Car Insurance

xoroi_2

Yesterday,for the first time ever, I had to contact my car insurance company after a small coming together which was not my fault, although the other party involved will not admit liability. The accident isn't the problem though, my car insurance company is the problem. I rec'd a very unfriendly call from the insurance company of the other concerned party at my work place yesterday telling me that I was not insured.....and that I had deliberately given their client wrong information. Her attitude was so out of order that eventually I told her I would not discuss the situation with her further.

My insurance company, ( I won't say who it is as I am not sure that is allowed on this blog site) who I have been with for 5 years, sent me an automatic renewal notice for my policy on 5th May, so at this point I was not concerend at all. However, when I contacted m insurance company, I was mortified when the call handler told me they could not help me as my policy had lapsed......when I challenged this as I had the renewal notice in my hand, the call handler was reluctant to look into this for me, but eventually did, and, 35 mins later ....came back and admitted that there had been a 'blip' in their system and my policy had not been renewed. Shortly afterwards, the other person involved in this scrape entered my work place and starting creating big time as she had been informed by her insurance company that I was not insured. Also, my next major concern is I receive a monthly car allowance with my salary and a condition of this is that MOTs, insurance etc remains up to date........on checking my bank account last night, I saw that June's payment for the car insurance has not been taken.
I work in a small village, the lady involved n the scrape owns a local business two doors down form my office and is considered to be an unpleasant character ,I am dreading gong to work tomorrow , I shall be spending most of today trying to get this sorted out with my insurance company, but please can anyone advise me as to what sort of action , if any, I may be able to take re my car insurance company? I really would appreciate any help/thoughts. Thanks

paddedjohn

Did your auto renewal notice say you will be automatically renewed if they dont hear off you?
Unless you can sort the problem out with your insurance company you are looking at 6 points and a fine for no insurance, possible increased premiums in the future and a large bill to repair the other vehicle if found negligent.
Take the morning off on monday and try to get it sorted with your insurance, and dont forget to get the car off the road until you are sorted.

xoroi_2

Thanks paddedjohn, the letter does state.......You don't need to do anything to renew you car insurance. If you don't contact us before your renewal date we will automatically renew your policy.......

Good advise re taking the car off the road until this is sorted, hadn't even thought of that, I can call the insurance company today, not until after 10.00 though, I wasn't able to conclude my call with them yesterday, being at work, many thanks for your time and advise.

dacouch

Take a photocopy of your bank statement to show there were adequate funds to pay the premium at the relevant time.

Ring your Insurers on Monday and ask to speak to a superviser, be polite but state your case. If they have sent you an automatic renewal and stated the police will renew then providing you have funds to pay ot at the right time and did not change bank account / card without informing them then they should reinstate the policy.

You may find they put up some resistance as it creates a lot of work for them but stand your ground.

Mention if need be you will request a copy of all of the data they have on you under the Data Protection Act, will go to the press, report them to the FSA and go to the Ombudsman if need be.

dacouch

I would name your Insurer on here (I'm guessing Churchill, Admiral, Swift. Aviva or Hastings). Some of the Insurers have reps on here who will contact you and pull strings to get it sorted as they find it embarrassing.

bouncydog1

If the woman harrasses you in any way, just tell her that your insurers are dealing with it and refuse to discuss with her any further.

If she continues, tell her firmly that you are going to report her to the police for harrassment. You may also wish to have a word with your boss and put him/her in the picture. That way if she comes into the office again they will deal with her and ask her to leave.

Don't dread going to work - the woman sounds like a bully and you have done nothing wrong.

xoroi_2

Thanks Dacough and Bouncyd!!!, all of that advise is relevant and useful, I thought I had this sorted yesterday, after spending over one and a half hours onto their customer services, but the situation has got far worse today.......hence my coming onto the site for more advise........

The company is Direct Line, on Saturday I spoke to John in Cust Svs who assured me that as it was a blip in the DL system my renewal had not actually been activated, DL would backdate the cover to 7th May when my policy should have been renewed. He kept me hanging on for over 20 mins whilst he confirmed this with a supervisor. I was then asked to call after 10.00 am Sunday to go through renewals and put a new policy in place.

9.55 am sunday I was on the phone, spoke to Scott, who went thro' the whole thing again, Scott also spoke to his supervisor, confirmed that John's info had been correct and I was covered for the accident and with the business insurance for my work, and told me I had to go through to renewals to put a new policy in place.

I held on until eventually Mitch answered, went through the whole saga again as apparently the customer services system does not integrate with the renewals system......went through a quote and Mitch put the new policy in place. The new policy premiums are much more expensive then the old policy would have been, ( I have no claims protection), and when I asked why this was he said it was because of the accident they were covering me for. I expressed my concern re the fact that, as I was due to provide my employers with a copy of the new Insurance policy, they would not pay my car allowance for the time DL had lapsed the policy to start date of the new policy, he went to speak to a supervisor again and came back reassuring me that all my employers had to do was give DL CS a call and they would confirm that they were covering me from 7th May as it was their fault this blip had happened..........Mitch told me that my policy was reinstated as of 11.21 am Sunday, and the other parties insurers could now call for confirmation.......Phew, happy days...............or not!!!!!!!!!

Monday, called the other parties insurers telling them that the issue had now been resolved, they called back later and said that the policy was still lapsed, I asked them to give it a while and try again, they called back three more times saying that DL still insisted the policy had lapsed..........the third time, around 7.00 pm last night, they were very unfriendly.

I called DL, a lady called Kirsty took my details but said that she could not put me through to anyone as they were too busy, I talked to her about the scrape, she said is sounded like partial liability anyway. Kirsty said I would be called today.....I was, a lady called Gemma....who told me that DL had sent out a letter to us on the 9th May, telling us they had made a mistake and the policy had not been renewed, that if we wanted to renew it we had 28 days, that 28 days has passed therefore they will not cover me for the accident or confirm the business use coverage to my employer.......I felt sick, still do, I asked to make a complaint, reiterating that every call handler had had several discussions with supervisors before confirming the important and crucial facts to me, and also, and this is genuinely the case, we have not had a letter with DL admitting they made an error and had not renewed our policy, if I hadn't had this accident I would have not known that DL had lapsed the policy, ..........I am waiting for yet another supervisor to call me back.I have told them that I shall be going to the FSA and also I am going to seek legal advise.........I have a day off work today, the other lady concerned in the accident calmed down abit yesterday when I told her I had got it sorted........goodness know what will happen now........

Please can anyone tell me , if the outcome was to be partial liability, what would that mean as to who pays for what, there is really no damage done to my car at all..........I feel really ill when I think of what would be happening if someone had got really hurt in this accident .........also if DL now won't cover me for the accident....I will go to the FSA and take legal advice, but that will take a while to get resolved, and I don't want the other lady to be driving around with a bump in her car, how should I proceed with her.........any suggestions/advise would be so welcome,...

Quentin

If it ends up split liability, your side pays your split of the third party's costs and vice versa. Both sides get a fault claim on their records and both sides ncd is affected if not protected.

You need to pursue your own insurer with regards to whether or not they are agreeing to back date your cover.

You getting legal advice sounds a good idea!

Don't worry about the third party, they will get their money (they can go to the MIB)! But maybe at the end of all this if you cannot get your policy reinstated you will end up getting chased for the money by the MIB.

dacouch

They cannot add a loading for the accident if they have reinstated the renewal of your policy as it happened after the renewal date.

I would not be surprised if the policy they were rearranging for you was from when you called hence adding a load for the accident.