Car Insurance Error!

Phattee92

Hello 

I don't know if anyone can give any advice on this situation ...

My partner bought car insurance through More Than last year, it all went through fine so he started to drive. He got pulled over about a month later by Police who said he didn't have any car insurance on the vehicle. He's not very good at keeping paperwork but I watched him purchase the insurance so I know that the car was definitely insured, he couldn't find the certificate but the police officer let him get new insurance on the side of the road before setting back off. He rang More Than for them to tell him he hadn't been insured and that they had sent him communications to say they needed more details from him, he definitely had not received any post. 

Well a couple of months later, he received a letter from More Than to apologise that their system had gone down and if he still wanted to be insured he had to pay a monthly fee. This is obviously an error on their part ... and we will be making a complaint but what can the outcome be? Compensation? 

He has not been able to drive since the incident (nearly a year now) and is awaiting his court date as it had been postponed due to covid. He is in his first 2 years of driving so his licence has now been revoked basically as he has 3 points for speeding. 

Any advice/ help would be appreciated!

Jumblebumble

Phattee92 said:

Hello 

I don't know if anyone can give any advice on this situation ...

My partner bought car insurance through More Than last year, it all went through fine so he started to drive. He got pulled over about a month later by Police who said he didn't have any car insurance on the vehicle. He's not very good at keeping paperwork but I watched him purchase the insurance so I know that the car was definitely insured, he couldn't find the certificate but the police officer let him get new insurance on the side of the road before setting back off. He rang More Than for them to tell him he hadn't been insured and that they had sent him communications to say they needed more details from him, he definitely had not received any post. 

Well a couple of months later, he received a letter from More Than to apologise that their system had gone down and if he still wanted to be insured he had to pay a monthly fee. This is obviously an error on their part ... and we will be making a complaint but what can the outcome be? Compensation? 

He has not been able to drive since the incident (nearly a year now) and is awaiting his court date as it had been postponed due to covid. He is in his first 2 years of driving so his licence has now been revoked basically as he has 3 points for speeding. 

Any advice/ help would be appreciated!

This is very confusing and there seem to be  more questions than answers
How can his license possibly be revoked as a result of this episode when it has not gone to court?
Has he paid any fixed penalty
Has he simply rolled over when More Than originally cancelled his policy as it sounds like he raised no formal complaint
Why would more than only offer a monthly fee?

Phattee92

I said revoked basically, he hasn't driven in case anything else happens as he doesn't want to keep amounting points! He is awaiting his court date so hasn't paid a fixed penalty yet but the fact that it was an error on More Thans part he is now having to go to court and defend himself, with court fees and the fear of what if something else happens. We are going to raise a complaint now which is the point of the post I suppose, wondering what anyone else experiences are/ if any. The monthly fee was because he was paying monthly. 

Sandtree

So... he bought online, they then claim to have sent communication asking for a copy of his driving license/V5 or such and as they didnt get a response they cancelled the policy?

He claims he got neither the request for records nor the communication advising that the policy had been cancelled and so got pulled over by the fuzz and charged with driving without insurance. He bought a new policy there and then to enable him to drive away.

Out of his own volition he has decided not to drive currently though is expecting to lose his license. 

I think the above is all correct... I am at a loss as to what this “apology” and “computers went down” was about, if its the old or the new policy, if its in response to a complaint or off their own investigations etc.

Can you clear up the above bit and confirm if you put in a formal complaint (and if so explicitly what was the complaint and their response)?

As an unrelated aside... I always find these types of scenarios slightly odd... if I thought an insurance company had messed up and potentially cost me my license why’d you get the new policy with the same company.

Jumblebumble

Phattee92 said:

I said revoked basically, he hasn't driven in case anything else happens as he doesn't want to keep amounting points! He is awaiting his court date so hasn't paid a fixed penalty yet but the fact that it was an error on More Thans part he is now having to go to court and defend himself, with court fees and the fear of what if something else happens. We are going to raise a complaint now which is the point of the post I suppose, wondering what anyone else experiences are/ if any. The monthly fee was because he was paying monthly. 

Are More Than willing to provide a letter of Indemnity for the occasion on which your son was stopped?
What exactly is your complaint ? 
Perhaps if you could share the contents of the letter word for word suitably redacted we might be able to advise further as what you have told us does not make much sense  ( It being in my view unlikely that MoreThan would reinstate a cancelled policy   without a huge price increase but not offer a letter of indemnity whilst taking no responsibility for the predicament your son is in unless they do not know about the Court case  as I imagine the Ombudsman would not be best pleased)
More Than are under an obligation to treat customers fairly.

naedanger

Phattee92 said:

Hello 

I don't know if anyone can give any advice on this situation ...

My partner bought car insurance through More Than last year, it all went through fine so he started to drive. He got pulled over about a month later by Police who said he didn't have any car insurance on the vehicle. He's not very good at keeping paperwork but I watched him purchase the insurance so I know that the car was definitely insured, he couldn't find the certificate but the police officer let him get new insurance on the side of the road before setting back off. He rang More Than for them to tell him he hadn't been insured and that they had sent him communications to say they needed more details from him, he definitely had not received any post. 

Well a couple of months later, he received a letter from More Than to apologise that their system had gone down and if he still wanted to be insured he had to pay a monthly fee. This is obviously an error on their part ... and we will be making a complaint but what can the outcome be? Compensation? 

He has not been able to drive since the incident (nearly a year now) and is awaiting his court date as it had been postponed due to covid. He is in his first 2 years of driving so his licence has now been revoked basically as he has 3 points for speeding. 

Any advice/ help would be appreciated!

1) Was he sent a letter and insurance certificate last year when he bought (or was led to believe he had bought) car insurance?
2) Was a premium taken at that time?
In his position my first priority would be to get More Than to write a letter saying he could not have known he was driving without insurance when he was stopped by the police. Has he done this or something similar already? His first priority should be to ensure he has sufficient evidence to convince the court he had a special reason for driving without insurance.