Privilege Car Insurance cancellation warning... Help!!

random_gecko

Basically, today I received two letters. The first one I opened was Privilege saying that they had no option to invoke cancellation on my policy which will come into effect on Feb 26, 2013 due to 'premiums remaining outstanding'. I then opened the second which was a missed DD letter from a couple of weeks ago.

I have a few problems here - neither letter was actually address correctly - the house number was correct but I live in a flat and that wasn't on my letter so these letters only appeared in my box today despite being dated 13th Feb and 25th Jan. I'm presuming they were in the wrong flat's box and the new neighbours realised they weren't belonging to them and put them in our box.

On top of this, they say that because I made a claim on this policy, they are requesting full payment of the premium. How does this even make sense? What does the claim have to do with it?

What are my options here? Is this letter saying that they will invoke cancellation a very heavy threat whereby I will have to pay the full amount and they will continue/reinstate the policy or is it actually them just giving me notice and I have no comeback here? The reason I ask that is because they sent me a strongly worded letter about having no option but to increase my premium if I didn't supply them with my no claims certificate imminently but once I called them I was told that it was actually the first of three letters. Is this wishful thinking?

I would have called them today but by the time I realised all this, they were closed for the day.

Furthermore, what are my options beyond this?

I understand and accept that I should keep check of my outgoing DDs but I simply didn't notice the bounce. I know this isn't their fault either but this all seems a little sudden and harsh.

Any help/advice would be great.

terrylamps

Insurance companies can be harsh at times. You're best bet is to ring them first thing monday morning and explain the situation and see if they will accept the missed payment being paid over the phone. They may or may not agree to this. If they cancel your policy you will need to declare this to future insurance companies. This is something you really want to avoid.

Regarding the premium. If you have made a claim then the full premium will be due if they cancel your policy.

forgotmyname

If you make a claim during a policy then the full premium is usually payable even if its only 1 month into a policy.

If you had not claimed and cancelled you could get a refund or lower settlement figure.

Pay them before they cancel?

Another issue is you MUST declare this cancellation when getting quotes in the future. If you dont and they find out you may have more policiess cancelled.
You may have to declare it forever and a lot of insurers may not quote when you tick that box.

weejonnie

You may have an 'out'. The insurance company have to obey the cancellation instructions in their policy. Was the address the letter sent to , the actual address you entered on your proposal form? If not then the cancellation process hasn't been followed.

dunstonh

On top of this, they say that because I made a claim on this policy, they are requesting full payment of the premium. How does this even make sense? What does the claim have to do with it?

If you claim on the policy during that policy year then you are not entitled to any refund on the premium. If you have borrowed money to pay the premium (i.e. monthly premiums) then you have to make up the money you owe.

I know this isn't their fault either but this all seems a little sudden and harsh.

They have little choice. They wrote to you and didnt get a response. So, they did the next thing which is it cancel the policy.

What you need to do on Monday is contact them and explain the address issues and problems you had and hopefully they will allow the policy to continue with you making the back payments.

random_gecko

weejonnie wrote: »

You may have an 'out'. The insurance company have to obey the cancellation instructions in their policy. Was the address the letter sent to , the actual address you entered on your proposal form? If not then the cancellation process hasn't been followed.

I always, always put my flat number on there as I had this issue with nPower in the past - not receiving letters that is. No doubt I signed up with my flat number but not every company includes it for whatever reason.

dunstonh wrote: »

What you need to do on Monday is contact them and explain the address issues and problems you had and hopefully they will allow the policy to continue with you making the back payments.

How likely is this?

chanz4

random_gecko wrote: »

I always, always put my flat number on there as I had this issue with nPower in the past - not receiving letters that is. No doubt I signed up with my flat number but not every company includes it for whatever reason.



How likely is this?

Whats actually on your documents you already had before

random_gecko

chanz4 wrote: »

Whats actually on your documents you already had before

The address minus the flat number. However, on my GoCompare.com quote from which I got this policy, it says my flat number which surely would have gone on to the Privilege application?

keith1950

This is the exact reason that I never sign up via comparisons sites.

Quite often the questions on the comparison site don't exactly match those on the insurers actual website.

Whilst I sympathise with your situation you should really have noticed the flat missing from the insurance documents.

Do everything possible to avoid having you policy being cancelled even if it means offering to pay the rest of the year upfront.

hugoshavez

OP, if you call on Monday and pay the missed premium, Privelege will not cancel.

Don't worry about it.

random_gecko

Hugoshavez, how do you know this for sure?

It says on the letter; "Therefore, we have no option but to invoke cancellation on your policy, per your policy terms and conditions and we are formally giving you notice that cancellation will be effective from 00:01 hrs on 26/02/13."

This sounds worrying to me.

If they'll let me do it without cancelling, I'm tempted to call up and pay the remainder in full, to avoid this happening again. It will make me a little short for the rest of the month but I think it could be worth it as this has frankly shaken me a little bit!