Driving with no insurance

Prothet_of_Doom

Were her words something like "If you can't reduce the price, I will cancel it" ?? As in a bit ambiguous, and could be read as an instruction, but clearly BECAUSE it's ambiguous, there is a duty of care, for the insurer to check the meaning before taking action.

A decent solicitor would run rings around that one.

TonyMMM

If she accepts a fixed penalty for having No Insurance it will be six points - there is no discretion available to the police (which is why it is termed a fixed penalty). If she is within 2 years of passing her test her licence will then be revoked, and she will have to retake - again, this is an automatic procedure done by DVLA with no discretion.

To avoid this, the only option will be to decline the offer of a fixed penalty and go to court.

She could then plead guilty, but put forward a case for "special reasons not to endorse" based on the misunderstanding of what took place. As she was the author of her own misfortune, this may be a longshot, but given a sympathetic bench she will have a chance.

sithemadmonkey

Regardless of what happens re. the conviction, I would still follow vaio's advice and go down the official complaint/FOS route with the insurer. FOS takes a less legalistic view when investigating, and may well find in your favour even if the court doesn't. I have seen FOS adjudications where they have instructed the insurer to pay the extra that the complainant has to pay due to the conviction for 5 years, as well as distress/inconvenience on top.

vaio

*If* there is a flaw in the cancellation then I'd be wanting to avoid the conviction altogether by getting the insurer to confirm that they would have indemnified the OP.

sithemadmonkey

vaio wrote: »

*If* there is a flaw in the cancellation then I'd be wanting to avoid the conviction altogether by getting the insurer to confirm that they would have indemnified the OP.

Agreed, that's the first priority, and would make life an awful lot easier. I just meant that even if the conviction goes against OP's daughter, a FOS complaint is not necessarily a lost cause (as FOS and the courts use different decision making processes and different burdens of proof).

maggiecon

I would go to court. I was in an accident several years ago and had two insurance policies for my husband and I on our berlingo van and car, turned out my third party cover on my comprehensive car insurance did not extend to me driving the berlingo and I was therefore uninsured.

The PPS offered me a caution as they seen I was clearly paying £1500 a year in insurance and it wasnt deliberate on my part.

Furthermore I cancelled an insurance policy a couple of months ago. It think you need to complete a declaration form before a policy can be cancelled over the internet. I think it is a declaration that you have surrendered or lost your certificate. Anyway I would check if this is a legal requirement (it may not be) if so they should not have cancelled without her filling this in.

dacouch

TonyMMM wrote: »

If she accepts a fixed penalty for having No Insurance it will be six points - there is no discretion available to the police (which is why it is termed a fixed penalty). If she is within 2 years of passing her test her licence will then be revoked, and she will have to retake - again, this is an automatic procedure done by DVLA with no discretion.

To avoid this, the only option will be to decline the offer of a fixed penalty and go to court.

She could then plead guilty, but put forward a case for "special reasons not to endorse" based on the misunderstanding of what took place. As she was the author of her own misfortune, this may be a longshot, but given a sympathetic bench she will have a chance.

A very very long shot as magistrates are instructed they should not mess around with points to avoid the new drivers retest.

Not to say it's not worth a try though

TonyMMM

dacouch wrote: »

A very very long shot as magistrates are instructed they should not mess around with points to avoid the new drivers retest.

Not to say it's not worth a try though

I am aware of the magistrates guidance - that wasn't what I was suggesting.

Using a special reasons argument not to endorse is normal procedure where a person admits an offence but feels there are sufficient extenuating circumstances not to impose penalty points.

In this case she would have to show that (whilst guilty of the offence) there was no intention to cancel the policy, and that consequently she had no reason to suspect she was driving without insurance and had no intention of doing so.

Without seeing the content of the email it is impossible to know if this is feasible - which is why I suggested it was a long shot. But, other than getting written confirmation from the insurance company that she was in fact insured at the time she was stopped, it is probably the only chance she has of retaining her licence.

BobQ

Is there any reason for the OP not to post the words of the email for comment (removing identity details)?

prowla

Mat_Lock wrote: »

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.

I once did that, and they advised me that it wasn't worth cancelling for the last couple of months as I'd get no money back after the charges.