Hastings car insurance cancelled after paying in full

alex373208

I needed to renew my car insurance so I put my details in and Hastings Insurance came up with the cheapest quote £180, so I went ahead.

A few days after paying for my insurance upfront I became ill and had to spend a few weeks in hospital.

On arriving home I was surprised to find a letter on my doormat saying my insurance had been canceled and here is a refund of £19

Apparently they had tried to contact me to ask for proof of my 9 years or more no claims discount but I can't find anything and they didn't ask to see this proof upfront when taking my money

I'm glad I saw the letter before driving my car, I could have got a criminal record for driving uninsured or worse still had an accident with no cover

I phoned them up and they gave me the breakdown of charges;

£66.35 was for the insurance you had from 19/12/16 to 07/02/2017.
£20 set up fee
£25 administration fee
£45 cancelltion fee
"Majority of the money you paid went towards our fee's."

I put in a complaint and told them the situation, they didn't seem interested and just explained their fees again. The £66.35 seems high when a whole year was £180 but I'm told that is because it was recalculated (for a fee) with zero no claims bonus. I told them I can send proof of my no claims now but they aren't interested. As far as they are concerned the matter is closed

csgohan4

what was in the T+C regarding charges?? They would usually contact you by mail or email to get proof, did this happen? You being ill is not their concern, they cannot know this at the time nor do they care. It's nothing personal but business.

Quentin

As having a cancellation on your record is so detrimental to you (remains with you for ever/ must disclose it when applying for insurance ior going as a named driver/ most online insurers won't quote you/ premiums from those who do will be high etc), you need to try and get it retracted and your policy reinstated

They have a rep who gets alerted when their name is mentioned. May be worth taking up any offer of help.

Otherwise try a complaint that you haven't been treated fairly as you didn't get the request and take it from the reply

sevenhills

I dont recall giving proof in the past few years. My insurance is due today.

agrinnall

sevenhills wrote: »

I dont recall giving proof in the past few years. My insurance is due today.

I've never heard of any car insurer NOT requiring proof of NCD, unless you always renew with the same insurer, in which case the NCD you gave when you first insured with them will have been updated every subsequent year. Although if that's what's happened you are almost certainly paying a higher premium than you need to.

forgotmyname

Easy they send you the bill and then debt collection letters and maybe even court with additional costs added.

Dont forget that insurers are often linked so you maybe losing out of cheaper deals in future.

System

agrinnall wrote: »

I've never heard of any car insurer NOT requiring proof of NCD,.

I had always assumed insurers exchanged NCD and other information.

In 50 years of insuring cars and quite often switching insurers, I have NEVER been asked for proof of NCD. I have stated my current insurer so I just assumed the new one automatically checks with the previous one.

Mungo76

I went from Gladiator to Halifax the other day, they didn't require proof.

I have been asked in the past though.

Hastings_Direct_company_representative

Hi Alex, I am very sorry to see this. Please e-mail us at socialmedia@hastingsdirect.com Please include your policy number, full name, Dob and vehicle reg in the e-mail. We will offer as much assistance as we can ~Connor

alex373208

Hi, thanks to anyone that has replied

Having spoke to the complaints handlers it seems they are sticking to their guns and their charges, I will now take my complaint on to the ombudsman just to see what happens but don't hold out much hope

To me it's not the money, but the principle. in my opinion If the proof of NCD is so important to the insurer they should ask to see it before any money is taken, rather than take the money, request to see it at a later time and then use any oversight as a reason to cancel and keep most of your payment. They hide behind their terms & conditions but that doesn't mean to say this sort of thing isn't unscrupulous

Just to help anyone who is concerned that having insurance cancelled will mean you have to declare it to your next insurer this is not always the case. A cancellation only has to be declared if the reasons were fraud. A cancellation does not have to be declared if the reasons were failure to pay an instalment or not sending certain documents like NCD proof

Quentin

alex373208 wrote: »

Just to help anyone who is concerned that having insurance cancelled will mean you have to declare it to your next insurer this is not always the case. A cancellation only has to be declared if the reasons were fraud. A cancellation does not have to be declared if the reasons were failure to pay an instalment or not sending certain documents like NCD proof

This could be dangerous advice.

You normally are asked if you have ever had a policy cancellation by an insurer.

If you have had a cancellation the answer is yes.

(Where did you get this from, and which other docs were you told that not supplying them means you need not disclose any cancellation resulting from not providing them?)