Insurance Nightmare - need help

luci

Do you have the renewal notice from last year or the previous year? That would show your NCD and you can use it up to 2 years later.

andyo

WhiteHorse wrote: »

Complain to DL. Complain about DL. And don't do it by email either, do it in writing and send it Recorded Delivery (you don't want them to 'accidentally' lose that one as well, so you?).

Might be worth giving the Police a poke too. They will probably say that it's a civil matter because it was on private land (which is true), but it's also criminal damage (which is a police matter). Driving right at you is also an assault and quite possibly something even more serious.

Re Police action WhiteHorse - I'm presuming that this incident occurred in Scotland from the OP's location. If so, certain car parks to which the public have free and unrestricted passage are considered as roads although in practice the Police do not generally get involved in minor accidents say, in supermarket car parks. They should however make enquiries in cases of 'hit and run' such as this appears to be. There is no 'criminal damage' legislation in Scotland, but you are correct about the possible assault scenario. I am not being pedantic, but merely trying to make sure the OP doesn't quote legislation that might not be relevant. If however scottishminnie happened to be down south at the time then you are entirely correct.
Anyway scottishminnie, good luck with your quest and I hope you have a satisfactory outcome.

Quentin

luci wrote: »

Do you have the renewal notice from last year or the previous year? That would show your NCD and you can use it up to 2 years later.

When you use an "old" proof of NCD, the insurer usually wants you to explain why it is old, and what driving you have been doing in the interim.

scottishminnie

Quentin wrote: »

As you are intending making the claim off your own policy, then your excess will be payable anyway, (and you will need to pursue the third party to recover it and all your other uninsured losses).

I have legal assistance on the policy and they are on the case - fairly zealously I would have to say. If the 3rd party accepts responsibility they will pursue for the excess as well as the damage. If they don't then I guess we need to weigh up the excess v's the damage and the downstream impact on premiums

scottishminnie

luci wrote: »

Do you have the renewal notice from last year or the previous year? That would show your NCD and you can use it up to 2 years later.

I actually have a renewal notice from last month but DL advised if I moved to another insurer I would need to request a formal advice from them as the new insurer would not accept a renewal notice as proof

mikey72

scottishminnie wrote: »

I actually have a renewal notice from last month but DL advised if I moved to another insurer I would need to request a formal advice from them as the new insurer would not accept a renewal notice as proof

All mine have for as long as I can remember.

scottishminnie

mikey72 wrote: »

All mine have for as long as I can remember.

That would at least overcome one of my obstacles:)

diggerman123

just a thought , but if your new policy is due tostart in feb then you will have a NEW renewal notice from recently which will show your ncb . this will be an up to date one with no gap and should be all you need as proof ?
diggerman
oops sorry , just realised you covered this

magpiecottage

WhiteHorse wrote: »

don't do it by email either, do it in writing and send it Recorded Delivery (you don't want them to 'accidentally' lose that one as well, so you?).

I always thought e-mails were in writing:)

In fact, e-mail is good because you will have a copy showing when it was sent.

If you do use snail mail, there is no need to send it recorded delivery. Just get proof of posting (free from the post office). Assuming it is sent first class, FOS or a court will deem it to have been received two working days later.

On the other hand if it goes RD and the postman doesn't bother to get a signature, the lack of a Royal Mail record of delivery could be interpreted as meaning it genuinely had not been received.

scottishminnie

Bit of an update - the police have contacted me to say they will visit the other driver but they have a backlog and it might be a few more weeks before they get round to it so I don't imagine that will lead anywhere at all.

I have found another insurance company happy to take me on at a comparable cost (and they are well aware of the ongoing claim) and I used the renewal notice for proof of NCD.

I have written (snail mail, recorded) to Direct Line with the date, name and approximate time of the call notifying them of the endorsement and asked for their findings. I have made the point that the figures they are now quoting are in no way competitive and not acceptable.

Now my remaining challenge - having found a new insurer the situation is this:

The policy was renewed on Feb 10th (not 15th as I thought) and the premium paid (annual in full) by direct debit.
The DL website states
"If the new period of insurance (renewal) has started and you cancel within 14 days of it starting or within 14 days of receiving your documents (whichever occurs later), we will return any premium paid in full. We will not refund any premium if you have made a claim or if one has been made against you during the period of cover. Please return the certificate of motor insurance.
If you cancel after those 14 days have passed, we will return any premium less a charge for the number of days for which cover has been given and an administration fee of up to £26.50 (including Insurance Premium Tax where applicable) as shown in your schedule. We will not refund any premium if you have made a claim or if one has been made against you during the period of cover. Please return the certificate of motor insurance"

so.... I expected that it would be relatively simple - I am within 14 days and even if I wasn't I should be able to get a proportionate refund.

Direct Line however say I cannot have any refund as I have an ongoing claim. The claim was 22nd January so as far as I can see was not in the "period of cover" they refer to in their T&C's. I consider that the claim occured in the period of cover from 10/02/10 until 10/02/11. The period of cover for the policy I wish to cancel is 10/02/11 to 10/02/12. They are absolutely not budging on this though and say I'm misinterpreting the T&C's. They say as I renewed the same policy with the same policy number etc it counts as straight through cover so the period of cover is from when I originally took the policy with them (2002) until 2012.

Somebody tell me I'm not going mad here. I'm being made to feel like I'm the thickest customer they have ever dealt with and I cannot see how I am wrong so I need some independent views.