression i was to be automatically renewed , my new insurers are now aware of this and its costing me £££s ..but im more worried about what happens in court, because this was a genuine mistake on mine and i believe the insurer who misadvised me , maybe i should seek legal advice, how much should i expect to pay if i go to court ?

lisyloo

but was advised not to worry about these because i was still under the impression i was to be automatically renewed

and i believe the insurer who misadvised me

Was this in the original phone call, more than 12 months ago?

If so then you broke the agreement through you late payment.
The information was correct at the time and you changed the agreement by failing to pay on time. You weren't misadvised. It was correct information.

You are responsible for ensuring insurance is in place at all times.
You cannot rely on information that out of date for something so important as insurance.

So agreed it's an innocent mistake but it's still your reposnsibility.

So you weren't misadvised and you will almost certainly pay more and get a bigger fine and more points if you challenge it. But feel free to get proper paid advice.

dogbot

Hang on chaps, the OP states they called in Spetember this year, with the renewal being November this year, and was told then that the policy would auto-renew.

OP, when you called in september this year (2009), was this before or after you missed a payment? If after, then they miss informed you, so you should submit a formal complaint and see how far it gets you. If you called before you missed the payment, then you are stuck.

kingkelvin

dogbot wrote: »

Hang on chaps, the OP states they called in Spetember this year, with the renewal being November this year, and was told then that the policy would auto-renew.

OP, when you called in september this year (2009), was this before or after you missed a payment? If after, then they miss informed you, so you should submit a formal complaint and see how far it gets you. If you called before you missed the payment, then you are stuck.

It was definitely AFTER the missed payment that i was advised by the customer services rep of the auto renewal, will they have a record of this call or do they just record random calls. if i submit a complaint could i take this to court because 6+ points would be catastrophic for me ?

lisyloo

I would ask for a SAR (subject access request) under the data protection act.
This is all the info they hold on you and they are only allowed to charge max £10.
I did this with Npower and I got a huge package including transcripts of the phonecalls including all the umms.......and ahs..........
You could also ask seperately if they have a transcript of that call.

Bear in mind if you take it to court with NO proof then they can simply deny it or say they have no record of it.
I personally would want to know where I stood as regards proof beforehand if that's possible with timescales.

lisyloo

Would also strongly recommend you try this site

http://www.pepipoo.com/

They will know exactly what you shoudl and shouldn't do in what timescales.