Car Insurance cancelled

aitch13

My boyfriend had his car insurance cancelled as he found out yesterday because his direct didn't go through in May. The insurance company wrote to him at his Cornwall address but he staying and working as an HGV Lorry driver out of Bristol. They had his mobile number but did not bother ringing him. The Insurance company is based in Bristol. He found out he had no insurance when the Police stcopped him yesterday and advised him of it. They then impounded his car and has to pay £150.00 to get it out plus a £200.00 fine and 6 points on his licence. He went to see the insurance company to get re insured and because he has now been caught driving without insurance his policy goes up by an extra £500.00 per year! He asked why they did not ring him and they said it wasn't their policy to chase people up as they sent out a letter whiich is probably sitting on the mat at his cornwall address. The worst thing is that he now has 9 points on his licence and a lot of haulage companies will not accept HIV drivers with 9 points or over which means he will loose his Job! If anyone has any advice then I would really appreciate it

huckster

If he is away most of the time, he should have post re-directed or ask companies to send post to another address, where it will be looked at immediately.

With unpaid DD's, a company will write out to advise of the unpaid amount and if they don't receive the payment with about 14 days, they will then write advising of the cancellation. Insurance companies don't generally call customers about unpaid amounts, as they will get hundreds of returned payments every day.

In my opinion the Insurance company appear to have done nothing wrong and any complaint is unlikely to succeed. Therefore not sure he can do anything about it. He could ask the Insurance company for a copy of their processes for dealing with unpaid DD's and what they did regarding his policy. He could then investigate whether there is any scope to look into this with the FSA and FOS.

Quentin

Although it looks as though he has no complaint over this, the consequences of him having his policy cancelled are now so great for him (bearing in mind his job), as he will have to disclose this cancellation for ever more, it would be worth a try at a grovel/apology/explanation to try and get the original policy reinstated, thereby removing the cancellation from his record!

RuthnJasper

Couldn't he tell from his bank statement (online or paper-copy) that the DD hadn't gone through? Might have saved him all this hassle...

Hope things get better for you & him. x

kingstreet

aitch13 wrote: »

his direct didn't go through in May

Debit, presumably?

Why not? Their fault, or his?

johnnyl

aitch13 wrote: »

My boyfriend had his car insurance cancelled as he found out yesterday because his direct didn't go through in May. The insurance company wrote to him at his Cornwall address but he staying and working as an HGV Lorry driver out of Bristol. They had his mobile number but did not bother ringing him. The Insurance company is based in Bristol. He found out he had no insurance when the Police stcopped him yesterday and advised him of it. They then impounded his car and has to pay £150.00 to get it out plus a £200.00 fine and 6 points on his licence. He went to see the insurance company to get re insured and because he has now been caught driving without insurance his policy goes up by an extra £500.00 per year! He asked why they did not ring him and they said it wasn't their policy to chase people up as they sent out a letter whiich is probably sitting on the mat at his cornwall address. The worst thing is that he now has 9 points on his licence and a lot of haulage companies will not accept HIV drivers with 9 points or over which means he will loose his Job! If anyone has any advice then I would really appreciate it

let me guess, based at the MMT centre, Severn Bridge, BS354BL.

Avoid any of these companies like the plague,there are several of them operating from there.

rs65

You hear occasionally about people avoided a driving ban due to circumstances such as car being essential for job or exceptional hardship or whatever.

Can this be used in his circumstances to try and reduce the penalty? Does he have the points added already?

kingstreet

rs65 wrote: »

You hear occasionally about people avoided a driving ban due to circumstances such as car being essential for job or exceptional hardship or whatever.

Can this be used in his circumstances to try and reduce the penalty? Does he have the points added already?

You can only make an exceptional hardship plea after being sentenced and the points awarded which would normally mean a totting ban. It's an appeal against disqualification at the time, rather than a plea for a lighter penalty for the offence in question.

missile

A sad tale.

It may help others to note consequences of failed DD for insurance by instalments. Some companies charge horrendous mark up

Pay As You Go premiums are subject to a £7.50 a month administration charge.