Car Insurance - need help

debjam

Sorry this is going to be long.

Insured my car with Swinton in January and paid for it in full, as I always do (pay in full that is). Bought a new car in August and needed to change insurance and get a cover note so the garage could tax it. Swinton were really unhelpful refused to issue a cover note as they kept saying it was fraud to issue a note "until I took possession of the vehicle" and then quoted that it would cost an extra £90 to insure my new vehicle. I had already got a "compare" quote that was less than what I paid for my "current" vehicle in January and this was a bigger car and brand new. So I said that I would go elsewhere to get insurance and a cover note, which I did with no problem.

I have now received a letter from Swinton informing me that I owe them £12.01 and they are refering me to a debt collection agency which will cost me an extra £25 on top.

I have called the office and they are going to ring me back as they are "busy". I realise that they may explain all this over the phone and this could be a mistake, but surely if I have paid for the insurance in full and cancelled it in August then I shouldn't owe anything should I, surely they owe me for 5 months not used?

bryan_monroe

I am sorry to say that many motor insurance companies now treat customers in this way. It is not an error as they will say if you seek publicity in the press, but probably a deliberate policy.

Clearly you are due for a refund if you cancel the policy before the end and have paid for a year in advance. They will probably claw back a substatial sum as administrative charges - but they wil have to pay it back.

What they told you about the cover note is nonsense.They will not bother to recover £12, But it may be that their cancellation fee was bigger than the remaining value on your policy.

In a year`s time, when you come to renew, with your new company, you may find a huge increase in your premium rate. Most of them seem to play this game.

InsideInsurance

Cover note is a very outdated term and can cause a lot of problems when you are dealing with staff who probably were still in school (or not even born) when they were used.

You could add the vehicle to your existing policy as a Temporary Additional Vehicle and then receive a new certificate of insurance which shows the coverage of both vehicles.

Possibly cheaper is taking out a short term insurance policy which you then can print the certificate off yourself at home. Cover notes were of cause just the stop gap document until the certificate of insurance actually arrived (back in the day they used to be signed by a physical person etc)

forgotmyname

I would have asked.. So your saying i need to buy the car drive it here uninsured then get the cover note off you?

Their admin fee to cancel may have been greater than the remaining 5 months of cover was worth.

debjam

Thanks for the responses people. They did ring me back and told me that this was letter number 2. I explained that I never received letter number 1, to which their response was "well it was sent out on 8th October" as if that explained it all. I told them again that I never received the letter so had no idea what this £12 was about and why I was being referred to an agency. Apparently because I insured the car I had sold twice I was committing fraud and this was why I was being charged £12. Really not sure where this person was taught how to talk to people but she was really very abrupt. :wall:

So all in all not really sure what is happening. I tried to explain again that I had cancelled the policy when I collected my new car and handed over the old car so I wasn't sure how I could insure the old car twice as it was no longer in my possession. I can only assume that the garage has sold my car on and the new owners have tried to insure it and Swinton had not cancelled the policy as I requested them to. So as usual that is my problem not theirs. I am going to pop in to the local office and see the young lady in person tomorrow, will try to behave .

mableswift

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