Very very confusing SORN/tax/insurance situation

lisag2013

Hi there

I am hoping someone may be able to help me get my head around this...

I was given a car in June 2015 and went to the DVLA to make it SORN for a few months (it would have been taxed until end October). In October I then went to the tax office and paid 6 months tax and took out car insurance a few days later.

My insurance company asked for the SORN certificate to be forwarded on to them. I brought this to one of their local offices mid-October. I then received several letters saying they hadn't received it and the insurance would be cancelled, and when I rang the central office about this was advised that the systems sometimes take a while to update and to ignore the letters.

I received a cheque today from the car insurance company, as the insurance has been cancelled. Upon ringing them I was advised that this is because the SORN certificate they received has the date of 1st November 2015 on it, not 1st June 2015.

I have found my SORN certificate which was sent out to me in August 2015, and the date is indeed 1st November2015. How is it possible that this happened when-

- I went to the post office in June
- the DVLA allowed me to tax the car for 6 months from start of October

Any advice would be very welcome

Lisa

facade

lisag2013 wrote: »

Hi there


My insurance company asked for the SORN certificate to be forwarded on to them. I brought this to one of their local offices mid-October. I then received several letters saying they hadn't received it and the insurance would be cancelled, and when I rang the central office about this was advised that the systems sometimes take a while to update and to ignore the letters.

What on earth is a SORN certificate?
Why would an insurance company want it?

Did you send them the wrong thing? Were they after proof of no-claims or something?

What company is it? There is one cheap online firm that is well known for asking for copies of things, and then claiming they never got them and voiding the insurance

lisag2013

Oh apologies, a SORN is a certificate to say that a car is off the road (i.e. it was to explain a period of no insurance on the car)

Johno100

facade wrote: »

What on earth is a SORN certificate?
Why would an insurance company want it?

Did you send them the wrong thing? Were they after proof of no-claims or something?

What company is it? There is one cheap online firm that is well known for asking for copies of things, and then claiming they never got them and voiding the insurance

From this bit it sounds like there is a broker involved somewhere in all this.

lisag2013 wrote: »

My insurance company asked for the SORN certificate to be forwarded on to them. I brought this to one of their local offices mid-October. I then received several letters saying they hadn't received it and the insurance would be cancelled, and when I rang the central office about this was advised that the systems sometimes take a while to update and to ignore the letters.

All very confusing.

NB I note from the OP's other posts that she's in the North of Ireland if that makes any difference.

facade

Sorry, I meant what is a SORN certificate?

You don't get anything nowadays, except an email acknowledgement (if you filled in your email address), as SORN is just a status on a computer.

So why do you have to explain yourself to them? I fail to see that it is any of their business where the car was before they insured it as they are not backdating cover, only providing future cover.

They can impose whatever ridiculous conditions they like when you take out the policy, if you agree to them I suppose, then cancel the policy if you don't meet them, as seems to have happened here.

Problem is, you now have to declare that you had a policy cancelled for evermore, and you can put a zero at the end of the prices that you are used to paying.

There must be some sort of complains procedure that you can follow, and if you get nowhere there is an external regulator to take the complaint to.

What you want is their cancellation removed, and the policy terminated without penalty.

lisag2013

Thanks for the replies

Well it isn't actually a SORN certificate per say, but a small slip that the DVLA have sent out which basically acknowledges that I have made a statutory off road notification on a particular date. I think the DVLA have made an admin error, but I'm afraid that this looks like an oversight on my part for not checking the date on this before giving it to the car insurance company (AXA)

I am worried about the longer term ramifications of the cancelled insurance. My argument is really that the issue with the dates wasn't communicated to me, and in fact an AXA employee gave contradictory advice on the phone when advising that although they haven't received it that it would take time to show up at his end. It is reassuring to hear that it is possible for a cancellation to be 'removed', as this is such a minor issue and it seems it could be rather a costly one

AdrianC

Johno100 wrote: »

NB I note from the OP's other posts that she's in the North of Ireland if that makes any difference.

Yes, it makes a very big difference. I don't really know how the NI car tax setup would sit with this, but it's different to that in GB - in GB, there's no "SORN certificate", and I cannot for the life of me think why an insurer would want to see any proof of SORN anyway. If they did, they could just look at https://www.vehicleenquiry.service.gov.uk/

BTW - I'm assuming you mean Northern Ireland, rather than the north of the Republic of Ireland?

lisag2013

I'm from Northern Ireland so the acknowledgement slip was issued by the DVLA, asked for by AXA (both UK-wide)

Lisa

sheramber

Have you contactd the DVLA to clarify the position.

If they confirm your dates you can go back to AXA re the cancellation.

Quentin

lisag2013 wrote: »

I am worried about the longer term ramifications of the cancelled insurance. My argument is really that the issue with the dates wasn't communicated to me, and in fact an AXA employee gave contradictory advice on the phone when advising that although they haven't received it that it would take time to show up at his end. It is reassuring to hear that it is possible for a cancellation to be 'removed', as this is such a minor issue and it seems it could be rather a costly one

As a first step to trying to get this cancellation rescinded try and speak to a manager at your insurer and explain how unfair their action is over this, and ask them to reinstate the policy and remove the "cancellation" from your record.


If that succeeds, ask them to confirm in writing that the cancellation has been removed (and keep the letter on file for ever more in case any other insurer raises this issue)


If they won't budge then move on to a formal complaint that they treated you unfairly by cancelling your policy as you had told the truth.


Then if you are unhappy with their response you can escalate this to the FOS for their adjudication.


Until this is resolved make sure any insurer you go to is aware of the cancellation as were you not to tell them that would allow them to void your policy in the event of any claim - and if a third party were to claim successfully against you, then any costs they paid to the third party they could purue you to reimburse them.

Witless

lisag2013 wrote: »

Hi there

I........ In October I then went to the tax office and paid 6 months tax and took out car insurance a few days later....

You can't tax a car if it's not insured AFAIK.