Car Insurance Direct Debits stopped without knowledge, now asking for lump sum

Don_Dappa

Hi,

Need some help. Last year I had car insurance on a Seat Leon Cupra, was cheap henceforth why I took out the policy. Took out the policy in April 2015, with Direct Debits at £125 a month. Cancelled the insurance in January this year as I had sold the car. They have sent me a letter (dated 14th November 2016) saying my Direct Debits from July 2015 onwards weren't coming out of my account, which wasn't to my knowledge. This isn't my fault as they didn't tell me they weren't receiving payments and are now asking for £1003 upfront. Do I have any say in this at all?

Many Thanks in advance.

Johno100

So they have taken 15 months to notify you that they hadn't been receiving the premiums due, didn't contact you between July 2015 and January 2016 to tell you they were cancelling the policy and didn't say you hadn't been making the payments when you contacted them to cancel the policy? All sounds very strange.

And you haven't said in so many words but I assume the payments didn't come out of your account, so the money will be there to pay them. And BTW 7 x £125 is a lot less than £1,003, so I'd suggest you ask for a breakdown.

AdrianC

Don_Dappa wrote: »

Need some help. Last year I had car insurance on a Seat Leon Cupra, was cheap henceforth why I took out the policy. Took out the policy in April 2015, with Direct Debits at £125 a month. Cancelled the insurance in January this year as I had sold the car. They have sent me a letter (dated 14th November 2016) saying my Direct Debits from July 2015 onwards weren't coming out of my account, which wasn't to my knowledge. This isn't my fault as they didn't tell me they weren't receiving payments and are now asking for £1003 upfront. Do I have any say in this at all?

You didn't notice the thick end of a grand's worth of premiums weren't leaving your account?

I'm sorry, I quite simply don't believe you. Unless you're terminally disorganised and incompetent, of COURSE you certainly would have noticed such a big difference - particularly if you're of the demographic that usually gets insurance premiums of a grand and a half a year.

And, no, there's not anything you can do - of course you have to pay for the insurance that you've had for free so far. You've already had the money for a year and a half longer than you should have had it.

If a grand is so trivial to your finances that you didn't notice it not leaving your account, it should be simple to repay, right?

Johno100 wrote: »

And BTW 7 x £125 is a lot less than £1,003, so I'd suggest you ask for a breakdown.

Interest, probably charges for debt collection. My guess is that the OP's been ignoring this and hoping it'll go away, and this is a "PAY NOW OR GET A COURT DATE" letter.

daveyjp

There are lots of holes in the detail which would take thread after thread to get answers to.

However the situation is:

The insurance company lent you the money for your annual insurance premium.

You then agreed to pay them £125 a month to clear this debt.

For whatever reason there has been an issue with the DD. However the debt still needs paying.

Its down to you to negotiate with them a plan to clear this debt so you honour the agreement.

LadyDee

So it's somebody else's fault that you don't check your bank statements? It's a bit early in the week for a wind-up thread isn't it?