Car Insurance Fiasco

Barty3931

Car insurance nightmare.

Background

In April 2015, I extended my insurance for a further year with my current insurer (broker). At the time, the underwriters were another company. I have been paying premiums for the past 4-5 months each month as per contract under the understanding I have full comprehensive cover in place for my wife and I.

A letter sent on 27/07/2016, received on 01/08/2016, which was a formal letter from Driver & Vehicle licensing Agency stating the record of insurance for my vehicle does not appear on the Motor Insurance Database (MID) and to avoid a penalty I need to take action immediately.

I made a call to Insurance broker at approx 1700hrs on 01/08/2016 to enquire what has happened. I was referred to speak to the main insurance provider and not to worry this happens quite regularly due to a slow system. They were closed, and so I had to call in the morning. At this point, he stated I still had a policy which was valid. I get up and drive to work in the morning.

On calling them in the morning, I had multiple conversations between the main supplier and the broker on 02/08/2016.

Issue

Broker stated, there has been an issue with the underwriters and no longer do business with main supplier. During my policy, I have been uncovered by main supplier throughout the 5 month period. Meaning, I have been paying for a policy when in fact, no insurance is provided. (this is nothing to do with me, my policy needs, contracts ect. this is an issue between broker and main insurance)

After speaking with Broker again after receiving a missed phone call that day, I was told my current insurance had been cancelled with immediate affect with no further info. Again, me finding this out after the fact.

Luckily, I had already driven to work that morning (illegally) and so could stop using the vehicle until this was rectified. Wasn't still driving on the road or I would have been stranded.

At no point, during 01 Aug, and up until lunch time 02 Aug was I informed to cease using the vehicle due to a problem with insurance.

Complaint

1. Due to this huge oversight which has only been identified due to me calling broker due to being threaten by the driving authority. broker has in no doubt, taken NO responsibility of this during the last 5 months to rectify. This has lead to myself, and my wife driving an uninsured vehicle for 5 months BREAKING THE LAW.

2. Luckily, during this period, there has been no accidents, incidents or injury and no claims to be made due to good care and driving by us. IF, during this period, God forbid, there was an incident, due to not being covered, I would have been fully accountable for all damages and any injuries sustained regardless of fault simply because they have failed to provide adequate insurance for which I was paying for. I would have been left without a vehicle due to it being a large investment, and my wife would not have been able to work due to lack of transport. Quite simply, it would have ruined my life and I could have potentially have been prosecuted by the law to top it off. (being prosecuted is still a reality)

3. I have now lost 5 months no claims, 5 months of payments and have now had to pay another initial payment of £170 upfront and another policy take out to be able to just get home never mind anything else. (New Policy is more expensive aswell maybe they added cancellation premiums ect?)

This whole situation is incredibly serious with potentially major consequences and I believe has not been handled by broker in a professional way throughout. Lack of clear communication has put me and my family at further risk after having already spent 5 months completely at risk. To add to insult, it was I who has had to capture the brokers failings, if I had not done so, this matter would not have been rectified and they would have carried on taking my money without providing insurance cover.

I have been told, I will be receiving the premiums back from the last 5 months. In my opinion, this is totally inadequate to the risk and seriousness of this situation.

At present its with the Insurance Complaints department to complete an "internal" investigation, though they have accepted responsibility over the phone.

I've no idea what the Transport and and Vehicle licensing agency is going to do.

What do you guys think I do next? The resolution I should be seeking?

Thanks in advance!

P

Quentin

As long as you get your 5 months premiums back you look to be getting a result! No other "resolution" needed is there?


(According to your OP you only got the warning letter to get insurance so there won't be any further action against you over having no insurance)

Aretnap

The DVLA will do nothing at all provided you get the car insured promptly - which you have done. The point of the warning letter is to give people who may have inadvertently broken the continuous insurance regulations chance to rectify the situation before they face any further action.

Certainly you might have been left in a sticky situation had you had an accident or been stopped by the police - but the good news is that you weren't. You can't claim compensation for something that might have happened but didn't. (Given that it was their mistake I suspect tht if push came to shove they would have honoured the policy - but fortunately that's academic now)

If you get your money back then you'll have had five months of motoring without paying any insurance costs - which from some perspectives is not a bad thing at all. Yes you won't have built up any NCB over those 5 months, but you won't have paid any premiums either.

If you pushed this to the Ombudsman I suspect that they'd award you your money back, and some money to reflect the stress and inconvenience this has caused you. The latter sum would not be huge - maybe of the order of a couple of hundred quid or so (see here for their general approach). That's probably what you should be thinking about in terms of a resolution.

molerat

Did you get a certificate of insurance ? What have you got in writing that you renewed your cover ?

takman

As far as you could reasonably know you were fully insured for the 5 months, so you won't be prosecuted!.

Then due to an error beyond your control you have gotten 5 months insurance for free!. I wouldn't say no to 5 months free insurance!.

So you have grounds to claim any form of compensation!.

Also I wouldn't tell insurance companies you have had a policy cancelled, because you never had a policy so it can't have been cancelled!.

HELPFUL_ANNIE

Insurance policy's.... Grrrr.... a friend done his through a comparison website back in June and it took the company he went with until 1st Aug to contact my friend to say he had NOT put his points on his application. I know he did as I watched him!! The comparison site had proof he had added ONE speeding fine but NOT the TWO he had. When the company added the points to his policy it DOUBLED in price. He then contacted them and it's going to cost him 'X' amount for the few weeks he was insured and another 'X' amount to LEAVE the company... because he couldn't afford to stay with them!! Has anybody else had troubles with car insurance comparison sites like this?? Sorry if I have hijacked this thread only I'm a newbie and no idea how to start a new one :-(

Aretnap

HELPFUL_ANNIE wrote: »

Sorry if I have hijacked this thread only I'm a newbie and no idea how to start a new one :-(

You click the "New Thread" botton which is at the top and bottom of the list of threads here - http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/forumdisplay.php?f=21 You'll get more and better replies if you do that rather than posting on an existing thread.

dacouch

Aretnap wrote: »

Certainly you might have been left in a sticky situation had you had an accident or been stopped by the police - but the good news is that you weren't. You can't claim compensation for something that might have happened but didn't. (Given that it was their mistake I suspect tht if push came to shove they would have honoured the policy - but fortunately that's academic now)

Insurance Brokers have to carry Professional Indemnity Insurance to cover such situations

Barty3931

So an update.

To answer your questions, yes I have paperwork, and all calls are recorded anyways so I have stacks of prove. I also have bank statements stating I've been paying them for the policy. No squirming out of this.

1. Raised a complaint with the FoS- waiting on them getting back to me.

2. I took out a new policy with the offending company just so I could get home that day, it was a lot more than I was paying before but I needed something fast. Got home tonight and found admiral who were 50% cheaper.

Called the company tonight to cancel the new policy and they said the system has glitched and I couldn't cancel the policy until the morning. I would have to pay for the 1 days insurance, (fine by me, probably get a refund anyways after all this).

Thing is, they wanted to back date the policy from 1900hrs tonight when I call in the morning. That would mean I wouldn't be covered for tomorrow, otherwise I would need to pay for another day. I also couldn't take out another policy due to the 2 policy rule. Tricky.

Another option would be to just pay for another day and cancel in the morning. - again not my problem they have issues with their systems.

So basically, I've just taken out another policy with admiral and will see what happens when I call in the morning, I have a sneaky suspicion, there is something wrong with this new policy hence the issue with trying to cancel it. 3-5 working days for a refund too but it's standard so not too fussed as its more of an inconvenience than anything else.

A little bit inside me kind of hopes I've not been covered for the last day due to another mess up... 2nd time running. just adds to the !!!! storm.

Point to note, I actually want insurance and will pay for it to be covered. it's also a requirement for my PCP deal. The dealership could in fact reclaim the vehicle off me due to having no insurance. if I had just not paid them for the 5 months and took the risk is the same as them giving me a refund, this is in no way being better off or proffing from the situation, if anything I'm in a worse situation due to losing 5 months no claims. This doesn't make it right but I see your point about driving around without paying insurance Scott free, though I'm sure you wouldnt be saying that if we were in an accident and I couldn't pay you.

Thanks for your comments they all help.

ill keep this updated and the actual resolution that comes from it.

P

dacouch

There is no rule preventing you insuring the same car twice

mattk_180

There's no written rule, but it's heavily frowned upon considering the conflict of interest between insurers should a claim be made when they are both insuring it simultaneously.


If you're going to do it, it needs to be for the least amount of time possible as chances are, with 2 policies trying to be uploading to the MID, it won't show on there at all and it could then be picked up by the insurers in question that there's another policy running alongside theirs.