Driving with no insurance

jo-lo123

My daughter (19) was insured with go girl and has been driving since august. She is very conscious of the fact that she needs to keep her nose clean in the first two years . She has just got her first full time job so she did some online quotes with commuting included which it wasn't before and found that her insurance was coming in a lot cheaper. She emailed go girl to tell them what had been happening but worded the email very badly. She told them that she had been getting prices and that she was looking to cancel her insurance as theirs was much more expensive. There is absolutely no doubt that she inadvertently implied that she wanted to cancel but she honestly only wanted them to reconsider the price. They cancelled her insurance without informing her and refunded the bank account less £200 cancellation charges, again without informing her. The refund was made to her step mums account, as she had paid the annual premium and my daughter was paying her back monthly. A week after the email was sent my daughter was stopped by the police for having no insurance on her car. That was the first she knew about any problem. They impounded the car and she was told she would get 6 points and her licence revoked. We spent over £200 getting a £500 car back on Friday! We phoned go girl and they were so unhelpful, they told us they do not have to advise her that they cancelled the insurance and the the refund counts as them telling her. The refund was made four days after the insurance was cancelled so even if her step mum had realised she would have been driving uninsured for four days. We are not naive and we know the error is her fault but are looking for advice to put to the court regarding the circumstances. One simple email from go girl would have avoided this whole thing. My daughter has to live with the consequences but she will most likely have her licence revoked, and has almost certainly lost her new job too as there is no way she can get to it without a car. Any help or advice would be most gratefully received - anything that may help her case in court.

Quentin

If her email reads as a cancellation,(you seem to think it does), then they had no reason than to follow her instructions immediately, and cannot have been expected to give her a notice period.

nidO

This will all come down to the exact wording of your daughter's email.

If she asked them to cancel the policy and was hoping they'd get back to her offering her cheaper insurance then she has basically had a very expensive life lesson, and while a confirmation from the insurer that her policy was cancelled would have been nice, complaining that you didn't get one but the insurers did was they were asked isn't going to get very far.
If her email can be clearly seen as "i'm considering cancelling, can you do me a better deal?" without actually asking for it to be cancelled though, you probably have recourse to complain to the insurer at the very least.

Mat_Lock

Ensure she answers yes to the question "Have you ever had insurance cancelled?" when she's doing quotes again, costly mistake !!

Aretnap

Mat_Lock wrote: »

Ensure she answers yes to the question "Have you ever had insurance cancelled?" when she's doing quotes again, costly mistake !!

She hasn't had it cancelled. By the sounds of it she's cancelled it herself - a very different thing.

Mat_Lock

I thought you still had to delcare it

Buzby

Mat_Lock wrote: »

Ensure she answers yes to the question "Have you ever had insurance cancelled?" when she's doing quotes again, costly mistake !!

It wasn't 'cancelled' - she complained about the cost and wanted to go elsewhere for a cheaper policy. Therefore it was terminated at her request, no issues, no problem.

For the court - she does have mitigating circumstances, not good ones, but understandable based on her lack of experience. I would suggest she needs a motoring lawyer to protect her interests, as the cost may result in her not having points awarded, which is well worth it.

Aretnap

Mat_Lock wrote: »

I thought you still had to delcare it

No you don;t. If you did, everybody who has ever sold a car in the middle of an insurance year would have to declare the fact that they cancelled the policy... and nobody would be able to get insurance again for the rest of their lives.

Mat_Lock

Aretnap wrote: »

No you don;t. If you did, everybody who has ever sold a car in the middle of an insurance year would have to declare the fact that they cancelled the policy... and nobody would be able to get insurance again for the rest of their lives.

My bad, when I tried to cancel my insurance due to car dying the insurance guy said no point cancelling for 2 months left and said to let the cover expire normally as he said it'd go against me if I cancelled it.

Sorry for confusing the OP and others.

BobQ

OP Your daughter needs a solicitor to represent her in court whatever happens, to minimise the damage. The solicitor will tell you whether the email can be interpreted as the insurer has done.

I find it difficult to see how someone can write such an ambiguous email. Unless you post the relevant part here its difficult to comment on the fairness of their action. The fact you seem to agree with them suggests she has done something very silly.

Nodding_Donkey

Mat_Lock wrote: »

Ensure she answers yes to the question "Have you ever had insurance cancelled?" when she's doing quotes again, costly mistake !!

Answering yes to that question will pale into insignificance compared to the loading for having no insurance.