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

forgotmyname

You failed to cancel the auto renewal. So they have billed you until they cancelled it.

This is a problem now. You took out new insurance with another company and have told them you have never had a policy cancelled.

This is a lie. You need to sort this and update your new insurer with the details before you find yourself without insurance or an increased premium.

Quentin

You need to resolve this as you tell us in your OP that they have cancelled your policy.

This does need addressing - a cancelled policy like this goes on your record and needs to be disclosed for evermore.

You need to try and get this cancellation rescinded (explain the facts, and that you were insured elsewhere throughout - assuming this is the case).

Then hopefully they will remove the cancellation and treat the policy as if it never started.

But do "ask nicely" rather than charge into them - this is not their fault, and the consequences of having a cancelled policy left on your record will be costly and inconvenient (eg. you won't be able to get quotes on line in future, etc)

contrabandvr

hm. I'll ring them tomorrow. I was insured with ecar from the day that my elephant insurance expired, so there shouldn't be any need for them to cover me for the days they claim.

I re-read the first letter they sent me, which read "[...] there is an outstanding amount if £75.94 owed to us. This is for the time on cover and includes an administration fee.". So I guess, in their eyes, I was insured for an amount of days before they cancelled it.

Edit: I also just read up on the elephant.co.uk/policyDocs/EL51%200811%20Policy%20Booklet.pdf (seems I cant use links as i'm new!) for when I took out the insurance. From reading that (Page 18, sec 4,5). In theory, if they would be willing to refund the time they think they were insuring me then they should also remove the charges (and therefore the cancellation record)? TBH, even if I was just charged their £20 fee due to the dept collection I wouldn't complain... too much...

dunstonh

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

Payment method and the contract are two different things. Failure on the payment does not automatically cancel the contract or your responsibility.

As already mentioned above, you should complain and chances are they will come up with something but technically, they are in the right. So, you are reliant on their goodwill and as also mentioned above, you should keep them onside and not go in with all guns blazing.

forgotmyname

You cannot leave anything to if or maybe.

Ideally record your call to them. Or get them to put it in writing.

If your current insurer find out you have had a policy cancelled which you failed to declare then the issues will start again. Increased premiums or another cancelled policy.

You need to phone and grovel. Plead ignorance. If you have to pay then arrange a payment plan.
You need them to remove any record of the cancelled policy.

contrabandvr

Hi All,

I just spoke with elephant, they have reverted the charges and cancelled the outstanding amount!

I gave them my new policy number for ecar and they rang them and checked they were valid. As they were, they just cancelled all the charges

Thank you everyone for your help! It is very much appreciated

Andy

Edit: they also reverted the cancellation, so I don't have to tell any future insurers

DCFC79

contrabandvr wrote: »

Edit: they also reverted the cancellation, so I don't have to tell any future insurers

Did you ask for this in writing just for future reference ?

contrabandvr

DCFC79 wrote: »

Did you ask for this in writing just for future reference ?

Hm nope. Should I ring them back and ask for it?

Edit: Nevermind, I rang them and they are sending me a letter stating I owe them nothing and the the policy was cancelled on the renewal date