admiral charing me for not being insured for a month while looking for new insurance

hotwinter

i took out insurance on my car with admiral. they sent me a renewal that was way over the original amount so i went off looking for a new insurance company.

i left it a bit long to be honest and i ended up with one month no insurance. i found a new company and thought nothing of it.

next thing i get a letter from admiral saying i owe them £100.19 for the weeks between my insurance. i called them and said i have insurance, they said ok and i left it at that.

today i get a letter from a debt collection service saying i owe the same amount. so i called them and asked why, they said that admiral have checked my records and there is one month no insurance so i have to pay them.

surely this is BS? why should i pay them when i never asked for them to insure me. the debt collection place said i have to be insured but to me thats not admirals place, if there is a problem it can be taken up with the police about no insurance, i wasnt even using the car anyway!

what should i do?

keith1950

they sent me a renewal that was way over the original amount so i went off looking for a new insurance company.

Admiral usually auto-renew so if you didn't contact them before the end of your policy to tell them not to renew they have probably renewed it, which means you would owe them for that month plus possible cancellation charges.

Send them a copy of your new policy and write an explanation.

With telephone calls there can often be miss-communication so put it clearly in writing.

InsideInsurance

What did your renewal letter say?

I would take a wild guess and say that it stated, in clear text, that they would renew your policy automatically if you didnt advise them otherwise. Did you bother to tell them that you didnt want them to renew?

To be honest, making the assumption you didnt tell them not to renew, then to only charge you for the months gap is better than most that would argue you that you need to pay for the period up until you do actually bother telling them to cancel the policy

Of cause, assuming you didnt SORN the vehicle then you'd have been committing a criminal offence by not having insurance which Admiral's auto renewal process prevent for you. £100.19 is going to be a lot less than the consequences of having no insurance if caught

keith1950 wrote: »

Send them a copy of your new policy and write an explanation.

By the sounds of it they have done something similar but Admiral are only cancelling at the point the dual insurance came in and wanting monies for the month between the old policy expiring and the other providers policy being bought

hcb42

you do have to keep your vehicle insured somewhere, unless vehicle is SORNED.

If you can provide proof of SORN and you were not notified you were on an auto renewal at renewal time, then write to them.

hotwinter

sadly i dont have the letter as this was over a year ago. my new insurance is up for renewal now. im pretty sure it didnt say i had to contact them, im not one for skipping over letters and ignoring them

i did contact admiral and say i had new insurance, they said it was fine in feb and now its not again. i spoke to the collection company, he told me admiral checked and say i still owe it. admiral didnt tell me this, just passed it straight onto a debt collection company

notanewuser

hotwinter wrote: »

sadly i dont have the letter as this was over a year ago. my new insurance is up for renewal now. im pretty sure it didnt say i had to contact them, im not one for skipping over letters and ignoring them

i did contact admiral and say i had new insurance, they said it was fine in feb and now its not again. i spoke to the collection company, he told me admiral checked and say i still owe it. admiral didnt tell me this, just passed it straight onto a debt collection company

Having been insured with admiral for many many years I can GUARANTEE you it says very clearly that you have to contact them if you don't want to renew.

notanewuser

Was the car SORNed?

dunstonh

im pretty sure it didnt say i had to contact them

I had an admiral policy and it says it would auto-renew. QUite clear and obvious IF you read it.

hotwinter

no the car wasnt sorn, it was still taxed and kept in the garage. i never used it back then as i was working away 6 days a week.

never really thought about my insurance because i never even looked at the car for about 3 months! hence why it had a few weeks uninsured

InsideInsurance

hotwinter wrote: »

no the car wasnt sorn, it was still taxed and kept in the garage. i never used it back then as i was working away 6 days a week.

never really thought about my insurance because i never even looked at the car for about 3 months! hence why it had a few weeks uninsured

Then it would have been a criminal offence not to have insurance on it. The law was changed such that only vehicles with a SORN notice dont require continuous insurance. Car crushed and up to £1,000 fine

hotwinter

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Then it would have been a criminal offence not to have insurance on it. The law was changed such that only vehicles with a SORN notice dont require continuous insurance. Car crushed and up to £1,000 fine

yes i know, im not saying it isnt an offence, you wont get your car crushed or a thousand pound fine btw.

either way, thats a matter for the police, not my insurance company. a whole other subject