Reclaiming car insurance charges for non return of credit agreement

baggage.merchant

Hello, I am helping a friend with reclaiming a car insurance charge and was after a bit of advice for the best plan of attack please.

Whats happened is that they took out a car insurance policy paying monthly over the internet. Unbeknownst to them, they had to return a signed copy of the credit agreement within 7 days, when they bought the policy on the internet there was no mention of returning a copy of the credit agreement so they received the policy documents and filed them without checking the contents. Along with the policy documents was a letter and a copy of the agreement to return.

Unfortunately what has happened is the company has levied an additional charge for not returning a signed copy of the credit agreement, this was tacked onto the next monthly payment resulting in the direct debit bouncing due to insufficient funds. So there was a bank fee and another reinstatement fee applied by the insurance company.

I know it may be a case of hard cheese, but it seems pretty harsh that they haven't tried to chased up the credit agreement and £50 is a lot of money for them to be out of pocket by over not returning a single form.

Thanks a lot in advance for any advice.

magpiecottage

They could try complaining to the insurer.

Whether they get anywhere would depend on whether it was made clear at outset or not.

dunstonh

only thing to do here is complain. The firm will look at the complaint and see if they have followed their processes. i.e. they will check the text that was on screen as the time of purchase to make sure it was requested. If it was, they will probably reject the complaint. If it wasnt they will probably uphold it.

I know it may be a case of hard cheese, but it seems pretty harsh that they haven't tried to chased up the credit agreement and £50 is a lot of money for them to be out of pocket by over not returning a single form.

It is quite an important form though. After all, without the signed agreement, the premium company may not be able to get full enforcement of repayment in a court of law.

Wywth

baggage.merchant wrote: »

Hello, I am helping a friend with reclaiming a car insurance charge and was after a bit of advice for the best plan of attack please.

Whats happened is that they took out a car insurance policy paying monthly over the internet. Unbeknownst to them, they had to return a signed copy of the credit agreement within 7 days, when they bought the policy on the internet there was no mention of returning a copy of the credit agreement so they received the policy documents and filed them without checking the contents. Along with the policy documents was a letter and a copy of the agreement to return.

Unfortunately what has happened is the company has levied an additional charge for not returning a signed copy of the credit agreement, this was tacked onto the next monthly payment resulting in the direct debit bouncing due to insufficient funds. So there was a bank fee and another reinstatement fee applied by the insurance company.

I know it may be a case of hard cheese, but it seems pretty harsh that they haven't tried to chased up the credit agreement and £50 is a lot of money for them to be out of pocket by over not returning a single form.

Thanks a lot in advance for any advice.

The insurance company can only take via DD amounts advised to your friend in advance - normally 10 working days in advance (plus postage time if applicable)

If this was not given, your friend can recover the amounts taken direct from their bank. (This is an immeditae refund)
Furthermore, at the same time, a claim for consequential loss (i.e. bank charges) can also be made direct to the bank. The bank are not obligated to return these immediately, but may wait until they receive the same from the insurance company (which would only be a couple of weeks at the most)

This doesn't mean your friend will not owe the insurance company the premium charged, but at least it'll sort out the bank charges

Of course, if your friend was advised in advance of the amount to be taken, well ...:cool:

baggage.merchant

Thanks for the ideas guys, it looks like it'll be a generic letter of complaint then. It didn't say anything on screen on the internet apparently, but is all in the letter about returning the agreement and charges, oh well, time for a speculative Victor Meldrew letter and see what it gets.

Wywth

baggage.merchant wrote: »

Thanks for the ideas guys, it looks like it'll be a generic letter of complaint then. It didn't say anything on screen on the internet apparently, but is all in the letter about returning the agreement and charges, oh well, time for a speculative Victor Meldrew letter and see what it gets.

So are you saying the insurer did advise your friend in advance of the amount they were to collect?

In which case your friend should have ensured sufficient funds were in the account to pay the DD, or at least challenged the uplift in advance.

If this was a 'first offence' your friend could try asking the bank if they will consider giving a goodwill gesture to essentially cover the bank charges incurred. Otherwise, I think your friend will have to swallow them.