Help! Car stolen, Insurance hadn't auto renewed!

Grumpy_chap

onlyfoolsandparking said:

Regarding Insurance companies declining cover, I had this happen to me on my latest bike. I sold my Yamaha and bought a new BMW with around 6 weeks to go till renewal, I rang Hastings and asked to swap cover from old bike to new bike and whilst they agreed to do the changeover in cover they made it perfectly clear they would not offer a renewal price. I asked why and they said the value is beyond what they are prepared to take a risk on.

There is some important symantics here:

"declined" is insurance language for "think the applicant did something naughty"

"chose not to quote" is insurance language for "the risk falls outside our target profile" and not a problem. 
That risk profile can vary even over short term with the same insurer - most mass-market insurers like to have a good spread customer base so if they just issued a lot of policies to 68 yo nuns carrying kittens and riding a Honda Goldwing, the next enquiry from a 68 yo nun carrying kittens to insure her Honda Goldwing may not be attractive so they chose not to offer as the company has a disproportionate exposure to this particular risk profile.

onlyfoolsandparking

Grumpy_chap said:

onlyfoolsandparking said:

Regarding Insurance companies declining cover, I had this happen to me on my latest bike. I sold my Yamaha and bought a new BMW with around 6 weeks to go till renewal, I rang Hastings and asked to swap cover from old bike to new bike and whilst they agreed to do the changeover in cover they made it perfectly clear they would not offer a renewal price. I asked why and they said the value is beyond what they are prepared to take a risk on.

There is some important symantics here:

"declined" is insurance language for "think the applicant did something naughty"

"chose not to quote" is insurance language for "the risk falls outside our target profile" and not a problem. 
That risk profile can vary even over short term with the same insurer - most mass-market insurers like to have a good spread customer base so if they just issued a lot of policies to 68 yo nuns carrying kittens and riding a Honda Goldwing, the next enquiry from a 68 yo nun carrying kittens to insure her Honda Goldwing may not be attractive so they chose not to offer as the company has a disproportionate exposure to this particular risk profile.

Certainly was a problem to me UNTIL I found another insurer that took the worry away that I'd bought an uninsurable bike but I take your point, I guess I was not 'strictly speaking' declined. Feel sorry for the OP but that's life I guess.

moneysaver

k12479 said:

moneysaver said:

JordanBos said:

AdrianC said:

moneysaver said:

Surely the insurance company's should have a better system than an email telling you that they are declining an auto renew on such an important matter. Not everyone checks emails regular or if it is not highlighted in subject line might not think it is important.

If somebody takes insurance out online, and states they want comms by email, then they have zero grounds to complain when they get comms by email.

I think from my perspective, I think had the heading of the email been something like "Insurance declined" or something similar this would have been avoided. The heading, "Insurance Policy Documents Attached" did not alert me to a significant change.

Is it my fault? It has to be, I accept that. But do I think the insurance company could have done a little bit more, I do.

It is one of the most important things you do in life is to take out insurance, so when they decline to insure you  it is only proper that they make sure you actually know about it, not assume you have read an email or actually received it.

Why should those that are organised and who pay sufficient attention to such things contribute to increased costs to cater for those who are disorganised and can't be bothered?

Some people have things going on in there life around the time of renewals (death in family etc). That may make them less aware of the insurance being declined.

 I am very organized in my life and never auto renew. I have reminders set up all over the place for important dates.

I still say it should be highlighted at some point in the process. Not send an email saying " Insurance policy documents attached" When they are clearly not attached.

Moneysaver

AdrianC

Insurance policy documents were attached to that email.
Those documents said that the insurer was declining to renew, because they did not wish to cover the risk.
The insurer then did not take the annual premium from the OP's account.

THREE MONTHS later...

HansOndabush

If it is uninsured and being driven around by the thieves, is the OP liable for any damage they cause and if not, who is?

jimjames

AdrianC said:

moneysaver said:

Surely the insurance company's should have a better system than an email telling you that they are declining an auto renew on such an important matter. Not everyone checks emails regular or if it is not highlighted in subject line might not think it is important.

If somebody takes insurance out online, and states they want comms by email, then they have zero grounds to complain when they get comms by email.

Although an email with the subject Your Insurance docs attached would lead you to believe you were insured. I have to confess I've not always opened every attachment that a company has sent me if the info is expected.

AdrianC

jimjames said:

AdrianC said:

moneysaver said:

Surely the insurance company's should have a better system than an email telling you that they are declining an auto renew on such an important matter. Not everyone checks emails regular or if it is not highlighted in subject line might not think it is important.

If somebody takes insurance out online, and states they want comms by email, then they have zero grounds to complain when they get comms by email.

Although an email with the subject Your Insurance docs attached would lead you to believe you were insured. I have to confess I've not always opened every attachment that a company has sent me if the info is expected.

Would you notice the insurance premium (non-trivial amount for a £65k++ high theft-risk car) had not been taken from your account?

macman

All this grief for the sake of a £5 Faraday bag: not a big investment to protect the security of a £65K car. 
In my area every week now there are reports of stolen vehicles taken 'off the drive'. Always keyless entry, always high-end RR's and BMW's. Hardly ever recovered. Doubtless into a shipping container and off to foreign climes within days of the theft.

Langtang

Sorry for your loss. 

I find it incredulous that your email would have been worded in such a way, was this from one of the known brand insurers, or was it a specialist company? Would you be willing to tell us which company it was? Would you also be willing to share the attached insurance document that states that insurance has been declined, to see if anyone can pick a hole in the wording for you?

I've just had a similar encounter with insurance for my wife's Fiesta, although the email was worded completely differently (see attachment)

 There was no attached insurance document saying it had been declined (which is an odd thing in itself, an insurance document saying you have no insurance), but there was a following email with her NCB document. 

Much to my annoyance, I went right onto a price comparison website only to find GA as the second cheapest quote in my search. Of course, I didn't renew with them just out of spite. I did send GA an online response to their declining to renew the insurance.

For the record, I HATE autorenew AND email renewals. Busy people, with busy lives (and full inboxes) can quite easily overlook an email. A letter on a kitchen table is much harder to overlook or ignore. I know you can ask for paper copies of everything, but at a cost (there wasn't always a cost to having things posted out to you, because there wasn't always a choice)

I worry that people, especially older people, get confused and disoriented with email reminders to renew. In 20 or 30 years time, all the old folks who relied on a renewal dropping through the letterbox will be gone and everything will be online, much to the insurers delight. 

motorguy

O/P - sorry for the loss of your car.

Can you share a screenshot of the email heading / wording for us?  It might help to give an indication of any other routes that could be open to you.