Trouble with my no claims.. and swapping ins to new car-help please!

Minxz

Hi!
I have had my trusty old car insured by Tescos over the last 2 years, and it's just been renewed. I am due to buy a new car in about 3 weeks time so needed to renew current insurance while we waited for the new one ( from a friend moving abroad, so couldn't swap cars sooner).
While getting a new quote on the phone today I told the man I thought my indutrnace seemed high compared to another company, so he said that it would be, with just 3 years no claims...eh?!
I have over 9 years worth of no claims... 22 to be exact, so i was shocked. I asked him why, what's happened to all my no claims, and he said that they didn't have a letter from my old insurers with no claims proff on it. I sent them the letter over a year ago, but he now says theu don't have it as it's not logged on the system! I had no idea as no one had contacted me about it, so he said that's why the premiums for the new car will be higher ( I've done compare.com, and found other insurers able to offer the same insurance for almost half of what they are quoting me)
So I asked what i could do, he says ring the old insurer to get a letter.. it's fine says he, they keep details for years. Well, they do, but they don't send out no claims proof letters after 2 years! ARGH
So now what? How do i get proof of my no claims? If i can would tesco backdate any overpayments?
I considered just leaving, cancelling my DD, and starting a cheaper year with another company, but then I'd need prooof of my no claims still, so that's no good. I asked about cancelling my ins to go to a cheaper company, and I was also told I would probably have to pay about £120 'escape' fees.
Can anyone help please.. i don't want all that no claims going down the drain.

forgotmyname

Formal complaint in writing to the insurers. If that doesnt work then take it further.

I always keep my old documents for many years.

Missus moans a bit but its come in handy more than once.

bouncydog1

How did you send the no claims proof? Hopefully by at least signed for mail otherwise Tesco may not have received it.

Anyway something doesn't sound right here - presumably you would have noticed that your policy taken out with Tescos two years ago was being charged at a higher premium than you had initially had a quote for?

See if you can find any old documentation or contact your old insurers again - they will have details of your no claims on record at time of policy lapse/cancellation - they will just have to dig around a bit to locate it.

amckenna1

I took out an online car insurance policy, and later, I find out that I cant drive another persons car third party, so I was upset, and when I asked to cancel the policy, I was then told it would cost me £25 even before it starts on the 1st June 2012, they said to me I have a 14 day cooling off perioud, but is there any legal way, that I can cancel it without charge? it really got me going, Andrew Mckenna. [EMAIL="andrew.mckenna1@ntlworld.com"]andrew.mckenna1@ntlworld.com[/EMAIL]

Quentin

Not clever putting up your email address (and against the forum rules)

Their cancellation procedure will be set out in your policy documents, and a £25 cancellation charge is cheap these days! If the charge is mentioned in the ts + cs there is no legal way out.

Try moaning about this to them and they might write it off as a goodwill gesture!

rs65

The fact they don't provide DOC and their cancellation charges are both set out in their FAQ's, I'm afraid.

forgotmyname

If the policy has not started then your not cancelling, Your not going to renew the policy.

Terms and conditions may have a timeframe for renewals though, Does it?

amckenna1

Thanks for your repplies, this is my first time with them, so im not renewing anyway, and £25 is not cheap for soomeone whos unemploiyed like myself, its so awfull how they treat people, I did get upset at them, but no, they stuck to their guns, but I said that I wont be renewing next year, and I also wrote a review, saying they are terrable, and wouldnt reccomend it to a friend.

Minxz

forgotmyname wrote: »

Formal complaint in writing to the insurers. If that doesnt work then take it further.

I always keep my old documents for many years.

Missus moans a bit but its come in handy more than once.

Thank you

thenudeone

Under the data protection act insurers must provide whatever information they have on you for as long as they keep it. This will obviously include the NCD years that you declared when buying the policy, and information wbout whether you made a claim. They can't arbitrarily decide not to provide it after 2 years.
I doubt that they would delete any insurance data as quickly as 2 years, because the normal time limit for civil claims is 6 years.

Write to the Data Protection Officer at your insurer and head your letter "Subject Access Request" to see what information they hold about your NCD.