Car Insurance Cancelled following accident.

Amiga500

In October I was in a major car accident, I'm still off work now. I haven't bought a replacement card yet, although I was about to. I have to drive for my job, so no car= no work.


Today I received an email from my insurers (Hastings Direct) that they have cancelled my car insurance. There are no reasons given BUT one of the sentences says "By replying to this message you are confirming that the policy detailed above, and to which your Certificate of Insurance relates to, will be cancelled from 20th March 2019." which strikes me as fairly sharp practice!


Before ringing them up, I'd like to know what my options and rights are please. The actual service I've received through my "personal claims handler" throughout has been pretty poor so I'm not expecting much to be honest.



Thanks!

[Deleted User]

It doesn't seem overly sharp.

No car = nothing to insure.

It would seems significantly sharper to make you keep it.

If you're about to get another car, ask if they will continue the policy with an amendment.

jaybeetoo

For 5 months you haven’t had a car. Are they cancelling it because there is nothing to insure?

Amiga500

Forgot some details but the forum won't let me edit the post:


The car I was driving at the time was a write off. I hit someone else so I presume the accident has been labelled as my fault, although the insurers have never said this. I assume the car I hit was a write off too but that's just an assumption on my part. The person who caused the accident drove off and the Police have never traced them.



At the time of the accident I had full no claims plus no claims protection, fully comp, insured for business use etc. I'm 51, low risk job, no smoker and all that stuff.



I made a claim about 3 years ago, a neighbour high on drugs drove into my car while it was parked outside the house and wrote it off. They admitted it at the time and gave insurance details to the police but later denied responsibility.


I reversed into someone about 6 years ago and damaged their bumper, they made a claim against me.


These 3 are the only incidents I've ever had in 28 years of driving.

[Deleted User]

If the car was written off, then the policy should have come to an end.

It's not like it will be paying out again on a car which is now squashed into a small metal cube.

It's nothing to do with your historical experiences of drugs, neighbours or other people's bumpers.

Carrot007

Deleted_User wrote: »

If the car was written off, then the policy should have come to an end.

Only usually on the cheap ones. Most decent insurers will let you change car, however waiting five months seems unlikely!


OP what are your p[lans and how much have you talked to the uinsurer about them in these inbetween times?

Amiga500

Hasbeen wrote: »

When you get another car then insure it, and thank your existing insurance company they are still not charging you for a car you do not have??

If they pay out then all premiums due up to the end of the policy are taken off the payout before you get it. So actually they have charged me, and taken the money, for a policy that would have expired in August 2019. This is standard practice so I guess you don't really know that much about car insurance! Thanks anyway.

Carrot007 wrote: »

Only usually on the cheap ones. Most decent insurers will let you change car, however waiting five months seems unlikely!


OP what are your p[lans and how much have you talked to the uinsurer about them in these inbetween times?

No, I haven't talked to them. The purpose of this thread was to know what I could expect / my rights and all that jazz before doing so. My plans were to buy another car in the next month or so and just to carry on with the policy as had happened when my last car was written off; although of course I bought the replacement far sooner!

Hasbeen

Amiga500 wrote: »

If they pay out then all premiums due up to the end of the policy are taken off the payout before you get it. So actually they have charged me, and taken the money, for a policy that would have expired in August 2019. This is standard practice so I guess you don't really know that much about car insurance! Thanks anyway.

You bought a policy. You decided to pay it up monthly? You have claimed. Its over they are not insuring a car that does not exist.

"so I guess you don't really know that much about car insurance!"

perhaps in your superior status as an expert you can work this out yourself without any help? As your posts say you do write off a few cars. Good luck.

dacouch

Deleted_User wrote: »

If the car was written off, then the policy should have come to an end.

It's not like it will be paying out again on a car which is now squashed into a small metal cube.

It's nothing to do with your historical experiences of drugs, neighbours or other people's bumpers.

The Ombudsman expects an Insurer to continue cover providing the replacement car is acceptable with the Insurer. However the FOS says providing it's within a reasonable space of time, the OP hasn't replaced the car in a reasonable space of time so the FOS is likely to be happy with Hastings in this instance

Amiga500

Hasbeen wrote: »

As your posts say you do write off a few cars. Good luck.

Sigh... you are legally required when trying to take out a policy to state if you have had insurance refused or cancelled in the past. If this is the case then an insurer may refuse to insure you or do so at an added premium. Again, it doesn't seem like your someone to take advice about car insurance from. As for your later comment; I can hardly have personally written off a car if I was sat in the lounge 10 yards away... please troll somewhere else...

dacouch wrote: »

The Ombudsman expects an Insurer to continue cover providing the replacement car is acceptable with the Insurer. However the FOS says providing it's within a reasonable space of time, the OP hasn't replaced the car in a reasonable space of time so the FOS is likely to be happy with Hastings in this instance

Thank you, I wasn't aware of any time conditions; this is exactly the kind of information that I came here to discover, thank you :beer:

sheramber

When we wrote off our car our insurance company gave us one month to replace the car to continue the policy.