Car Insurance Cancelled - Car Siezed

uk1

johnsmith1890 wrote: »

From my own experience, failing to provide proof of NCD (being late in doing so) resulted in additional charges (refunded), to the extent that I was assumed not to have any NCD. They didn't just cancel the policy. However, I can well believe that some insurance bottom feeders will do just that. Anyway, surely in our digital age the insurance lowlifes have an industry-wide database of no claims discount. Why don't they just look up customers in that? What? They don't have such an industry-wide database? Well b*****r me! Who'd have thought it! They have industry-wide databases to log claims (CUE). Then again, an industry-wide database for NCD would benefit customers, so no right-thinking bunch of scammers would set one up, I suppose.

We are effctively there legally but practically not.

Recent consumer legislation gives the effective protection you seek but asserting it requires insurer compliance or complaint processes to be fast and effective. They are all out of sync. insurerers know this. So they exploiut it. Finding yourself without cover today and being faced with a 12 month complaint process is the square root of !!!!!! all. People posting on places like this are unaware of this. So The consumer suffers and the insurers benefit. Some of us try to help peopel through the very narrow seam. But mostly fail.

TheInsideGuy

johnsmith1890 wrote: »

From my own experience, failing to provide proof of NCD (being late in doing so) resulted in additional charges (refunded), to the extent that I was assumed not to have any NCD. They didn't just cancel the policy. However, I can well believe that some insurance bottom feeders will do just that. Anyway, surely in our digital age the insurance lowlifes have an industry-wide database of no claims discount. Why don't they just look up customers in that? What? They don't have such an industry-wide database? Well b*****r me! Who'd have thought it! They have industry-wide databases to log claims (CUE). Then again, an industry-wide database for NCD would benefit customers, so no right-thinking bunch of scammers would set one up, I suppose.

This does exist, not all insurers subscribe to it however

Jackson87

Hi All and thank you for your comments.

There is an update to all of this:

So I complained to the insurance company that my policy was cancelled without notice and has resulted in me spending in excess of 1k in temporary insurance, fines, fees etc just to get the car back on the road - I have also received 6 points on my license which will be present for the next 4 years and will severely increased my premiums next year when I come to renew!

Long story short they rejected my complaint saying that they had notified me by email (which was wrong in their system) - They had @googmail.com which of course meant I received no emails. They said I typed it in incorrectly? Surely there must be some sort of check to ensure its correct?... That's of course my fault but on a call they confirmed the details with me and asked if the details online were correct - They read out my email which sounded right over the phone as it wasn't spelt out.

I took the complaint to the financial ombudsmen who has sided with the insurance company and said I have been treat fairly and repeated the above. They also said that a letter was sent to my address which I have 100% not received (I keep all mail I receive in a file) - I also need my car for work and seeing my daughter so if I had have received the letter I would have been straight on the phone to sort it out.

So in summary:

1. Emails going to an incorrect email address
2. Letter sent but not received (Should this not be sent recorded??)
   
3. No phone call received

I can appeal the decision which will then go to a final Ombudsmen to give a final review and from then I assume its court if I want to take it further?

I'm not really sure what to do at this point as I dont want to go to court - And I suppose neither does the insurance company.

Thanks again

tearsinrain1

How did you pay for the policy, had the premiums been returned or the payments not taken?

Jackson87

tearsinrain1 said:

How did you pay for the policy, had the premiums been returned or the payments not taken?

I paid for the first month over the phone like you normally would do and setup the direct debit for the remaining months. I didnt check to see if it went out the next month which is of course a fault on my part - but I dont do that for any direct debit anyway - You set it up and leave it to do its thing

Aretnap

The Ombudsman is typically more 'pro-consumer' than a court - the ombudsman considers overarching issues of fairness to a much greater extent than a court, which will look more at the letter of the law. 

The court will also likely consider the Ombudsman an expert in the field, and will be reluctant to overturn his decision without a good reason. 

So if you have no success with the ombudsman you don't have a great chance of getting a better result with a court. As you'd have the risk of costs to factor in as well, I'd be inclined to regard the ombudsman as the end of the line. 

Jackson87

Aretnap said:

The Ombudsman is typically more 'pro-consumer' than a court - the ombudsman considers overarching issues of fairness to a much greater extent than a court, which will look more at the letter of the law. 

The court will also likely consider the Ombudsman an expert in the field, and will be reluctant to overturn his decision without a good reason. 

So if you have no success with the ombudsman you don't have a great chance of getting a better result with a court. As you'd have the risk of costs to factor in as well, I'd be inclined to regard the ombudsman as the end of the line. 

Thanks for that.

At the minute its been investigated by an investigator from the Financial Ombudsmen and not an actual Ombudsmen. Im not really sure what the difference is so forgive my ignorance - I assume they're further up the chain as their decision is final before courts etc.

So you suggest I appeal it for an Ombudsmen to review the case and take thier word as final?

Thanks again

Manxman_in_exile

Did you enter your email address onto their system yourself?  If yes, then that can be argued to be your fault, so tough luck - but...

1.  Most systems I come across require you to enter your email address twice.  Did you input it wrong twice or did you only have to enter it once?  If they only ask you for it once, I'd argue that is a fault in their system as it makes it more difficult for you to spot an input error

2.  If the employee of the insurer whom you spoke to only vocalised (is that a word!?) your email address and did not spell it out, then I would say that is the insurer's fault too. (Personally I would not confirm my email address in a conversation unless it was spelled out to me so I would expect businesses who want to use my email address to repeat it back to me and spell it out!).

TELLIT01

You typed in the e-mail address incorrectly but you think it's somebody elses fault.  Try accepting responsibility for your own actions, and inaction.

paddyandstumpy

Jackson87 said:

Hi All and thank you for your comments.

There is an update to all of this:

So I complained to the insurance company that my policy was cancelled without notice and has resulted in me spending in excess of 1k in temporary insurance, fines, fees etc just to get the car back on the road - I have also received 6 points on my license which will be present for the next 4 years and will severely increased my premiums next year when I come to renew!

Long story short they rejected my complaint saying that they had notified me by email (which was wrong in their system) - They had @googmail.com which of course meant I received no emails. They said I typed it in incorrectly? Surely there must be some sort of check to ensure its correct?... That's of course my fault but on a call they confirmed the details with me and asked if the details online were correct - They read out my email which sounded right over the phone as it wasn't spelt out.

I took the complaint to the financial ombudsmen who has sided with the insurance company and said I have been treat fairly and repeated the above. They also said that a letter was sent to my address which I have 100% not received (I keep all mail I receive in a file) - I also need my car for work and seeing my daughter so if I had have received the letter I would have been straight on the phone to sort it out.

So in summary:

1. Emails going to an incorrect email address
2. Letter sent but not received (Should this not be sent recorded??)
   
3. No phone call received

I can appeal the decision which will then go to a final Ombudsmen to give a final review and from then I assume its court if I want to take it further?

I'm not really sure what to do at this point as I dont want to go to court - And I suppose neither does the insurance company.

Thanks again

So to summarise, you filled in the email address incorrectly, and want to blame the insurer for this? 

You said "Surely there must be some sort of check to ensure its correct...", well there is; you.
 You should check the information you input. Additionally, you will have most likely ticked a box confirming the information you've given is true and correct... 

There is no obligation for them to additionally call you, unless their policy wording suggests they will. Sending an email and posting a letter is already utilising two different methods of communication. I think this is fair. 

If your complaint has already been rejected by the FOS, I'd echo the advice already given which is to give up. The FOS is incredibly consumer friendly, and if they think you've been treated fairly (a decision which I agree with), there is little merit wasting more time, effort, money and stress on the subject.