Car impounded. I was unaware insurance had been cancelled by RAC.

hf105

Hello,
I was wandering if anyone was able to offer some advice.

I was pulled over by the police on the way home from work today and advised there was no record of insurance for my car.

I had payed £450 upfront in July for 1 year of insurance for me as the main driver and my boyfriend as the 2nd driver with the RAC.
I had a letter from them mid August stating that we owed a further £750 which had been declined to them from my bank. I was on holiday the time but called the RAC back on the 22nd August and they stated that the premium had increased as they had not received my 5 years no claims certificate. They said if I sent this to them I did not need to do anything further.
I sent them an email from Admiral (my previous insurers) confirming my no claims but was told this was not enough. I then emailed a photo of my no claims certificate at the end of August and received an email reply from RAC on that day stating that they had received my no claims certificate and no further action was required.
On the same day a letter arrived in the post stating that they had been unable to obtain funds from our account ( the extra £750) and unless we gave them further bank account details within 7 days then I would need to send them back my certificate of insurance and our policy would be cancelled. I was under the impression that this issue had been resolved as they had now received our no claims certificate and I did no more about it.

I called RAC today, my car having been impounded by the police and they stated that because we had not called back with further bank details the policy had been cancelled. They had not refunded the £450 I had paid for the year in July, but they told me it was "waiting" to be refunded to my account.
I explained the situation to the RAC manager and he agreed that they could see why we would have been confused. I have asked for this matter to be escalated and am waiting a phonecall back tomorrow but the RAC manager says he doubts that they would be liable in this case.

What do you think?
WOuld they be liable?

Also if the insurance company are not liable would we have a case to drop the motoring conviction with the police (we have paid upfront £450 for a year of insurance)?

I would be extremely grateful for any advice anyone can offer,

Thank you

Joe_Horner

After the letter saying that they required further bank details and warning of cancellation, did they follow up with a notice that the policy had been cancelled?

Telling you that "it will be cancelled unless" isn't the same as notifying you that it is now cancelled because all sorts of things can happen between "will be unless" and "has been". For example, without confirming the cancellation when it happens, how can they be sure you haven't sent them the details but they've been lost in the post / post room / over-full email server etc? Or that you've been in contact and resolved the matter in some other way?

The Road Traffic Act requires someone who has a policy cancelled to return the certificate or otherwise provide the insurer with "a statement confirming that the policy to which the certificate relates has ceased to have effect". Failing to return the certificate, or provide such a statement, is an offence in its own right.

If they haven't told you that the policy IS now void, and they haven't received either the certificate or a statement off you confirming that you are aware it's void, then there would be a good case to mount that you were, in fact, still insured regardless of whether or not they'd removed you from the MID database. That's especially true if you still have the email from them telling you that they've received the NCD and no further action is needed.

If they don't voluntarily reinstate the policy (at least as far as the current seizure is concerned) then you really need to get legal advice to defend the no insurance charge.

mrcow

I agree - did RAC at any point inform you that your policy had actually been cancelled? From your opening post, it would appear that the answer is "no".

Murielson

Ask the insurer for a copy of the letter that they sent to you cancelling your policy and requesting the return of your insurance certificate.

hf105

I have been looking through my old correspondence from the RAC and I have received a letter stating that my policy will be cancelled on the 6th September and I should return to them my certificate of insurance. However I received this on the 31st August on the same day that I received confirmation in email from RAC that they had received my no claims information and no further action was necessary. Therefore I was under the impression that my insurance remained valid.

pogofish

RAC are good at this sort of thing and they are also very good at sticking their head in the sand and being utterly immovable and yes, at one point they canceled my insurance without informing me, then lifted the cancellation before reapplying it with the correct paperwork - Thankfully my solicitor made me aware of the possibility and I was checking the MID regularly whilst searching for alternative cover!

I had them cancel my insurance two years ago and blacklist me simply because their internal record keeping failed and they lost my history of being insured by them for several years previously. I appealed the full way-up, provided documentation of more or less everything they had lost, plus other evidence of internal incompetence, yet they still refused to lift the cancellation/blacklisting because of one phonecall where it was my word against theirs.

Since then, they have obstructed, delayed and backpedaled at every turn despite legal and FSA involvement. :mad:

Joe_Horner

Given that the postal letter must have been sent before the email if they arrived the same day, it would be reasonable to assume that the email superceded the notice in the letter.

Seeing as the notice hadn't taken effect when the later email superceded it, and that they didn't follow up the failure to return the certificate, I'd certainly be looking for them to reinstate cover without a gap.

Contact a solicitor asap - once a conviction goes through it becomes much harder to have it removed (from your licence itself and any "shared" records so it doesn't affect future insurance).

You should also be looking to make sure that they remove any record of "insurance cancelled" from their own databases because that will be shared with other companies and potentially affect future premiums.


eta: it would also be worth contacting the Police to advise them of the situation - if it's on record with them they might delay the court hearing while it's being sorted - it saves them from going to court only to find that your cover's been reinstated at the last minute. Also makes it easier to overturn a conviction if you can show they knew it was likely to be unsound before it went to court

hf105

Thanks so much for all your help.
I will wait to see what the manager says tomorrow and then take it from there but will be speaking to my solicitor for more advice if necessary.

TrickyWicky

Joe_Horner wrote: »

I'd certainly be looking for them to reinstate cover without a gap.

it saves them from going to court only to find that your cover's been reinstated at the last minute.

It's actually unlawful for an insurance company to backdate car insurance. The only thing the op can hope for is that they accept wrong doing and admit that the op would have actually still been covered which is slightly different.

I've been there, done that, had to get advice off a mate who is a member of the CIS as a motor insurance underwriter. I was in a rather nasty situation so have a bit of experience in this.

Joe_Horner

It's unlawful to backdate, but that's not quite the same as re-instating a policy that's been cancelled in error.

In this case the argument would be that, regardless of whether or not they'd recorded it as cancelled (by removing it from the MIB), it was actually still in force and their record of the cancellation was in error.

spacey2012

Insurers have to give a 7 day notice of cancellation.
When you receive a served 7 day notice by post, only one assumption must be made.
That it is valid, your insurance will be cancelled on the 7th day unless you are issued with another written notice to the contrary.