LVE Car insurance- Are you having a laugh?!??

AkaBreeno

Basically, I'd written off my Mg Zr on 12 jan this year. (Black ice, hit a tree, nobody else involved thank god.) After sorting everything with Liverpool Victoria, they deemed my car a write off and sent me out a cheque for £500 (£750- my £250 excess). I rang them back stating I couldn't buy a car within the 30 days as obviously, the £500 wasnt going to cover a decent new car and id have to wait untill i had enough for one, almost two months away. (Exceeding their 30 days.)
The chap on the phone however reassured me I could "pause" my insurance untill i contacted them with the new car details, seein as I definitly was getting a car.

However today I phoned up to put my new car on the policy and they proceeded to inform me that they've gone ahead and cancelled my policy on the 10th of March!

Obviously I didnt know as I haven't recived anything by post yet, and they could only quote me a new quote for my new car. Previously I was paying £66 a month for a 1.4ltr MG... whereas now they want £2597.00 for a 1.1ltr peugoet!!

Im absolutly infuriated, I didnt ask for it to be cancelled. So now they expect me to pay £66.03 for the next 6 months ONTOP of £178 for a new policy!

Supposedly their getting back to me today as soon as they "locate the recorded call" to clear this up. But what if they 'cant find it'??

Where does that leave me!? Help!

InsideInsurance

AkaBreeno wrote: »

Supposedly their getting back to me today as soon as they "locate the recorded call" to clear this up. But what if they 'cant find it'??

Where does that leave me!? Help!

The ombudsman doesnt look favourably on companies that cannot locate call recordings though its always best to have the operators voice confirming what you say they said.

If they dont sort it by phone today, say you want it recorded as a formal complaint and their final response to be sent to you as you intend to take it to the ombudsman

AkaBreeno

Thanks InsideInsurance,

Iv the fear of god in me that they'll come back without finding it and wont reactivate my policy. I honestly cant afford to pay both policys, my pays good but not THAT good!

Question: I know I asked for it to be paused... if they come back saying otherwise, can I ask for a copy of the recording, for my own records? Or will they refuse cause they'll be caught out??

InsideInsurance

The request could be made under the Data Protect Act as a Subject Access Request which they cannot refuse assuming they've a quarter decent system. They could either provide a copy or a transcript.

It is fairly unlikely they'd require you to go for a SARs and if you include it as one of the resolutions you want from your complaint Id be surprised if they dont comply

AkaBreeno

Well its 7pm and still no callback.ill give them till 8.30, then I'm ringing again.

agrinnall

Have I not read previously that when a car is written off then that ends the policy?

It sounds like that's what LV have done, but of course the OP still owes the remaining credit amount on that policy, and if he wants a new one on another car then that will be calculated based on his claims record.

The complaint may be with the original advice that the policy could be 'paused' rather than with anything that's happened subsequently.

AkaBreeno

If you decide not to claim, then you can cancel the policy without having to pay for the remainder of the policy period. For a fee of course.

You can continue the original policy if you can transfer it to a different car.

I understand next year my premiums would go up due to me losing my no claims and having made a claim, but not from £789 to £2,597!

AkaBreeno

8.45pm no call back yet. So I rang them back, got through to a guy called Jaris. (I swear I called him Jarvis twice by accident!)

Turns out Rachel, whom I was waiting to call me back, had NOT looked for the call and now is off for two days.nice. Reeeaaal effective work there...

So now Jaris is looking for the call with a promise to call me back.

AkaBreeno

Well Jaris rang back, suprise suprise, they have no records of my phone call!
They listened in on the first one of me telling them I had written off the car but have "no records of any other calls".

Iv been told thats seeing as they've cancelled my policy they wont do anything else for me. So iv told him il be lodging a formal complaint, taking it to the ombudsman and requested a copy of the call. He refused a copy claiming I could only have a transcript and it'd cost me £10!!

Apparantly hes going to ring me back at 5am tomorow (I work at 6am) to sort all the paperwork.

Apart from ripping him a new one, what can I do?

All I wanted was to change my car details, not have all this hassel!

Phantom247

Firstly, do you know what number and around what day (time as well if poss) as it maybe that they are using the numbers they have on file and the call might be on a number they don't have any record of?

Also, the company has 8 weeks to review your complaint before you can pass to the Ombudsman and that the £10 charge is allowed as per the ICO's own website - http://ico.org.uk/for_the_public/personal_information?

In relation to refusing a voice recording, take it as a blessing the last thing you want is having issues in playing it.

Please also note they are allowed 40 days to provide you with the transcript, I understand it is a stressful time but you need to be a little patient, calling them every few hours is only going to prolong the process as it is likely they are having to go through a number of people to get to the bottom of this.

In regards to the Direct Debit side of things, they are asking you for the remaining amount because in essence you have paid for a policy which is on an annual basis and as you have made a claim will need to pay it back, I know some insurers would take any outstanding payments off a settlement, thankfully there are only a few.

Also note, if you refuse to pay the remaining amounts back they may not be able to provide you with the Direct Debit facility until the outstanding debt is paid.

Perhaps suggest this as a resolution of your complaint:

1) The transcript of the phone call for your review.
2) Assuming they find the phone call, that the outstanding amount on the old policy is waived.
3) If they do find the phone call, that you are provided with a direct debit facility
4) If they are unable to find the call, go through your phone records if you are able and if they are itemised to find out if you can identify when you made a call.

Hope this helps

InsideInsurance

agrinnall wrote: »

Have I not read previously that when a car is written off then that ends the policy?

It depends on the insurer/ policy wording. Some will terminate the policy as by total losing the vehicle they've completed their obligations. Others will suspend the policy and allow the remainder of it to be reinstated onto another vehicle (for an admin fee and any AP) but not wanting to have thousands of suspended policies on their books they tend to have a fairly short window in which they will do this.