Car Insurance - Renewal accepted then declined?

Calmallama

I received a renewal quote from my current insurers on 23rd March, which I accepted on 2nd April, and received email confirmation of such. The renewal date was 17th April, with my current insurance policy ending at 23:59 on 16th April.

On 11th April, I received an email stating "Based on your current information, we're unable to offer renewal terms". Nothing has changed between the date I accepted the renewal, no claims, amendments, not even a change of phone number.

My concern is, this gives me 5 days to scrape together a deposit for a new policy, a policy which will be a significantly higher cost than my renewal. (By significantly, we're talking a total difference in price of around £7,000 across the whole policy for a like-for-like policy).

The insurers T&Cs, and FOS guidelines, state that 7 days notice should be given for the cancellation of any policy, which I obviously have not been given. Also, I cannot find anything in the T&Cs about when they consider that the contract is formed & legally binding, but I would assume that as there has been offer/acceptance/consideration, that a contract has been formed, and I am therefore wondering whether I have any reasonable grounds to either force the contract to be performed, or to be adequately compensated so that I don't have to be ridiculously out of pocket to insure my car.

Please does anyone have any advice, as I'm seriously panicking

BoGoF

I would argue they are not cancelling your policy as it has not in force yet, they are choosing not to renew it. Even if they were to give 7 days notice what real difference would it make.

In terms of the renewal quote how did it compare to last year. For the life of me I cannot see any reason why other quotes would be £7000 higher......unless there is something you are not telling us.

Ignore the fact that nothing has changed since you got the renewal quote, has anything changed since you took out the insurance last year?

Calmallama

Compared to last year it was £20ish p/m more expensive. I had a (non fault) accident 3 days before my policy started last year, but in the last 12 months nothing has changed. The company themselves are baffled and have admitted this is their fault, but that admission isn’t really helping much.

Had I had more notice, I would have been able to budget for an alternative policy.

I’m unsure as to why quotes are so high myself. I have had quite a few accidents (all non fault), so my insurance has been consistently high anyway, but for some reason a like-for-like policy this year with an excess below £3k has shot up.

Also, as the policy was taken out and renewal agreed, they are now reneging on the agreement.

Jumblebumble

Calmallama wrote: »

Compared to last year it was £20ish p/m more expensive. I had a (non fault) accident 3 days before my policy started last year, but in the last 12 months nothing has changed. The company themselves are baffled and have admitted this is their fault, but that admission isn’t really helping much.

Had I had more notice, I would have been able to budget for an alternative policy.

I’m unsure as to why quotes are so high myself. I have had quite a few accidents (all non fault), so my insurance has been consistently high anyway, but for some reason a like-for-like policy this year with an excess below £3k has shot up.

Also, as the policy was taken out and renewal agreed, they are now reneging on the agreement.

Perhaps you could share the name of the company Are they cheap and nasty or are they a decent company?
Anyway you should complain and then take to the ombudsman which might concentrate their minds.
A letter to the CEO might also not go amiss
Probably another example of dealing with call center staff who are unable to find out what actually happened

Calmallama

The company is called Provident Insurance, and they're underwritten by Covea. Up until now I've found them to be really good, but of course all I'm getting now is "computer says no". They're investigating, and awaiting a response from IT, but it's all a bit up in the air at the moment.

I can't find CEO information for them, but I can for Covea, and as they're the underwriters I'll try emailing the CEO for them, good idea, thank you.

I've contacted the ombudsman who have said they will get involved if no resolution is reached via the complaint I have escalated with Provident themselves.

FutureGirl

If you had an accident 3 days before your policy started last year then that wouldn't have been taken into account in your last years risk profile.

So there is a change form last year to this year which is the additional accident (even non fault accidents change your risk profile).

Check your renewal notice for this year to see if it included the most recent accident, if it didn't then it's likely the reason for why they've now decided not to offer cover. (As they've probably noticed it after you've accepted the quote). If this is the case then the insurer can put some of the responsibility back on you for not checking that all the details were correct on the renewal notice.

Calmallama

I informed them prior to the policy starting last year, and they updated my account (and premiums) accordingly. The renewal did have the accident on record, as did my insurance documents for the previous year.