Failed Direct debit = cancelled policy = court date

stormcreator

Insurer hastings direct!!!!


In november last year i was taking my aged parents home and was pulled over.I was suprised to find i wasn't insured,,,apparently due to a direct debit failing.At the time i was out of work and money was erratic however we are talking about a premium of only £17 a month which was affordable and as far as i knew it had been paid. The insurance company said it had written to me to inform me that the DD had failed ,however i have never recieved this,
I informed them that given how serious this is perhaps they could have emailed me(which they did when i set up policy or indeed called me which again they had done to confirm policy and attempt sell me further insurance products.I do have to admit that i hadn,t checked my bank bank statement as i'd just switched to online banking and problems accessing the my account.(The Police it has to be said were very helpfull and let me ring the insurers to re insure my car on the side of the road rather than take the car as they could have done).The guy i was talking to at call centre asked me why iw as upset when he quoted me a new policy but at £600 more a year!!(i was paying £200 fully comp) i asked why this was so as i hadn't been convicted at that point ,his reply is that it is pending. As far as i was aware when you take insurance over a monthly period that it is paid and you owe the finance company,therefore it should be a finance matter not a legal matter,In closing i am still waiting for a court date and you will be pleased to know although i re insured my car on side of road,I re insured elsewhere the following week and paid a full years premium!

Has anyone else had this issue ?

Anihilator

You should have noticed your DD bounced.
Legally you were uninsured and you should have queried non payment.
As for the premium rising. thats there choice. Shop around if you dont like it.

dunstonh

,apparently due to a direct debit failing.

It would be more than that. Bounced direct debits usually get a second request a week or two later. If they fail that then the insurer writes to you to give you x number of days to make payment. If they fail to get any response they will have no choice but to cancel.

Has anyone else had this issue ?

Unfortunately for you the responsibility for knowing you are insured is yours. You may be able to persuade the court that you didnt know. However, you are going to have to overcome not noticing the bounced item on your bank statement, then convince them you didnt get the multiple notifications about it first bouncing, then needing to make payment and then the policy being cancelled and finally why you didnt notice it not being paid on your statement.

Astaroth

You almost certainly will have been sent 3 letters (at least), a first missed payment, a final warning and a cancellation letter. As far as the law is concerned the post is the best method of contact on "official" business. Email is considered unsecure and unreliable and Telephone calls are much harder to prove they happened.

Did you inform your new insurers that you have had an insurance policy cancelled for none payment? Many insurers will not touch someone who has had a policy cancelled by a previous insurer at all. You dont want another policy cancelled for none disclosure!!

magpiecottage

You may be able to complain to Hastings Direct that you were not informed. Insurers do sometimes make mistakes and not follow procedures properly.

If so, then they will have to sort it out. However if they have records that show it is more likely than not that you were told then you will probably not be successful.

dacouch

You need to ensure you have also declared the pending conviction for an IN10 (No Insurance)

Quentin

bmwe36 wrote: »

right i work for hastings direct! i am here mutually!

Not sure what you mean by that.

But if you really are able to speak on behalf of "hastings direct", then you need MSE permision to do so.

bmwe36

no not on behalf of a company just an employee trying to share some knowledge! as meaning im not here to stick up for insurers but to give a fair opinion and advise!

dacouch

You can get in a lot of trouble if your employer discover who you are and they do not approve of your posts. People have been sacked from companies (Not neccessarily Hastings) for posting on forums and identifying who they work for.

dacouch

You can go back and edit your posts and remove references to you working with them and perhaps mention a friend works for them or you used to work for them etc.

There was one person on the banking MSE forum who was disciplined by his employer for posting on here and mentioning he worked for X bank.

shelly

bmwe36 wrote: »

ok noted didnt realise that! posts updated! many thanx

You might want to ask Quentin to edit his post too because he has quoted you and at this time I can still see who you work for.