Car Insurance Crisis! HELP!!!

arronc

Today I received a letter from RAC informing me that I owe them a total of £536.50. My insurance ran out on the 6th april and I decided to get my insurance with a different company because it was cheaper (swift cover). However I failed to notice on my renewal quote letter that I needed to cancel after 12 months. A week before the insurance ran out I rang up to try and get the quote cheaper, however because I didn’t mention on the phone that I wished to cancel they have tried to deduct the money from my account. They have a recording of my conversation where the sales rep did not inform me that I had to cancel and that I would be billed if I didn’t.

So RAC now want £110.00 for me to cancel my insurance with them. Is there anything I can do, obviously I don’t I want to pay it and the money has not yet been taken, as the direct debit cancelled.

Thanks in advance, any help will be much appreciated.

ArronC

nadnad

you never accepted the offer of their insurance so i dont think they can hold you to it - for a contract to be legal there has to be offer and acceptance and there wasnt in this case. tell them you never renewed you have you insurance elsewhere and you arent paying.

arronc

but apparently on the renewal letter is states that if I don't cancel they will continue my insurance thanks for the reply

cocks3_2

All insurance policies now have a 14 day cooling off period. Have you paid them any money as you say they have "tried" to collect which infers you have not?

I appreciate you now past the 14 days but it applies from the "conclusion of the contract" and if you have not paid you can reasonably argue the contract has not been concluded.

Certainly if you raise that point with them and offer to send proof of the alternative cover i would expect them to lapse their policy from renewal. If the initial person does not help, request to speak to the manager, if they do not want to help tell them you wish to complain and as such they then have to register a complaint with the FSA. This is a pain as i have t do it from time to time and will do anything to not have to!

arronc

cocks3 wrote: »

All insurance policies now have a 14 day cooling off period. Have you paid them any money as you say they have "tried" to collect which infers you have not?

I appreciate you now past the 14 days but it applies from the "conclusion of the contract" and if you have not paid you can reasonably argue the contract has not been concluded.

Certainly if you raise that point with them and offer to send proof of the alternative cover i would expect them to lapse their policy from renewal. If the initial person does not help, request to speak to the manager, if they do not want to help tell them you wish to complain and as such they then have to register a complaint with the FSA. This is a pain as i have t do it from time to time and will do anything to not have to!

Hi thanks for your advice, I rang and explained I could prove to them that I had cover else where but this did not matter, they said if I had had an accident then my other insurance would of contacted them and asked for half. However like you say I have not paid a penny so surely I have no insurance. Also I have been sent no insurance certificate? I spoke to the sales rep manager and he said the same, so I then did get the address to where to complain two and have asked for a copy of the conversation.

Any more I can do? Surely they can't make me pay!

Thanks again!

MarkyMarkD

It is becoming increasingly common for insurance policies to include clauses stating that they will automatically renew unless you tell them otherwise.

It is NOT necessary for you to have paid for a contract to have been concluded - that is simply untrue and misleading.

And yes, they can make you pay.

I don't see that cooling off periods apply to renewal. And in any case, it is now way past 14 days beyond the renewal date.

The rep you spoke to didn't need to tell you that your insurance would be renewed - it said that both when you originally signed up, and when your renewal letter arrived. I expect it said something like "if you want your cover to continue, you don't have to do anything".

RAC's point about dual insurance is quite right too - if you are (even mistakenly) insured by two insurers for the same risk, they are obliged to pay half of the costs each.

Just because you failed to read both the original information when you took out the policy, and the renewal letter, doesn't give you grounds to refuse to pay.

cocks3_2

The pay half thing is not 100% true. It would only be if you had the certificate and used it in the event of an accident as evidence of cover. If you have not paid and they have not sent you the documents the contract has definitely not been concluded. They would be telling swift to pay and swift would do so as they have your money.

There is another phrase which hopefully will help which is "contract certainty" - full details here http://www.abi.org.uk/Display/File/Child/576/Contract_Certainty_-_Checklist_200511.pdf

Failing to meet this is a big black mark! You may well have to escalate the call to the customer services manager to get someone who understands it fully. Be sure to say you are going to formally complain if they insist on trying to charge and be sure to mention you will be complaining to the FSA as contract certainty has not been implemented.

Good luck.

arronc

Thanks guys, big help, im going to give them a ring tomorrow and if they stand by there guns then il fire a letter of complaint off to them. I think you are correct in saying if I have not paid and I have had no renewal certificate then I have no insurance with them,

Thanks I will keep u updated

arronc

infact i have just dug out my last certificate and it clearly says that my cover runs out on 7th april 2007, surely they can't charge me now!?

arronc

After a phone call this morning they have explained that I do need to pay and that I received a certificate of insurance through the post with my renewal quote a month before my insurance had finished. WHY?! A month before? They also explained they would have been responsible to pay half the costs if i had an accident. I then asked even though I had not paid for the insurance you would still responsible, she then explained that yes but only if you paid the difference, so I haven't got insurance I said, yes your policy is live she said, grrrrr!

nadnad

i would tell them them that they did not make it clear to you that the contract would be ongoing. obviously if this had been explained to you you would have cancelled it. you have not been trying to trick them. the fact that you got another policy elsewhere shows that you truly did not know. tell them you are going to make a formal complaint - that they did not tell you this clearly or point it out to you, they will have a strict complaints procedure, if you go on to take the complaint to the financial ombudsman it costs them money as they have to pay for it and they may not want it to go that far - at the end of the day they havent paid out any money for a claim so this far they havent lost any money. dont back down on this and go ahead with your complaint.