Car insurance problem - what are my rights?

tincat

Hi all,

I have a really complicated situation. In August I gave my car to a relative, as I was going to have the use of my husbands and didn't need it. Just say the date was 20th August, - it had been planned for a few weeks before, and my relative arranged insurance for that day, and I had not yet informed my insurance (Budget).

About an hour before he was due to collect it, I went to put petrol in it, and as I came out of the petrol station, I was trying to turn right in rush hour on an extremely busy road. There was a parking lot on the other side of the road a few hundred metres to the left, so I decided to go to that and turn around there.

There was a dedicated lane to turn right into the parking lot and I sat waiting in the lane as the oncoming traffic was so busy, indicating. A large van stopped to let me go. As I swung into the parking lot, a cyclist came rushing down the inside lane and crashed at a billion miles per hour into my passenger door.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, police and ambulance called, guy was ok, but his bike (v expensive) was trashed and I was breathalysed etc etc. The van driver and someone else were witnesses for the police and after a couple of months I got a letter from the police that they were satisfied I was not at fault.

Anyhoo, I duly reported this to Budget, and when I did so, I also said that I wanted to cancel my insurance because I no longer had the car. They said that they couldn't cancel because the whole incident would have to be investigated and the cyclist may make a claim.

I phoned them after I got the letter from the police, and tried to cancel again, and they said that they were putting it into effect, but it might take a week to reflect. At the same time they said that I might still have to pay for the rest of the year (up until May 2013) as there may still be an outstanding claim. They advised me to wait a bit longer. I phoned again about 3 weeks later, and they said they still couldn't cancel it on the system and gave me a complicated story which I seem to have blocked out, as I can't recall the details (no confused smiley? this one will have to do )

I'm going to phone them again tomorrow but don't want to get bamboozled again. As the cyclist has not put in a claim, and I stated I wasn't claiming against him, I just want to be able to stop the policy and not make any more payments.

If I hadn't had the accident, would I have been able to cancel the policy if the car was no longer in my possession?

Are they able to make me pay premiums all the way to May next year?

I now have an insurance policy on my husband's car with Sheila's Wheels. That is also payable monthly. I will phone them tomorrow, but am I also within my rights to cancel if I don't any longer have the car?

I leave the country at the end of next month, so want to make sure any unnecessary debits on my account are cancelled.

Thanks

dacouch

It's highly likely the cyclist will claim against you and will probably be successful

tincat

How long would he have to do that? Surely he would have done something by now considering it's over 3 months?

tincat

For background details, the cyclist was speeding down the inside of the lane when there was a very long, dense line of traffic, had his head down (cycling hard) and earphones in his ears, and the police told me at the time how reckless that was.

He also cycled 'straight' into me - because he had his head down and wasn't looking at oncoming traffic, he didn't even try and swerve. He would have only seen my car a split second before hitting it and there was no way for me to see him behind the long line of cars. The police took that from one of the witnesses.

vaio

tincat wrote: »

How long would he have to do that? Surely he would have done something by now considering it's over 3 months?

three years for his injuries, 6 years for the damage to his bike

as far as liability goes, you turned right across oncoming traffic, odds on your insurer won't even try and defend the claim

FlameCloud

There seems to be a number of exagerations and implausible areas in your account.

Was he really going a billion miles per hour?

If you crossed his line of traffic you will likely be at fault, and your insurers would be right to not allow the policy to end.

tincat

He was a training cyclist with various club motifs on and was very fit and he was going very fast according to both witnesses.

I did not turn in the face of oncoming traffic. There was one lane of oncoming traffic, and I was patiently sitting in the dedicated right turn lane. When the van in the oncoming traffic lane stopped to let me through, should I have not gone?

Bear in mind that by the time I was able to see down the inside of the lane, the bonnet of my car was already blocking the narrow path the cyclist was using between the cars and the pavement. It was less than a metre.

ETA The line of cars in both directions was traveling at snails pace because of it being rush hour, and the cyclist (had he been looking) would have clearly seen the entrance to the parking lot on his left and should have slowed down.

paddedjohn

Yeah, i too dont think he was going a billion miles an hour, i mean thats really really fast as he would have needed to have eaten at least 7 weetabix for brekky.

dacouch

FlameCloud wrote: »

There seems to be a number of exagerations and implausible areas in your account.

Was he really going a billion miles per hour?

If you crossed his line of traffic you will likely be at fault, and your insurers would be right to not allow the policy to end.

Might have been a Brazilian cycle courier, they definately go at a brazilian miles an hour

tincat

Really, if I am exaggerating / lying, my insurers / the police will have all the details. I didn't realise that instead of trying to actually answer my questions, I'd be made out to be a liar.

It's not in my interest to lie to you all or to get answers that will gloss over the problem. I just basically wanted to know if I had to pay until the end of the year if I get rid of a car during the year. If not, and I can cancel during the year, then surely even if I have an accident, and EVEN if the cyclist makes a claim, I should still be able to do so because I was fully insured at the time of the accident.

FlameCloud

Of course you were lying, a billion miles per hour is close to twice the speed of light. I very much doubt he was going anywhere close to that speed, especially considering it was rush hour!

You did turn across his line of traffic and he would have had right of way, assuming he was coming towards you. You should not simply assume that because the van has stopped that there will be no other road users on his side of the road- cyclists very often cut under traffic, especially in stop start conditions.

As to your question, people already have. Your insurers will likely not defend a claim in the circs and if your policy pays out for it they will allow you to cancel it, but not refund any of the premium.