Paying for something I didn't have

LumberJill

My car insurance company cancelled my insurance policy because my direct debit was late, even though I had told them I was in financial difficulty at the time being a student, and I told them I could make the payment a week later. A year or so later they are still chasing for unpaid insurance on the rest of the policy, and threatening to take me to court. What would happen if I didn't go to court? I'm really annoyed and it has become a matter of principle as they were the ones that cancelled the policy even though I had been a customer of theirs for 5 years, which to me is terrible customer service!

VictorM_2

You were insured for that period, you owe them money. I don't see why you are making your insurer to be the bad guy here.

It's a business, not a charity.

Quentin

LumberJill wrote: »

.... What would happen if I didn't go to court?......

The court would carry on with the hearing in your absence.

Your not attending would make no difference to the outcome, and you wouldn't get any extra penalty for not attending.

Assuming they won their claim against you, then you would have a CCJ against you, and they would be able to pursue you for their money (using bailiffs/attachment order/etc)

bouncydog1

They also won't issue proof of no claims bonus until you pay them what they want for the time on risk charge. Ask them for a breakdown to establish how it was made up and then post back if it seems unreasonable.

Much better to pay up than risk a CCJ. You will already have to declare a cancelled policy to any future insurers, so it will only go downhill if you don't get it sorted.

DevCoder

bouncydog1 wrote: »

You will already have to declare a cancelled policy to any future insurers.

And this is the bit that will hurt the most.