Lapsed Insurance policy

costdraftjames

Help please, I am having a nightmare!!! I got stopped on the way home from work for driving with no insurance. I have been insured with Direct Line insurance for over a decade and it has been a policy that just rolls over year after year and I have never phoned to renew. However this year they seem not to have chosen to do this!! I phoned this evening after being arrested to be told that they sent me a renewal notice but because I failed to reply the policy lapsed. I have never received any correspondence from them!!! and have never had to physically phone annually. What should I do?

foggytown

When did the old policy expire? Didn't you get any reminders just before it expired? By law, your insurer has to say something 30 days before renewal - even if it's just that they don't want to renew with you. Check last year's policy. Does it say anything about auto-renewal?

vusys1

costdraftjames wrote: »

Help please, I am having a nightmare!!! I got stopped on the way home from work for driving with no insurance. I have been insured with Direct Line insurance for over a decade and it has been a policy that just rolls over year after year and I have never phoned to renew. However this year they seem not to have chosen to do this!! I phoned this evening after being arrested to be told that they sent me a renewal notice but because I failed to reply the policy lapsed. I have never received any correspondence from them!!! and have never had to physically phone annually. What should I do?

If your policy has been on auto renewal every year, there could be a few things that stopped this happen this year.

1.You called during the renewal cycle (usually 21 days before the date) and had another quote, poss change of vehicle. This will stop the auto renewal,but this would not be your fault.

2.if you paid by DD and the last payment rejected,but went through the 2nd time would stop auto renewal.

3.a claim made in the renewal cycle would stop the auto renewal.

4.If paying by card and it has not cleared would stop auto renewal.

5. The company required information before renewal.


Now,if you were on auto renewal you should have had an auto renewal invite confirming the policy will renew & there is nothing for you to do.

if you were not on auto renewal, you would receive a renewal invite asking you to call, a reminder,then a final lapse letter.

Ask them to check why your policy has not auto renewed this year and what docs were sent.

costdraftjames

Well what i think happened is my wife phoned and changed the date of the direct debit then canceled the original one. They were all paid up to date. They tell me that renewal notice and further correspondence was sent to me but I never received anything from them at all.

Quentin

You have a problem, because there is no defence to driving without insurance, and whatever mitigation you have, you will still end up being guilty of the offence.

Thus you are going to have this on your record and will have to declare it when taking out insurance elsewhere.

(You say you haven't received any correspondence from them, but this then includes not getting a new certificate!)

dunstonh

You may get away with one bit of post not arriving as an excuse but trying to explain away why you havent got multiple bits of post is going to be a lot harder and typically you will not be believed.

Well what i think happened is my wife phoned and changed the date of the direct debit then canceled the original one.

That is not logical for a direct debit. You dont cancel the mandate to change the payment date. The originator (direct line) would have got a letter telling them that the mandate has been cancelled. That in itself usually triggers an automated letter. You have the chaser letters, then the warning letters and a final letter telling you its cancelled.

no-oneknowsme

You say that you paid your insurance by monthly direct debit , didnt you notice that the payment werent coming out of your bank ?