BW Legal-car insurance

JBee77

Hi guys, first post and in need of some advice. Late February 2019 I renewed my insurance on my pick up, 4 days later it was rear ended at a roundabout and declared a write off the following week, then picked up by the insurance company at the start of week 3. In less than a month the car was gone. My insurers (Budget) would not insure my new vehicle as it was not a commercial vehicle. I had to take out a new policy with different insurers and after speaking with Budget they said the policy would be cancelled after the first month. Several months later I start getting letters off some debt collection agency saying I owed £56 to budget for the second months insurance , then after speaking to them and refusing to pay it I start to get letters from bw legal. Again I explained the situation,  was told to speak to Budget who don't know what happened but was told to go back to bw. I explained again clearly stating the vehicle did not exist anymore after the first month and why would I still insure it? I was left still none the wiser. I'm still getting letters and emails regarding the matter and even a (gasp,shock!) offer of a lower one off payment of £36 instead of £56. Now today I get an email saying I have until the end of July to pay or further action will be taken. I still got offered the lower payment so that's nice of them. Any advice? 

Sandtree

When you called to cancel the policy what were you told were the cancellation fees and did you pay them? I suspect the £56 is the early termination costs.

JBee77

I was told by the budget representative there were no cancellation costs because of the circumstances. 

Grumpy_chap

From the policy start date to the cancellation date.  Had this rolled into the second month of cover?
If so, the £36 is likely due to be paid.

Jenni_D

Did you pay the insurance premium up-front or was it being paid monthly? If the latter then the premium was still due irrespective of whether the vehicle still existed. (Unless there's something different in this respect with commercial vehicle insurance).

born_again

While the vehicle may have gone from you in less than a month. How long was it before they declared it a write off and paid out? Which is usually the point the policy is cancelled by them. So even though you did not have it, the policy is still running till they cancel it

JBee77

Let me clarify a few things.  
The vehicle was declared a write off at the beginning of the second week. I was paid out at the beginning of the third week.
The premium was on a monthly direct debit minus the initial deposit.  As the vehicle was written off in less than 14 days a cancellation fee was not applied. I was told I would not have to any cancellation fee.

JBee77

Grumpy_chap said:

From the policy start date to the cancellation date.  Had this rolled into the second month of cover?
If so, the £36 is likely due to be paid.

If you read my post it states the timescale of what happened. Nothing went into the second month.

JBee77

born_again said:

While the vehicle may have gone from you in less than a month. How long was it before they declared it a write off and paid out? Which is usually the point the policy is cancelled by them. So even though you did not have it, the policy is still running till they cancel it

It was written  off at the start of the second week. Paid out before it was collected at the beginning of the 3rd week. The policy was not running at all.

JBee77

Jenni_D said:

Did you pay the insurance premium up-front or was it being paid monthly? If the latter then the premium was still due irrespective of whether the vehicle still existed. (Unless there's something different in this respect with commercial vehicle insurance).

The premium was not due for the second month.  Everything was dealt with within 3 weeks. The point the car was written off was within  14 days, well within a cancellation period. Not that it matters as it was declared a write off in the second week.

AdrianC

Don't forget you aren't buying your insurance monthly.

You're buying it annually, and then taking out finance to pay that annual premium monthly.

The cancellation period is irrelevant, because you USED the policy. You had a claim.