Policy cancelled by insurers

unholyangel

debtdebt wrote: »

Why would the insurer or the FOS uphold a complaint? The OP missed a payment, the insurer were entitled to cancel the policy.

I believe there has actually been a case passed to them where they did find in favour. I can't remember all the details but I believe it was reliant on the terms not specifying the contract would be cancelled for missed payment and/or not giving any opportunity to correct what could have been a genuine mistake.

However that led to most insurers adopting terms & policy where if a payment fails, they will write to you to let you know and make you aware they will try to take the payment again in 7 days and if that fails....the policy will be cancelled.

Such as these sections in skippys terms:

You will be responsible for paying any instalments as they fall due. If payment is not made, Creation Consumer
Finance will charge a £25 fee for each arrears notification they send you each time a Direct Debit is not set
up, is cancelled or returned and on each occasion a cheque is returned. This may adversely affect your credit
rating and obtaining credit in the future may be more difficult.


Failure to pay the instalments will result in us issuing a 7-day notice of cancellation. Your insurance cover will
cease from the date advised in this letter. If we cancel your insurance for this reason, we will calculate any
refund of premium in accordance with the ‘Cancelling your Insurance’ section of this document

debtdebt wrote: »

I don't have anything positive to suggest because in my view, there isn't anything positive to the OP's predicament.

They missed a payment so the insurers are well within their right to cancel the policy.

Payment (or consideration) is an essential part of a contract. No payment equals no goods or services (in this case the insurance).

It doesn't matter about the OP's financial difficulties. Do you think a business really cares about how unfortunate it is? No.

"Dear FOS,

Can you raise a complaint against Skippy Insurance. They cancelled my insurance when I didn't pay them".

Consideration is agreeing to pay the price - not actually transferring the consideration.

DUTR

Catread1989 wrote: »

Right I apologise if this is long winded but here goes, I have been in financial difficulty recently due to being made redundant and having to claim universal credits (boo) and I knew my monthly payment for my insurance was due but wasn't due financial help for another week, go Skippy sent a letter about missed payment and I tried constantly to call to explain my situation and unfortunately their systems were down for a week of calling and just got someone taking a message saying someone will call me back, only once did this happen and I managed to pay what was owed but apparently my policy was now cancelled as it took too long which was not completely my fault as I had tried to contact them but they reckon there is nothing else they can do.
My issue is now this has happened my premiums are now sky high (06 corsa and £2000 for the year) I do unfortunately have 2 claims against my name, 1 which was a named driver which I've now had to basically suffer in the outcome. Does anyone possibly know if I can somehow get round having the cancellation against my name if possible as there is no way I can currently afford the quotes I have been given being unfortunately unemployed, single and with two children (proper selling myself there haha)
Any help with be gratefully appreciated xx

As well as the cancellation, unemployed doesn't favour well for insurance premiums.

TooManyPoints

What would be the case should the payees bank (ie TSB) have a meltdown on payment day?

But it wasn't on payment day:

I knew my monthly payment for my insurance was due but wasn't due financial help for another week,

Drivers cannot expect insurers to continue cover when agreed payments have been missed. Motor insurance is an annual contract and a monthly payment plan is a privilege which must not be abused. Like Adrian, I find it very hard to accept that a major broker could not process a payment - especially one that is overdue - for more than a week. I would guess that any arbiter would have similar difficulty.

Mercdriver

What strikes me as unfair is that insurers charge interest at quite high APR as if it is a loan. Yet cancel it if payments are made as if it is a monthly charge for a service, they need to make up their minds which it is. Yes there are enforcement actions if you fail to make repayments on a loan, but they don't involve taking away the product that the loan was for, and certainly don't leave the debtor by the side of the road at risk of getting 6 points.

TooManyPoints

What strikes me as unfair is that insurers charge interest at quite high APR as if it is a loan. Yet cancel it if payments are made as if it is a monthly charge for a service...

But it is a loan. Without it full payment would be due before cover begins. Cancelling the policy is simply "repossessing the goods" (the policy) in the same way that goods securing a loan would be seized. It's unfortunate that this can lead to a criminal conviction but the terms are made quite clear when the policy begins.

[Deleted User]

TooManyPoints wrote: »

But it wasn't on payment day:



Drivers cannot expect insurers to continue cover when agreed payments have been missed. Motor insurance is an annual contract and a monthly payment plan is a privilege which must not be abused. Like Adrian, I find it very hard to accept that a major broker could not process a payment - especially one that is overdue - for more than a week. I would guess that any arbiter would have similar difficulty.

Very funny! Good joke. Here's the thing: the ONLY privilege within the business of insurance is the privilege YOU afford to the insurance company by putting your business their way. They are the privileged party; the customer is not, under any circumstances.


This reminds me of those clowns who state that driving is a privilege.

TooManyPoints

It's a facility which insurers arrange (your monthly agreement is usually - though not always - with a finance company) to enable you to buy an annual policy by paying monthly. I prefer to call that a privilege but I won't argue the point if you do not. It's a mutually beneficial arrangement but if the arrangement is broken by not making payments as agreed then the policy will be cancelled. Adrian summarises the OP's situation quite succinctly at post #10.

Car_54

johnsmith1890 wrote: »

This reminds me of those clowns who state that driving is a privilege.

It certainly isn't a right.

[Deleted User]

Car_54 wrote: »

It certainly isn't a right.

Sorry, but it is a right - provided you meet criteria such as having passed a test. The right does, of course, come with responsibilities, but in a democracy the idea of privilege is one sided: we, the people, afford the privilege of governing to political parties. There are no other privileges. The State cannot arbitrarily decide who drives and who doesn't.

TooManyPoints

The State cannot arbitrarily decide who drives and who doesn't.

Indeed it can't. But insurers (or their finance partners) can arbitrarily decide who they offer monthly payment schemes to.