Car Insurance - Elephant.co.uk, part of Admiral, Bell and Diamond.

sri-jay

Hi there people,

I am in urgent need of some advice!!

I am a 20 year old male driver and this year i brought a brand new corsa 1.4 16v Sri on Vauxhalls swapage scheme and the rest was financed, not a problem. Changing my insurance over was easy too, not a problem, actually worked out cheaper!! bonus.

But then,

About 12 days after i picked up the car, some jealous yobbos beat me up and trashed my car, causing approximately £4000.00 worth of damage, i claimed off my insurance, not a problem and she was repair properly at a vauxhall garage.

Come August everything seemed fine, not a single issue, insurance payment was late but was sorted after i recieved an email from them, my mistake due to not looking at my accounts properly! But then the next payment, i was changing bank accounts...

Cut a long story short, the payment wasnt recieved. Elephant cancelled my insurance after not hearing anything from me. This happened on the 14th September. I recieved a letter on the 27th saying that my policy had been cancelled due to none payment and that a payment of over £500.00 was due to settle the policy, due to the claim. This was the first i knew that there was a problem! Called them up, and made my complaint, they say they issued me with two letters saying there was an issue, never recieved!!! Now they have issued a final response and wont insure me at all! To make matters worst i was driving with no insurance and quite easily could have been caught!! Luckily i wasnt but still i feel let down and that not enough was done by Elephant to contact me to make me aware there was a problem!

I have now made a complaint with the Financial Ombudsman Service who will now look into it. But my question is to anyone, do i have a case???

Thanks jay

Quentin

When they cancelled your insurance and asked you for the £500+ that was the premium outstanding till the end of the insurance year.

That was because of the claim they paid out on during the year.

So that is payable.

If that was the basis of your complaint (ie your complaint is that you didn't owe that money), then you don't have a case.

lisyloo

I have now made a complaint with the Financial Ombudsman Service who will now look into it.

You will need to go through Elephants formal complaints service first.
I don't mean just complaining on the phone, you have to go all the way throught their process.
If you haven't done that the FOS will just tell you this but maybe in 3-4 weeks time.

But my question is to anyone, do i have a case???

Maybe.
You missed a payment which you admit was your fault.
You bank account changed and another payment was missed.
We're you not monitoring everything to make sure your payment went out on time? Why did you miss this? especially as you have missed one payment already?

Do they have all your up to date contact details?
Did you not notice the missing payment on your statements?
Were your bank not contacting you at all?

I think you have some responsibility here for making sure payments are made on time.
If you moved your bank account you should have been especially careful.

However I do agree with you that if they had your up to date phone numbers and email then they should have made more effort.
So I think you may have something of a case.
On the other hand the FOS may say 3 letters is adequate.
You have nothing to lose (expect it will take months and months).

But you must complain properly to them first.
I would advise
1) Go through the formal complaints procedure.
2) If you send a letter send it recorded delivery (75p)
3) Keep a note of the name, time and date of anyone you speak to on he phone, you might need these details later for the FOS.
4) Keep a note of everything that's happened so far. Dates, times, lettters, phone calls, names etc. so you have a sequence of events to report to the FOS.
5) Make it clear what you are complaining about (by bullet points if necessary). It's not entirely clear whether you are complaining about the cancellation, the lack of contact, the bill or all 3.

dunstonh

But my question is to anyone, do i have a case???

I don't think so.

If you have a claim in the policy year then are required to pay the whole premium for that year.

Not getting one letter is possible. I get about 1-2 letters a week which are for a different address. Its far too common to get misdelivery and unfortunately, not everyone puts them back in the post again. However, to not get two letters pushes the odds a bit higher and makes it less likely. If they can show that those letters were issued (i.e. having copies on file) then the FOS will go with them.

They probably have fair grounds for removing the monthly payment option. You were late in August and then the bank change caused another missing one. Monthly payments are a credit facility so if you default on or go into arrears they can cancel the monthly facility.

mikey72

Your best option is to pay the full amount (if you can) and concentragte on trying to get them to re-instate the policy, as a cancelled policy is something that will cost you in the future.

adamc260

You stick to your end of the deal, paying a full years premium (whether thats a 10 or 12 month policy) and they stick to theirs paying out on your claim.... regardless of the fact that you pay monthly... at the end of that period you'd still have to pay the full years premium.

(Not saying it in a nasty way btw its just the... clearest way to explain it)