Car insurance renewed without policy docs

sangupt

Hi

I am posting this on behalf of a friend who is in a strange situation. She has her car insured through Swinton and the policy was due for renewal in July. She forgot and was surprised this month to find that Swinton had deducted £318 towards her monthly payment for the new policy.

Swinton never posted the new policy documents to her and when she called them they said that they had spoken to and agreed with her daughter (who is a named driver on the policy)on the phone and had gone ahead and renewed based on that conversation.

Now, a quick comparison site check shows that she can renew for a lot cheaper (almost half) through another insurer but Swinton are saying that not only will they not refund the money deducted, they will also charge a cancellation fee!

Is there anything she can do to get her money back from Swinton?

Thanks a lot for your help and advice
Jason

Trentenders

Swinton shou;dn't renew on a say of a third party, even if named in the policy. That said, are you sure that the policy isn't one that automatically renews to avoid carelss people becoming uninsured?

your friend should probably phone to thank Swinton for keeping her insured. If they hadn't and your firend had caused an accident.....

Tell your friend to put an entry in her diary for some time in June next year.

scheming_gypsy

insurance companies will usually (in my experience) only refund the money they've taken if you can prove that you were covered by other insurance.

mikey72

Swinton are obliged to send out a renewal offer, to the policyholder, in a reasonable time, (about 4 weeks before renewal) to enable the customer to assess their needs for the renewal, and decline if they so choose.
If they didn't, they are in breach of FSA guidelines. Complain, then refer to the FOS.
It would be fair to pay a strictly pro-rata cost, with no other fees.

Automatic renewal doesn't remove their obligations.

dunstonh

Now, a quick comparison site check shows that she can renew for a lot cheaper (almost half) through another insurer but Swinton are saying that not only will they not refund the money deducted, they will also charge a cancellation fee!

Which seems fair enough. After all, she has had the benefit of cover and if they hadnt renewed, she could have been stopped for driving without insurance.

Is there anything she can do to get her money back from Swinton?

Only if she obtained cover elsewhere and had dual insurance.

olly300

mikey72 wrote: »

Swinton are obliged to send out a renewal offer, to the policyholder, in a reasonable time, (about 4 weeks before renewal) to enable the customer to assess their needs for the renewal, and decline if they so choose.

I've never had a company do that. The most you get is 2 weeks.

They all send out the renewal by 2nd class post as well in a batch.

mikey72

olly300 wrote: »

I've never had a company do that. The most you get is 2 weeks.

They all send out the renewal by 2nd class post as well in a batch.

Report them to the FSA. If enough people do it, the complaint eventually will be taken seriously.

olly300

mikey72 wrote: »

Report them to the FSA. If enough people do it, the complaint eventually will be taken seriously.

Yeah I know.

I already reported one insurance company a few years ago because auto-renewal wasn't in the "Key Facts" of the policy, and they had some other unfair terms.

Edited: Insurance companies and others don't want to answer questions properly until you threaten and do take them to the regulator.

sangupt

Thank you all for your views. I'm going with Mikey72 here and asking my friend to threaten Swinton that she'll go to the FOS. Will post back to report what happens.

Regards
Jason

sangupt

Just an update: My friend could not recover the premiuim deducted and also had to pay a cancellation charge - so it didn't work:-(

dunstonh

Not the response your friend wanted but the most likely one.

If your friend had arranged alternative insurance and been dual covered then the outcome would have been different. As they have provided cover she didnt have elsewhere and avoided her getting 6 points on her licence and a possible fine and car confiscated, she is pretty lucky they did auto renew.