Elephant charging me £95 for cancellation of car insurance I didn't have!

contrabandvr

Hi All,

Hope someone can give me a little advice!

Before I start my story, I should say that since September I have not been at my main residence due to a stay in hospital and recovery period at my parents. I have only just returned to my main residence and have discovered the following situation:

I used to have car insurance with elephant, which expired at the start of October. They then tried to bill my debit card, which had also expired, for another years insurance. Obviously the payment failed. They did send me 2 letters saying this, but I didn't get them as I was still in hospital. They then proceeded to cancel the insurance they tried to set up for me and bill me £75.94 for a cancellation fee, which has now been forwarded to direct legal & collections and raised to £95.94.

Can anyone give me some advice on where I stand on this? In my view, they are charging me for a cancellation for a contract that never existed! How can they charge me a cancellation fee for something that wasn't in existence?

I tried phoning elephant today, but their offices closed at 5pm. I will try again tomorrow but would like to know where I stand legally.

Thanks,

Andy

mummybearx

Was your contract for one year only, or was it an automatic renewal?

My policy is an auto renewal, but I get a letter every year stating it is due for renewal next month and it will cost £x per month. I need to call to cancel if I don't want to auto renew x

keith1950

It sounds as if you were on auto-renewal, have you read your renewal document that they will have sent.

Although you have had problems and have not in fact been a home it is not their fault that you did not contact them to inform them that you wanted the policy to lapse at renewal.

You could expect a cancellation charge of up to £50 and it sounds as if there is some additional cost for the time on policy before they cancelled it.

If you have taken insurance out elsewhere sent them a copy so know you are insured elsewhere , if not , I think you will probably just have to grin and bear it.

custardy

To show a flip side
When my son was in hospital I forgot all about my car insurance
thankfully the AA auto renewed and it meant i was covered

contrabandvr

Thanks,

It was set to auto renewal and I was insured elsewhere (ecar).

I would have thought that, if they couldn't extract payment, then the contract was invalid anyway...

As I had taken insurance elsewhere, can I get out of paying this stupid fee?

Thanks

custardy

contrabandvr wrote: »

Thanks,

It was set to auto renewal and I was insured elsewhere (ecar).

I would have thought that, if they couldn't extract payment, then the contract was invalid anyway...

As I had taken insurance elsewhere, can I get out of paying this stupid fee?

Thanks

so you had an existing contract with Esure that expired/renewed at the same time?

contrabandvr

custardy wrote: »

so you had an existing contract with Esure that expired/renewed at the same time?

Yes that is correct

antrobus

contrabandvr wrote: »

....Can anyone give me some advice on where I stand on this?

Bascially; complain to Elephant, if they refuse to cancel the charge, take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Not saying either will work, but insurance companies have been known to drop the charge when challenged, and the FOS has found against the insurance company where it has judged it didn't make the auto renweal perfectly clear.

contrabandvr

antrobus wrote: »

Bascially; complain to Elephant, if they refuse to cancel the charge, take it to the Financial Ombudsman Service. Not saying either will work, but insurance companies have been known to drop the charge when challenged, and the FOS has found against the insurance company where it has judged it didn't make the auto renweal perfectly clear.

Oh that's interesting... I was going to try and complain to elephant anyway (i'm quite stubborn :P), but I didn't think of contacting the FOS. I will definitely contact them if elephant aren't nice!

Sally_A

Personally, I'd wait until Monday and office hours, out of hours you get pushed on to overseas call centres manned by pre-programmed drones. (All very "helpful" but go by the handbook).

Don't be aggressive, just explain the situation, and have a bit of cheery banter.

The staff in Cardiff seem down to earth and sympathetic, and I have called them for my daughters insurance, and as a broker on behalf of a third party.

As I rule, I always call them before my daughters insurance runs out (yes, have been slated on here before for running around on her behalf, as she's an adult - but I'm in insurance and she is not, so I know the ropes and terminology), always get the name of the person you have spoken to, and time and date.

A gentle reminder of "Don't you go doing that auto renewal on us unless we confirm we want to renew" - in best Somerset accent, and also reminding them in a jokey way "I'm only an hour away from landing on your doorstep and kicking up a stink!"

Get them on side, and you are 90% of the way to getting the outcome you want.

Elephant and most of the Admiral polices are not the best cover on the planet, but they are better than a lot of the online value brands; I must have recommended them to at least 20 people (whilst pointing out the shortfalls in their policy, a personal opinion only as under the FSA rules I'm not allowed to comment on a product that I have not sold) - and no, I do not work for them, and am not an Appointed Rep.

Saying that - can't get my head around their Multi Car product

Buzby

Very common. Your T&C's should clarify, but if set to auto-renew, any failure does mean a cancellation and pursuit for the balance. Yes it stinks, but your obligation remains - if you don't like it, advise them at inception you do not require auto-renewal.

At renewal, its too late!