Car insurance nightmare

stressed84

Help! so, I have been insured with the same insurer for a couple of years now, my policy auto renewing each year and payments being taken monthly each pay day. I was stopped over the weekend and charged for having no insurance, something I was unaware of. I assumed, as per previous years the policy had auto renewed and had nothing through the post to the contrary. When stopped I explained I was insured with hastings and accessed my emails to show them the policy (I don't use email, only for purpose of having address for filling forms etc). Instead of a policy I found an email from insurer saying they could not find anyone on their panal to insure me this year and as such were not renewing my policy. Now, I have evidence from price comparison sites that my insurer and their subsidiares are showing up as providing quotes. I had no notification through the post or would have acted on it immedietly. I insured car with another provider whilst with police. Is it worth arguing in court?I am mortified as held clean licence for over 15 years and had no idea until stopped

Farway

stressed84 wrote: »

I found an email from insurer saying they could not find anyone on their panal to insure me this year and as such were not renewing my policy.


I had no notification through the post or would have acted on it immedietly. I insured car with another provider whilst with police. Is it worth arguing in court?I am mortified as held clean licence for over 15 years and had no idea until stopped

Not a lawyer, but honestly do you think the fact a grown adult failed to read e mails and needed nannying by post is just cause that would persuade a court?

I don't

bigisi

Arguing what? You admit it's through your own lack of admin organisation "I don't use email" (so why give them an email address to contact you on?).

The offence is absolute, you weren't insured regardless of how that came about and your lack of attention to emails is your own fault.

stressed84

argue they say couldnt find someone yet they themselves appeared on price comparison sites. Insurance was taken with them directly, not as a broker which they are implying in email. none rewal is not justified

bigisi

stressed84 wrote: »

argue they say couldnt find someone yet they themselves appeared on price comparison sites. Insurance was taken with them directly, not as a broker which they are implying in email. none rewal is not justified

It's perfectly justified. They don't have to do business with you and have obviously decided they don't want to.

Your argument is irrelevant regardless of whether you like that fact or not.

Johno100

stressed84 wrote: »

argue they say couldnt find someone yet they themselves appeared on price comparison sites. Insurance was taken with them directly, not as a broker which they are implying in email. none rewal is not justified

Hastings Direct are an intermediary acting on behalf of several insurers.

https://www.hastingsdirect.com/insurers/

I will say I do find it strange that you didn't get anything in writing. This year my home and buildings insurers advised they were leaving the home insurance market so wouldn't be offering me a renewal. They wrote to me twice, before my policy lapsed.

born_again

The issue is it is your responsibility to ensure that you have a valid insurance policy in place.

Simply relying on the excuse, that it has auto renewed in previous years is not going to cut it.

Maybe it's time you started to shop around for better prices each year. That way you won't get caught again.

AdrianC

stressed84 wrote: »

Help! so, I have been insured with the same insurer for a couple of years now, my policy auto renewing each year and payments being taken monthly each pay day. I was stopped over the weekend and charged for having no insurance, something I was unaware of. I assumed, as per previous years the policy had auto renewed and had nothing through the post to the contrary. When stopped I explained I was insured with hastings and accessed my emails to show them the policy (I don't use email, only for purpose of having address for filling forms etc). Instead of a policy I found an email from insurer saying they could not find anyone on their panal to insure me this year and as such were not renewing my policy. Now, I have evidence from price comparison sites that my insurer and their subsidiares are showing up as providing quotes. I had no notification through the post or would have acted on it immedietly. I insured car with another provider whilst with police. Is it worth arguing in court?I am mortified as held clean licence for over 15 years and had no idea until stopped

Your broker declined to auto-renew you, and contacted you via their usual method, email, to tell you this.
You don't bother reading your emails regularly, even when you're expecting your insurance renewal through via email.
You didn't notice the premium no longer being debited from your account. For how long?

You were stopped for not having insurance.
You didn't have insurance...

So on what grounds do you think you have a defence against a charge of driving without insurance?

Hastings_Direct_company_representative

Hello,

I'm very sorry to hear about the experience you've had. If you believe that the process by which you were informed about the policy was incorrect and not in line with the method of communication you chose when you purchased the policy, please contact the customer service team to discuss this. You can raise a complaint and our Customer Relations Department would be able to investigate this situation for you.

You can reach the Customer Service Department on 01424 735735 or you can speak to the Customer Relations team directly on 0333 321 9677.

Kind Regards,

The Hastings Direct Social Media Team