Swinton Insurance-Stear Clear!

SophieLO_2

My partner was recently a month away from finishing his yearly insurance for his car.
He lost his bank card end of october and advised Swinton 2/11 that he would need to give them new details as he had to cancel it as they were worried about fraud.
He advised a member of staff in our local office and they said yes thats fine give us a call when you have your new card.
A couple of weeks ago we received a letter saying your insurance has been cancelled. You have 7 days left on your policy.
He called Swinton and they advised him they had tried to contact him (he is a very busy man) but because they couldnt they had cancelled the policy. N.B he paid his monthly payment when he called 02/11 so they were not out of pocket.
He has also lost his years no claims bonus!
Thats what they call great customer service! it doesnt even make any sense to anybody except them.
What do you think?

oscarward

Complain and take it the ombudsman

Thomas_Crown

He should put his complaint in writing to Swinton. If they can't/won't resolve the complaint then he can complain to the ombudsman.

SKIPPY

Doesn't make sense that they should cancel the policy if he paid on the 2/11, how did he pay?

SophieLO_2

Hi,

He paid by card payment.
I have written a very clear complaint letter to Swinton and they have sent an acknowledgement. They have 20 days to reply as the letter says if not i will be taking it furthur!

Sophie

pqrdef

Car insurers are very wary of people who only decide to get insured after the accident. Nor do they want to get involved in driving-without-insurance court cases, with people claiming that they ought to have been covered because they were only slightly late with the premium.

For avoidance of doubt, the insurers want a year's premium strictly in advance and there's no cover until the payment is made. Cover notes don't cover late payment, they only cover delay in issuing the new Certificate after the money is paid.

If you want to pay monthly, the broker will arrange a 12-month loan from a finance company, to lend you the money to pay the year's premium in advance. This will involve the usual hassles and credit checks. It's a one-off for one year and you need a fresh loan every year, and the loan has to be all sorted and signed and sealed before the premium can be paid before the cover is renewed.

Nobody can cut you any slack here. If a point is reached when there isn't enough time left, you're going to be left without cover unless you come up with a year's premium in a hurry.

The lost debit card is a red herring. The loan repayments are a separate issue from the insurance. Anybody who collects recurring card payments gets loads of that sort of thing. Direct Debits are generally better.

In this case, it looks like you made the final payment on last year's loan anyway. But that doesn't get the renewal done. Basically, because of the legal implications, you can't be too busy to sort out car insurance. When the renewal notice arrives, you have to do something about it, soon.

AuntyJean

I have been informed that if you pay by monthly direct debit, when you start they 'accidentally' add household insurance on hoping you won't notice. When you do they happily cancel and refund the extra payments saying it was an error.

Everyone who has recently taken out a policy CHECK your DD's!!

magpiecottage

AuntyJean wrote: »

I have been informed that if you pay by monthly direct debit, when you start they 'accidentally' add household insurance on hoping you won't notice. When you do they happily cancel and refund the extra payments saying it was an error.

Everyone who has recently taken out a policy CHECK your DD's!!

I am not a fan of Swinton but you have no evidence of this, do you?.

mikey72

AuntyJean wrote: »

I have been informed that if you pay by monthly direct debit, when you start they 'accidentally' add household insurance on hoping you won't notice. When you do they happily cancel and refund the extra payments saying it was an error.

Everyone who has recently taken out a policy CHECK your DD's!!

Who told you this?
I've used them for years and never had any problems with them.

vaio

pqrdef wrote: »

Car insurers are very wary of people who only decide to get insured after the accident. Nor do they want to get involved in driving-without-insurance court cases, with people claiming that they ought to have been covered because they were only slightly late with the premium.

For avoidance of doubt, the insurers want a year's premium strictly in advance and there's no cover until the payment is made. Cover notes don't cover late payment, they only cover delay in issuing the new Certificate after the money is paid.

If you want to pay monthly, the broker will arrange a 12-month loan from a finance company, to lend you the money to pay the year's premium in advance. This will involve the usual hassles and credit checks. It's a one-off for one year and you need a fresh loan every year, and the loan has to be all sorted and signed and sealed before the premium can be paid before the cover is renewed.

Nobody can cut you any slack here. If a point is reached when there isn't enough time left, you're going to be left without cover unless you come up with a year's premium in a hurry.

The lost debit card is a red herring. The loan repayments are a separate issue from the insurance. Anybody who collects recurring card payments gets loads of that sort of thing. Direct Debits are generally better.

In this case, it looks like you made the final payment on last year's loan anyway. But that doesn't get the renewal done. Basically, because of the legal implications, you can't be too busy to sort out car insurance. When the renewal notice arrives, you have to do something about it, soon.

very authoritative post but I'm struggling with the logic.

If as you say "there's no cover until the payment is made in full" and "The loan repayments are a separate issue from the insurance" then I can't really see the the basis on which cover can be cancelled if the monthly payments aren't made.

The insurance company has been paid in full before cover starts so why would they cancel if you stop the repayments to the completely separate finance company?

intranix

Sorry but i can believe anything I read about swinton, they are a truley awful company and I've had first hand experience of their lies. They do not hesitate in lieing to you on the phone, anyone reading this with problems with swinton, dont waste any time speaking to your local branch, go straight to financial ombudsman.