E van insurance

sandraroffey

can anyone advise please?? my daughter in law bought a small van at the beginning of this year, around feb/march time and paid one years insurance in full.

there is now a baby on the way and a van is not good to her what so ever, so has sold the van and bought a car.

E van will not transfer the insurance to a car (they only do vans) AND wont give any refund back on the insurance....there is about 4-5 months still on the policy that have been paid for. they said all they could do was to put the insurance hold hold for 3 months, so she could get another van. but NOPE!!! no refund.

has anyone else had dealings with E van?? and can they do this??

kingstreet

Can you tell us what the terms & conditions say from when she effected the cover?

Quentin

Has she made a claim? There would be no possibility of a refund if any claim has been made.

Otherwise she should complain as their policy does provide for partial refunds should you need to cancel mid term.

mikey72

While this is being sorted, and after, you'll find you will have a problem using the proof of ncd from the van on a new car. No insurer I know of will accept it. (they're happy the other way round though)
One possible way, providing you haven't claimed on the van policy, is to get a new proof of ncd from the last (car) insurer, or if you have a copy already, get quotes based on that.
You must declare the gap between cars as due to driving a van though. Some insurers still won't accept the ncd even then, so make sure it's in black and white. A broker may help as well.

Sally_A

Have a feeling Tesco may take van to car - not guaranteeing, but a voice in my head is telling me this.

mikey72

That would be well worth looking into.

sandraroffey

she has insured the new car, no prob, but she cant get the van insurers to give her back the unused portion of the money paid for a whole year.

lisyloo

but she cant get the van insurers to give her back the unused portion of the money paid for a whole year.

She needs to formally complain through the proper process (as Quentin said).
Personally I'd send any letter by recorded delivery (extra 75p I think) as this decreases the possibility of them saying they didn't get it.
They are entitled to deduct an admin fee.
If they don't play ball she can escalate the complaint to the financial Ombudsman service which is free (but not always quick).

sandraroffey

thank you all so much for the help and advice.. ive asked her to show me the original policy and terms and conditions and when i have seen and read that, i will tell her what to do next. a formal complaint is next step i am sure. they have said all they could do was put the insurance on hold for 3 months then reinstate it when she gets another van. useless.

so, i knew you guys would come up trumps. thanks again.

lisyloo

ive asked her to show me the original policy and terms and conditions

Bear in mind that they are not necessarily "fair" (a legal term) just because a company put them in black and white.
No company is above the UK law.
If you need to ask about the specifics then come back and ask :-)

sandraroffey

update: nothing to update really. E van website says that they will refund the unused portion less their admin fee (£75!!!)

formal complaint has been made in writing and they signed for it yesterday.

something else though: when they lost her proof of no claims discount, (they assumed i think that it had never been sent) she had to pay an extra amount on the policy (because there was no proof) a sum of around £65.......but when THEY FOUND the proof that THEY had lost, they didnt refund her that extra payment either.

think i will start drafting a letter to the FO now. i have a feeling this is going to go all the way!!!!!!!!