Paying the Remainder of my Car Insurance Premium

Crayton87

Hi everyone,

I have recently had my car stolen (at night from my driveway) and set on fire. My car is completely gone! I have made a claim with my car insurance company and they have agreed to pay the value of my car plus the valuables inside (fully comp) - phew!
However i rang to cancel my insurance today and was told i had to pay the remainder of my policy (currently pay monthly) which i was completely shocked by because this situation was not my fault and i don't understand why i should continue paying insurance for a 'non-existant' car. I have read other related threads concerning this kind of situation and understand in some circumstances i should consider my insurance as a years contract and the insurance company allows me monthly installments. But it states on my policy that if i cancel, the insurance provider would refund any part of the premium not used less their admin fees. I even had it confirmed to me over the phone today that if i had cancelled my policy the day before the event, i wouldn't have had to pay the balance. I don't understand why I have to pay the full year because i made a claim, for which involved criminal offence to me and at no fault of my own. All charges incurred to the insurance company came out of the 'claim'. Can anyone explain this to me and why they are getting away with stealing from me? HELP!!

student_84

You have answered you're own question, the insurance is a one year contract, they fulfilled their end in paying out now you have to in completing the payments for the policy.

Have you asked if you could add a 'new' car to the policy to see out the year?

Crayton87

Well i will give them credit, they actually asked me if i was going to purchase another car so that they would keep the policy going for me. But it seems pointless in them paying me my claim when i have to put it back into the policy anyway, it's like 'hidden double excess' or something. I just don't understand why i only pay the balance if i've made a claim, but in this situation i didn't choose to end my policy or have my car stolen so i'm being penalised. It just seems completely unfair

adamc260

You buy a 12 month policy not a <x length of time policy till I have a claim>

Whether you pay it monthly or not... the full sum needs to be paid for them to honour their side of things and that's paying a claim. The fact you are paying monthly is just a 'loan' from the insurers. Surely if it were the case that you only had to pay the monthly payments up until you made a claim and the rest wasn't payable, everyone would just do it on a monthly basis in case they have an accident?

You can cancel a policy at anytime but if a claim is made the full sum of the policy is payable as they've met their end of the contract.

Whilst I agree that you didn't choose to have your car stolen, nor was it your fault.. in the eyes of the insurer as there is no one to recover the cost from it is deemed 'your fault'. In essence, no one chooses to have an accident (well... some people do but that's another story for another time !)

Crayton87

This has been an awful situation and the phone call today cancelling my policy was the last thing and even that was a hurdle! I just felt like i was being cheated. My policy literally has two lines saying i'm only able to cancel my continuing payments if i haven't made a claim, if they had put more explanation into it, i wouldn't have got so upset about it. Thank you so much!

adamc260

I've worked in insurance for quite a few years so most of it isn't a shock to me, but I can see how if it isn't something you deal with daily it could be a bit like 'Hang on, whats going on here!?'

Crayton87

Completely true! this is the first time i've had to claim with a car insurance company so i didn't know what to expect. They did pay out even though i couldn't provide them with the service history or mot certificate because they were in the car (lesson learned there!), and also for the items in my car even though i was unable to locate any receipts - no problems at all with the claim itself (though it did take a few weeks of telephone calls and correspondence swapping - very frustrating because you just want it to be over, but then i guess they have to be cautious because of the frauds who do it for some money! - grr!)

adamc260

Who you insured with out of interest?

ariba10

If you had paid up front for the years insurance you would not have been able to claim (or expect) any money back.

Crayton87

I took my insurance with Likewise which are a trading name for Hastings Insurance Services Limited.

adamc260

ooo, they tend not to have a good reputation, least it got paid out i guess :P!