Unaware no car insurance

alistair.long

I had insurance almost lapse on me, I know roughly what month I took up the policy so that I can renew it the next year.
Last year was a little diffrent as I called my insurance to check when my insurance runs out, and I was told that a renewal with my bonuses was sent out, however this was not the case, and after speaking to a few diffrent people it was decided that I could not have been sent a renewal for some reason, and the no claims was going to be faxed. it was not faxed and instead I received 2 copies in the post.

So therefore sometimes the insurance companies dont send out renewals, and mine is a classical example.

Luckily for me, if my car insurance had lapsed, my company insurance allows me to drive any car even if anyway so would have been covered.

Sadly its the drivers responsability to make sure the car is safe and insured.

If you have proof that insurance was due for auto renewal you can plea with the prosecuter or the judge so as to reduce your conviction, so take your proof of auto renewal to court.

vusys1

An auto renewal invite is not 100% and you should check with your insurer on the day of renewal that it has renewed. There are (in my expericance) a number of factors that will stop the policy auto renewing (certain brands,RBS,DL,CIC,Pru etc) and this is not the policy holders fault.

i.e amendments made after the auto renewal quote generated (usually 28 days before the renewal date) will stop the auto renewal.

the last direct debit rejects but then clears on reapplication will stop the auto renewal.

there are other examples......

So you could be standing at the roadside with your auto renewal document watching your car being siezed at silly o`clock while the rest of the insurance world is closed until 8.00am

Gillingham

You are quite lucky that you received a 'fixed penalty'. If you had gone to court (as many folks have to) then you would have received a band C fine, which is equivalent to 150% of your relevant weekly income. If you had entered a guilty plea at the first opportunity then you would have got 1/3rd off the amount as a credit. Depending upon your income the final amount (plus the costs of approx. £85 and a victim surcharge of £15) would have been considerably more than the £200 fixed penalty. You would still have received the 6 points regardless.

Gillingham

ACG

Anyone would think she has slaughtered the cutest baby in the world.

She made a mistake, we can all be accused of making mistakes. Shes asking if there is anythign she can do based on the fact it was a genuine mistake.

Give her a break, shes had her punishment and no doubt will for the forceable future in insurance premiums. There is no harm is ASKING if its possible that it can be reduced.

BillTrac

And even when you go onto an insurance company's website, input your details, get a quote and accept.....

then get stopped a two months down the line for having no insurance because you failed to inspect the policy you received with a fine tooth comb..all because the date on the policy didn't match what you input.

But hey, insurance companies are never wrong, especially ones who have had your money from the day you agreed to buy their insurance.

And especially ones who when you go back and retry to get insurance say that the money will not leave your account until the policy starts and then take it two months before the apparent start date.

It isn't always the consumer who is wrong.....

and by the way this was my daughter not me, and she is paranoid about double checking things she inputs onto websites...well done Tesco

losgiganteskid

starrystarry wrote: »

Hope all the anti auto-renewal brigade are reading this thread.

Is it any wonder there is confusion in the marketplace when some insurers auto renew and some don't !! - there needs to be consistancy so the motorist has a sporting chance of knowing the position regarding what their insurer will do at renewal. Either all insurers need to auto renew or all don't - simples !

macman

Auto-renewal is just a ploy by the insurers in the hope that most punters will just go with it rather than query the inevitable steep rise in premium. I've twice had my house insurers attempt to bump my premium up 20% at each renewal, despite no claims. 5 minutes on a comparison site gave me a target price which they then agreed to match in a 5 minute phone call. Saving was in excess of £100 each time-not a bad return for 10 mins work.
If they'd been auto-renewing I might not have got around to it.

lisyloo

Will be paranoid for evermore

Tracey, there is no need to be paranoid.
Put all your relevant dates somewhere is a list so that you know what's coming up.
I have a list on my computer where I know my MOT, tax, insurance, end of ISA rates, home insurance, boiler contract, alarm service - basically anything annual in date order then I can check what's coming up.
This also helps with budgetting as you know what bills are coming up.
I always check whether the policy is going to be renewed. Being pro-active saves you from the case where the letter gets lost in the post.

lisyloo

EVERYONE does auto-renewal or NO-ONE does auto-renewal.

We cannot dictate to private companies what they do.

We don't dictate to airlines, restaurants, pubs etc. and we cannot dictate to insurers.
If you go to a restaurant you check what's on the menu and if you go to a pub you check what they have before ordering, you don't insist they all offer the same because you can't be bothered to look !! :-)

Gillingham

I was simply trying to explain that the punishment would have been worse had she not got a fixed penalty. If she wanted to appeal (I don't know on what grounds) then she could face the penalty I mentioned. All I am saying is that a court would not accept her reason for not being insured. Many people genuinely believe that they are insured and it is only when something happens that they find out they are not. Unfortunately the law does not have flexibility on this issue. You either have or don't have valid insurance.

I am afraid there is nothing the lady can do about the points.

Insurance companies are a pain in the butt. They do not make things clear for any of us and therefore we all need to be vigilant in checking our paperwork. Any simple oversight can result in this sort of problem.

Gillingham