Hastings Direct - Police stop after admin error

scooby359

Hey, posting here as I'm hoping you can offer some advice!

Partner called Hastings in November to add a second vehicle to his insurance. Paid £300 extra and thought all was good, but he was stopped this week by the police who said he was driving without insurance. The police have checked the database and found that as the new vehicle was added, the old one was removed. He's now been given a producer and has to supply proof of insurance within 7 days or face prosecution.

We've phoned to complain and are being messed around - a lot! The first person we spoke to listened to the call and after requesting to add a vehicle, the sales advisor has apparently offered to add a vehicle or replace the one on the policy and the partner's said along the lines of 'yeh, that'. So Hastings said we chose to swap vehicles and it was our fault, so declined the complaint.

I've phoned later in the day and asked for a specific word for word transcript of the call - the complaint handler then acknowledged that in the call, the advisor had mumbled something quickly, and that my partner has said several times that he needed both vehicles to be covered. On this basis, she agreed that it was an admin error and should've been covered. However, it was after 5pm at this point, so the underwriters were closed so she said she would follow it up today and I'd get a call back to confirm.

Today, I've had no call. I'm chasing up Hastings again who are saying that someone did speak to the underwriters today, but not the person who should've been handling it. The underwriters have declined again saying on their original reason, that it was our error. So the further details of the call which were identified last night haven't been taken into consideration. To make it worse, I've been told again that someone will investigate and call me back within a couple more days..!

So, I'm really looking for any advice as to how I could push this for a quick resolution. Time is important as if we don't produce this evidence to the police within 7 days, it will go to prosecution, so the standard route of complaint, wait 8 weeks then ombudsman won't get the result we need.

Help! And thank you for any advice anyone can offer!

forgotmyname

Getting it sorted within 7 days is unlikely, so you need to be prepared for the case to goto court where you will have your evidence that it was in fact insured.

A pain but thats likely to be the outcome. As long as the insurer accept liability for it.

Would £300 have covered the premium on the 2nd car with zero no claims though? Or was £300 just the increase in premium/admin fees to swap cover from one vehicle to another?

sheramber

Did your husband not get amended policy details? That would show what was covered.

scooby359

Would £300 have covered the premium on the 2nd car with zero no claims though? Or was £300 just the increase in premium/admin fees to swap cover from one vehicle to another?

Seemed reasonable - The new vehicle was higher spec so expected a charge, but only he was going to be driving the vehicles so only one would be in use at once. When he's put the original vehicle back on this week, they've only charged £60 including admin fee, so nothing seemed off at the time.

Getting it sorted within 7 days is unlikely, so you need to be prepared for the case to goto court where you will have your evidence that it was in fact insured.

I'm expecting that as the worst case, but just worried that in the law, it's either insured or not and I imagine the responsibility is on the driver?So not sure there'd be a defence? I'm really not a legal expert!

Did your husband not get amended policy details? That would show what was covered.

We didn't get anything for the amendment - no post or email, and he didn't think to check the online account as he was told everything was sorted.

scooby359

Now been told they won't accept liability but they'll send a letter of mitigation to present to the police, but as I understand it, this is just accepting guilt but with a good reason..?

BooJewels

I'm sorry to hear of your troubles, it sounds like a bit of nightmare.

Would the price paid when initially making the changes not give an indication as to what the change in the cover actually was? [Sorry, on preview, I see forgotmyname already asked a similar question]

Because, depending on your partner's age and the models of car involved, 300 quid sounds quite a lot to me just for a change in model covered and perhaps more suggestive of an additional car? (but my husband is an old fogie, so it's difficult to judge). Can you put some of the variables into a comparison site to get an indication of what the different options might have been for the models concered?

I'd press for at least a transcript of the call - better still, a copy of the recording, if it's likely to go further, surely you're going to need that anyway. If they're certain that they're in the right, they'll surely be happy to provide it.

antrobus

scooby359 wrote: »

...I'm expecting that as the worst case, but just worried that in the law, it's either insured or not and I imagine the responsibility is on the driver?So not sure there'd be a defence? I'm really not a legal expert!

More or less.

Driving without Insurance is a strict liability offence. If it's you car, and there's no insurance, you are guilty.

https://www.themotoringlaw.uk/offence/driving-without-insurance/

Naf

scooby359 wrote: »

Now been told they won't accept liability but they'll send a letter of mitigation to present to the police, but as I understand it, this is just accepting guilt but with a good reason..?

I absolutely would not be accepting this. Your partner has definitely made the correct request, and it is therefore the job of the insurer to make the correct changes. £300 is certainly not an amount which would make me think "changing model" as opposed to "additional car".

You need the full transcript and ideally recording of that call, and I would suggest getting the one where the agent agreed with you too.

BooJewels

Naf wrote: »

£300 is certainly not an amount which would make me think "changing model" as opposed to "additional car".

I said the same - and another thought occurs - the OP didn't mention how long there was to run on the policy - if it was only 5 months, then that would be extrapolated as an additional £720 annually etc. It seems slightly unlikely that it happened to coincide with the annual renewal date.

So it's possible that the additional cost on the premium total value could be a good chunk more than £300 - even more persuasive. But if he's 25 with a poor claim history, maybe not.

Naf

BooJewels wrote: »

I said the same - and another thought occurs - the OP didn't mention how long there was to run on the policy - if it was only 5 months, then that would be extrapolated as an additional £720 annually etc. It seems slightly unlikely that it happened to coincide with the annual renewal date.

So it's possible that the additional cost on the premium total value could be a good chunk more than £300 - even more persuasive. But if he's 25 with a poor claim history, maybe not.

Indeed, there are other possibilities; going by a recent discussion with my insurer, its possible they could have forced the start of a new 12 month term with the change. Probably less likely with a name like Hastings, but still possible.

Either way my point is that the figure isn't such that you (someone not involved in the trade) would immediately think it couldn't be right for what you'd requested - it seems a reasonable figure for adding a second car to a policy, I would feel.

eddddy

You can make a 'Subject Access Request' (or SAR) to the insurer to get all personal data that they hold about you - they can charge a £10 fee for this.

That should provide you with recordings of all calls, plus any other info they have stored about you. So that would include any notes taken by the agent when you phoned, any notes made by the underwriters etc.

Unfortunately, you're unlikely to get this within the 7 days, but it may help you to build up your complaint case.

Ask the insurer how they prefer you to submit a SAR. TBH, you can do it just by sending an email or letter - but if you follow their preferred procedure, it may get done slightly quicker.

See: https://ico.org.uk/for-organisations/guide-to-data-protection/principle-6-rights/subject-access-request/