Car insurance Given 21 days to buy a new car -threatening to cancel but now we are in lockdown

krissy08

Hello everyone, help please

I have always had the replacement car before selling my old one but this time round, I had not yet found one to my liking when my existing car was snapped up on 'AT' the car selling site. I proceeded with the sale as although we are down to one car, we are currently working from home. On notifying my car insurance company Autonet, I was informed I have only 21 days to replace the car or they will cancel my car insurance. This is obviously a bad thing right? as I lose my 10 years plus no claims and have a cancelled insurance on my record.
When I tried to get a refund as I am my insurance isn't up till January- I was told since my admin fee is equal to the refund, I am due nothing back.
Now we are in lockdown I have just 10 days left of the 21 days and have not found a car.- I did have my eye on one but it's not ready yet. Can I request an extension?- do I have rights due to the lockdown?
Any help or tip appreciated please

ace33

You can keep your NCB for 2 years in between policies so you wont lose it. I would imagine they will also charge you an admin fee to change vehicles so maybe it is worth just cancelling it yourself?

AdrianC

So cancel the policy yourself...

It's not unreasonable for them to give you a finite window between vehicles. Most people have their replacement car lined up before selling the old one.

But, yes, of course you can ask them for an extension if the replacement is identified but there's a delay. These are, as you say, unusual times, so they may well accede to the request.

Are they even the best-value insurer for the new car?

BTW, you have max NCB, not "10yrs+". Few insurers recognise more than 8-9yrs, some as short as 6. It's pretty much academic after 3-4yrs, anyway, because the annual difference tends to be around 1%.

krissy08

Thank you for your quick replies. Now I may be mistaken but I am very surprised to learn you can keep your no claims for up to 2 years. The last time we sold one car- I was told by my insurer when it came to renewal that I had lost my no claims as I wasn't insured on any car for about a year max. I will cancel it giving me more time to buy- should I request my no claims certificate immediately? Thank you so much

nottsphil

krissy08 said:

Thank you for your quick replies. Now I may be mistaken but I am very surprised to learn you can keep your no claims for up to 2 years. The last time we sold one car- I was told by my insurer when it came to renewal that I had lost my no claims as I wasn't insured on any car for about a year max.

Yes, 2 years is standard. I don't think you have given us the full information here, because NCD would only be disallowed on renewal if you had made a claim during the previous year. 

krissy08

I did give full information- I am not sure what you mean - I never said I was disallowed but remembered I lost my no claims in the past- we have figured out we were down to one car for a long while so probably longer than allowed but I suspect I was given wrong information then. All sorted, I have cancelled the insurance and got proof of my no claims. Thanks everyone

EdGasketTheSecond

AdrianC said:

It's not unreasonable for them to give you a finite window between vehicles. Most people have their replacement car lined up before selling the old one.

Why can't the insurer put your unused insurance on hold indefinitely? It does seem unreasonable for them to hassle the policyholder into buying the next car in a rush.

NottinghamKnight

EdGasketTheSecond said:

AdrianC said:

It's not unreasonable for them to give you a finite window between vehicles. Most people have their replacement car lined up before selling the old one.

Why can't the insurer put your unused insurance on hold indefinitely? It does seem unreasonable for them to hassle the policyholder into buying the next car in a rush.

Two years is a rush to you? They aren't going to hold it open indefinitely, how many decades were you thinking.

Manxman_in_exile

NottinghamKnight said:

EdGasketTheSecond said:

AdrianC said:

It's not unreasonable for them to give you a finite window between vehicles. Most people have their replacement car lined up before selling the old one.

Why can't the insurer put your unused insurance on hold indefinitely? It does seem unreasonable for them to hassle the policyholder into buying the next car in a rush.

Two years is a rush to you? They aren't going to hold it open indefinitely, how many decades were you thinking.

I took Ed Gasket to mean the 21 days, not the two years.  What's the problem for the insurer if it takes the OP two months to find a new car they want rather than 21 days?