Admiral policy put on hold, now they trying to charge me

thedaddy69

Hi this is my first post, i hope someone can help me here, i am a member of the armed forces and deployed to Afghan in May, i rang up to cancel my car insurance as the car was sold and i would be out the country for 6 months, the person advised me to put my policy on suspension and that as long as i ring up by novmeber with a new car i can still get a full years no claims.
This sounded perfect as i will be back next month and getting a new car, the policy was suspended, i sent back my motor certificate, which they never received so i sent a declaration to them, i then stopped the direct debit as i dont like to have them set up on my account if the policy is not active.

Now in October i have received a letter saying that they have not been able to collect payments so i have broken my credit agreement and now owe £400??

I managed to get hold of someone in there indian call centre and i feel as if i am getting no where, they seem to think that because i cancelled the direct debit they have kept my policy running? so i owe them money.

This doesnt seem fair to me? also i spoke to them in August to get a quote for a car i wanted to buy, and told them my policy was suspended and this quote was for november when i return, nothing was said then about the policy still being active, apparently they tried to call my mobile for the passed 3 months (i am in afghan doesnt work!!) so it is my fault as they couldnt get hold of me, surely if they was trying it would of flagged up in August when i rang!

I do not think i should have to pay for the policy when i havent got the car and im out the country and i put it on hold!! Also i am trying to apply for a mortgage next month and they keep saying i have broke a credit agreement with them ( i pay by direct debit) any one help please?

thedaddy69

just got this email from them

:mad::mad::mad:

We no longer have a valid instruction to pay by Direct Debit.
To continue paying by instalments please contact us within 7 days to update
your payment details. Once we receive your new details we will apply for any
outstanding instalments.
According to the Consumer Credit Act, we must tell you the following: This i
your FORMAL NOTICE of the cancellation of your Credit Agreement. If we are
unable to collect your payments we will cancel your Credit Agreement. This
means unless you can pay the remaining policy premium in full, we will cancel
your policy.
If you have any questions our representatives are happy to help. You can cal
them on the telephone number above, Monday - Friday 8am - 10pm, Saturday 9am
5pm and Sunday 10am - 4pm.
Yours sincerely
Kiran KUMAR
Customer Accounts Department

Quentin

This is your mistake - you shouldn't have cancelled your dd.

Putting your policy on hold was not cancelling it, and it still needs to be paid for - when you come off hold they should refund some premium to you, assuming you pay up what you owe.

thedaddy69

sorry i am a little confused now, surely if the policy is on hold why would payments still need to be taken?

Quentin

thedaddy69 wrote: »

sorry i am a little confused now, surely if the policy is on hold why would payments still need to be taken?

Your cover was "suspended" whilst you no longer needed it, but your policy was still alive, (with the intention of keeping it for the year to get the NCD).

So you had to pay for it!

(Which you would have done had you not cancelled the DD!)

You were paying by instalments which had been agreed you would pay monthly - you weren't on any special arrangement (had you paid in full at the outset you wouldn't have been given a refund at the time you went on hold)

thedaddy69

I dont think this is fair as i rang up to Cancel the policy orignally, but was told i could suspend it and wouldnt have to pay anything, then i could un-suspend it before Novmeber to get a full years no claims. Why would i want to pay 6 months worth of car insurance when i am out the country and why did i have to send the Motor Insurance Certificate back if i am still to get charged?
Surely if this was the case it should have been mentioned in August when i spoke to Admiral, and not wait untill october and suprise me with a £400 debt??

Quentin

You need to take all this up with them - but maybe the agent who told you there was nothing to pay wrongly assumed you had paid in full, or meant you would have nothing extra to pay??

They need your certificate when you suspend your cover for (obvious) reasons to prevent abuse.

This would have resulted in some premium return when you contacted them to reinstate the cover.

(If you clear up the outstanding debt, then this should still happen)

Whatever you do, don't let them cancel your policy due to your default as this will have long term consequences for you.

thedaddy69

It is just really hard work as the call centre is in India and sometimes i feel like i am speaking to a Robot! I no longer wish to renew my policy with them, i would rather take out a fresh one with a company with a British call centre! I would rather loose a years no claims!
IIs there anything i can do, as i cant afford a default on my credit file, but i really dont feel i should have to pay, if i had known this in the first place i would have just cancelled the car insurance.

Quentin

As posted, you should be able to get a (partial) premium refund when you go back on cover or the policy year ends.

You could cancel the policy yourself now (giving up the NCD), but check on what costs that will incur, and whether you will still be able for any premium return for the period of suspension.

thedaddy69

Ok thanks for the help, i am going to try and deal Via Email as i only get 30 minutes call time a week out here.

scheming_gypsy

Admiral's call centres are in the UK BUT in the evening they switch them to India, so you might be better trying to work around the time difference and give them a call when it's day time over here.