Motor Insurance Canceled Without Warning?

suzuki110

hello,

not long ago I thought I'd get myself a second job and thought doing pizza delivery wasn't such a bad idea seen as I'd be getting free pizza's every night (sad i know)

So I went and got my CBT, purchased a bike got it taxed and bought courier insurance to go along with it and away I went. A few weeks back I was involved in a head on collision with a van, it decided to cut in front of my from the opposite lane to turn into a side street with no indication as I was doing about 30mph thus I ended up smashing into his bonnet at full speed and straight onto the ground knocking me out for a bit. I woke up in hospital hours later.

Later that day the police arrived and oddly enough kept asking me about insurance. I said I had insurance but they told me that I didn't. I told them that is impossible as the payment was made in full etc and I never canceled my insurance.

They came back to me shortly after speaking to the insurance firm and they told me that the insurance company canceled my insurance because I apparently failed to provide them my CBT. I contested and showed that I have a CBT etc, but the police where not interested and slapped me with the offense of driving without insurance, then they nicked the keys and took the bike away to the pound.

After I got out of hospital I got on the phone to the insurance company, and they told me it states in their T&C that they have the right to cancel my insurance randomly at any point in the event that I fail to provide a copy of my CBT. They never sent me any letters, nor did they telephone or text me and I certainly have no emails from them asking me for a copy of my CBT.

Do I have any hope in fighting the insurance company in court for the outright idiocy for not even having the courtesy to call the customer to tell them the insurance has been canceled and to stop riding the bike? They never even sent me a cancellation email, NOTHING! Any letters they may have sent would have been clogged up in the Christmas break, which is when they apparently canceled the insurance. (btw, still have not received any letters.)

I am sure I now have a criminal record because of this, thus, ruining any future jobs in which a criminal background check is asked, which is almost everything these days. I was about to apply for a bus driving job and it specifically said, regardless of the offense, if you have a criminal record, you application will be automatically rejected. I am mortified right now.

Any advice is appreciated at this point, thanks!

Aretnap

The insurer should have given at least (IIRC) 7 days notice of the cancellation. This might have been in the form of a line in the confirmation Email along the lines of "You must send us evidence of your CBT or else this policy will be cancelled in 7 days" it should have been reasonably prominent - not buried on page 30 of the policy documents. Have you double checked the confirmation Email, and any other documents they sent you? Also check your Email spam folder.

As for a criminal record, have you actually paid the fine, or do you have a court date coming up? In any event driving without insurance is not a recordable offence so does not lead to a criminal record in the normal sense. It will not show up on a standard CRB check. It might show up on an enhanced CRB check depending on the local police force's policy - but employers who use enhanced CRB checks are usually looking for evidence of kiddie fiddling rather than bad driving.

If you're convicted though you will end up with an endorsement and 6 points on your driving licence, which may cause problems applying for any job which involves driving for the next few years. It will also not be good news for your own insurance premiums.

Caz3121

Did you send your CBT and it was not received and you were unaware of this or did you not send it? If you did not send it, is this because you had not realised you had been asked for it or you just had forgotten?

forgotmyname

Does courier insurance cover food delivery? I thought that was totally different?

huckster

Can you check the documents you were issued with, to see whether they asked you to send in the CBT.

If you bought the policy over the phone or face to face, did they mention the CBT. You could submit a Data Protection subject access request for a copy of the recorded phone call.

If you arranged cover online, check to see whether the CBT was mentioned, that if you did not send it to them, the policy would be cancelled.

Insurers can cancel due to non receipt of documents, if they advised of this consequence when you bought the policy. If they cancel, they send 7 days notice of cancellation.

I see you have posted on another forum and they seem to suggest Insurers can just reinstate because of your administrative failure to send in the CBT. They even suggest taking Insurers to court if necessary. Before you consider this advice, make sure you have a case and see if this other forum will assist you in taking it to court.

Marktheshark

Cancellation notice has to be in writing to be deemed served.
There is some case law on this somewhere.
Start the complaint procedure in WRITING ONLY now to get the clock ticking so you can go to the financial ombudsman service.
Keep the complaint simple and to facts, that the insurance company failed to notify you in writing they had cancelled your insurance and the fact they never issued a refund pro-rata for policy or requested return of the certificate backs this up.

This is unfortunately a very common scam some of the cheap as chips insurance firms are pulling and the ombudsman has seen it all before.

You will have to opt for court and summons a representative from the insurance as witness for your defence.

huckster

The insurers no longer have to ask for the Insurance certificate back, as the law on that changed last year.

If the insurers cancelled and sent a letter confirming, they should have evidence of this. Also it should have triggered a cancellation refund to be issued, unless the type of insurance involving business use did not allow for any refund.

The OP needs to gather evidence the Insurers to see what case they can make. Too early to say whether there is any court case that could be made.

No harm in sending a strongly worded complaint letter, as it is a very upsetting thing to happen and insurers do seem to cancel too easily these days.

dacouch

huckster wrote: »

Can you check the documents you were issued with, to see whether they asked you to send in the CBT.

If you bought the policy over the phone or face to face, did they mention the CBT. You could submit a Data Protection subject access request for a copy of the recorded phone call.

If you arranged cover online, check to see whether the CBT was mentioned, that if you did not send it to them, the policy would be cancelled.

Insurers can cancel due to non receipt of documents, if they advised of this consequence when you bought the policy. If they cancel, they send 7 days notice of cancellation.

I see you have posted on another forum and they seem to suggest Insurers can just reinstate because of your administrative failure to send in the CBT. They even suggest taking Insurers to court if necessary. Before you consider this advice, make sure you have a case and see if this other forum will assist you in taking it to court.

I know what you mean, I saw the other forum...

"The failure to provide a copy of the CBT clearly has had no effect on whether or not you would have had the accident. It would be nonsense for them to try and say so.

If you didn't have a CBT then this could materially affect the risk because it would mean that you probably weren't qualified to drive and didn't have the knowledge or experience to do so. However, this is not the case here.

Therefore in terms of any withdrawal of cover, the insurance company is in breach of contract."

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?458189-Do-I-have-any-hope-(5-Viewing)-nbsp

The whole link is worth a read...

huckster

dacouch wrote: »

I know what you mean, I saw the other forum...

"The failure to provide a copy of the CBT clearly has had no effect on whether or not you would have had the accident. It would be nonsense for them to try and say so.

If you didn't have a CBT then this could materially affect the risk because it would mean that you probably weren't qualified to drive and didn't have the knowledge or experience to do so. However, this is not the case here.

Therefore in terms of any withdrawal of cover, the insurance company is in breach of contract."

http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/showthread.php?458189-Do-I-have-any-hope-(5-Viewing)-nbsp

The whole link is worth a read...

We know insurers cancel due to non receipt of documents. I can't remember seeing Insurers having some legal responsibility for reinstating insurance, because of an administrative failure of the policyholder. If this were the case, then it would be very helpful.

The advice on CAG appears to suggest making a court case that Insurers should not have cancelled the Insurance, as it did not matter if the CBT document was sent to them or not.

Certainly the OP needs to dig to find out whether the Insurers failed to advise about the need to send in the CBT and also the cancellation of the policy. If the Insurers made a mistake, they have a case.

Marktheshark

They wont admit it, so the best advice is to start the clock ticking for the ombudsman as quickly as humanly possible and switch in to writing with certified post only.
If you think it can be done over telephones and e-mails, dont waste time bothering.
At a critical period like this you have to enter in to a private record of the parties, that is served in writing documentation by post only.
Nothing can be claimed not to have been read, or arrived, all in writing by post all with proof of postage, do not speak via telephones even if they call you.
Give them no room at all, they have pulled one stunt they will have the next lined straight up.
Trust is over, you should meet them head on, they might renege their stance once they see you are not going to fall for any tricks.

dacouch

huckster wrote: »

We know insurers cancel due to non receipt of documents. I can't remember seeing Insurers having some legal responsibility for reinstating insurance, because of an administrative failure of the policyholder. If this were the case, then it would be very helpful.

The advice on CAG appears to suggest making a court case that Insurers should not have cancelled the Insurance, as it did not matter if the CBT document was sent to them or not.

Certainly the OP needs to dig to find out whether the Insurers failed to advise about the need to send in the CBT and also the cancellation of the policy. If the Insurers made a mistake, they have a case.

They seem to be viewing the Insurers as having cancelled due to the accident and thus due to ICOBS / Consumer Insurance Act the Insurer should not cancel.

I don't see failure to produce the CBT as being a non disclosure, it's no different to not producing the NCD so I'm not convinced the ICOBS and especially the Consumer Insurance Act having any teeth.

Risky strategy going straight to court and thus losing the opportunity of ever using the Ombudsman