How thick are Budget Car Insurance?

dacouch

[quote=[Deleted User];59114987]Have now managed to get some sense from a nice lady at budget and explained the situation at last. Shes now sent me an email to reply to say that I dont have any copies of the certificate.

BTW - in terms of cancellation date, I have got a letter stating date/time of cancellation anyway so any refund is going to be from there.[/QUOTE]

Which is what I told you to do in post three, until you return a Certificate which is a legal document confirming your covered for third party liabilities or confirm officially you have destroyed / lost or otherwise no longer in possession of it the Insurer is liable for claims caused by you, thieves (In certain situations) or other un named drivers ((In certain situations).

dacouch

spacey2012 wrote: »

The Other point is the FSA will uphold any complaint against an insurance company who refuse to refund unless you return the certificate.
It is not cancelled as such, it is ceased.
For the period it was in force you would have cover against and claims arising.
(example, you backed in to my car last june, only just got the rest of your registration number)
If they have ceased cover they should not need the certificate back, it is a bond that proves you had cover at that time.
They certainly would not get mine back.
I paid for insurance, I want proof I had it, the certificate is that proof.

What are you on about, an Insurance policy is either in force or cancelled, it is not ceased.

There is no provision for an insurer to cease and the RTA does not make any provision for it.

Should you cancel a policy, obviously you still have cover for the period of when you effected the cover until when you cancelled the policy.

If you do not return a certificate or confirm it's lost or destroyed etc then technically you're still covered by the policy and an Insurer will not normally cancel a policy unless they've made a business decision that it's cheaper to pay the potential claims from the certificate not being returned other the costs of chasing the certificate.

An Insurer is obviously still compelled to pay valid claims by you or against you for the period you were covered. If you're that worried about take a photocopy of the certificate.

Incidently the FSA does not deal with individual complaints so would not rule against an Insurer. I think you mean the Ombudsman and I would be very interested if you could find an Ombudsman ruling against an Insurer for not cancelling a policy due to the non return of the Certificate or confirmation the Cert had been destroyed or lost etc. They might rule in a situation similar to OP's where they have never had a cert "Delivered" eg received a Certificate.

Third parties have six years for property claims, injury claims have three years (There are circumstances that can allow longer than three years for injury claims). As such the Insurance industry and claims companies are geared up for claims to be made against older cancelled / expired policies

colino

So having a print out from your own home printer gives rights? Absolute nonsense, if you are insured and the insurer has recorded it properly, that satisfies both DVLA and the white caps. If your not insured, or your insurer has withdrawn it or failed to record it properly, you wont be able to tax it, and of more immediate concern, the white caps will laugh at your letraset piece of A4 and have the car off you.
A needless saving of pennies by cheapo insurers.

dacouch

colino wrote: »

So having a print out from your own home printer gives rights? Absolute nonsense, if you are insured and the insurer has recorded it properly, that satisfies both DVLA and the white caps. If your not insured, or your insurer has withdrawn it or failed to record it properly, you wont be able to tax it, and of more immediate concern, the white caps will laugh at your letraset piece of A4 and have the car off you.
A needless saving of pennies by cheapo insurers.

Have a read of the relevant part of the RTA which provides for an Insurer to "deliver" a Certificate which satisfied the relevant laws to be a valid Certificate.

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/147

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1988/52/section/148

If you produce a "relevant" * Certificate of Insurance the "White Caps" are obliged to accept it as it's a legal document (Hence why it's called a Certificate) confirming you have third party liability cover.

If the Insurer have not recorded it properly or make a mistake you would have redress against the Insurers or should the police remove the car the police

http://www.casecheck.co.uk/Default.aspx?tabid=1184&EntryID=17385

* For the removal of doubt a relevant Certificate would be your policy being in force

colino

Just to recap for you. If your insurance company have not properly recorded your insurance or have withdrawn or cancelled it for any reason, never mind if you have your own print in your glovebox or an illuminated, gold embossed one delivered by carrier pigeons straight to your hand, you will have your car uplifted.

dacouch

colino wrote: »

Just to recap for you. If your insurance company have not properly recorded your insurance or have withdrawn or cancelled it for any reason, never mind if you have your own print in your glovebox or an illuminated, gold embossed one delivered by carrier pigeons straight to your hand, you will have your car uplifted.

I agree if the Insurance has been cancelled and they have followed their own policy wording in doing so eg in most cases sending a letter then the police will uplifted.

Also if the Insurers have cancelled the policy incorrectly or "withdrawn" * the cover incorrectly the police will probably uplift the car. However you would have recourse against your Insurers.

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/4374613

If your Insurers have not recorded the Insurance correctly eg not entered on the MID or have the wrong reg or drivers etc. Then the police may uplift the car, a lot of police officers may give the benefit of doubt and give a seven day wonder. However again you would have recourse against the Insurer.

If you produce a "relevant" certificate and the police uplift your car, you would have recourse against the police as demonstrated by Pryor v GMP which states all of the following must apply.

"In order to justify seizure of a vehicle three facts must be present:
a constable in uniform must require that a driver produces a relevant certificate of insurance,
the driver must fail to produce the relevant certificate, and
the constable must have reasonable grounds for believing that the vehicle was being driven without insurance."

* For obvious reasons an Insurer cannot just withdraw cover (Void), they're obliged to investigate the circumstances in line with the Ombudsmans guidelines and then act according to the Ombudsmans. Good practice would mean the Insurer would ask for a written explanation from the policyholder and this would then be reviewed for a decision by a senior member of staff for a decision and then confirmed in writing.

An Insurer cannot withdraw cover at the side of a road during a phone call from a police officer.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/46/46_non_disclosure_insurance.htm

It's called a Certificate of Insurance as it's a legal document confirming third party liabilities are in effect as per the information contained on the Certificate. The MID does not trump a relevant Certificate of Insurance