Dad had car accident but he'd failed to renew insurance

Sandtree

emmajones1976 said:

Aretnap said:

If you (or your dad) can persuade the Ombudsman that it was reasonable for him to think that his insurance would automatically renew, the insurer may have to cover his costs regardless of the fact that it didn't. 

We are dealing with someone with early onset dementia, surely all bets are off as to whether the OPs dad was told, he could have been told 10 tens and deleted the lot and can never remember a thing about it.

Whilst thats true its also correct that the customer states that their memory is X and its up to the insurer to prove that the memory is wrong.

The route to the ombudsman however is via the insurers own complaints process and so its worth having a conversation, with the policyholder's permission, to find out what has happened with renewals. 

Belenus

emmajones1976 said:

Aretnap said:

If you (or your dad) can persuade the Ombudsman that it was reasonable for him to think that his insurance would automatically renew, the insurer may have to cover his costs regardless of the fact that it didn't. 

We are dealing with someone with early onset dementia, surely all bets are off as to whether the OPs dad was told, he could have been told 10 tens and deleted the lot and can never remember a thing about it.

The Insurance Company should have a record of any communication about renewal be it letter, email, text or phone call etc.

emmajones1976

On the balance of all probabilities he was likely told, thats the stark reality.

Grey_Critic

Cannot offer any advice on the insurance issue but are you sure about the Early Onset Dementia?

Recently with a relative we thought we were looking at that but it turned out to be something entirely different - we were lucky that a doctor did not let the Covid excuse get in the way and used the system to get tests done - result patient is fully recovered.

Cars can be replaced Dads can't. Get some medical advice.

Thrugelmir

emmajones1976 said:

Aretnap said:

If you (or your dad) can persuade the Ombudsman that it was reasonable for him to think that his insurance would automatically renew, the insurer may have to cover his costs regardless of the fact that it didn't. 

We are dealing with someone with early onset dementia, surely all bets are off as to whether the OPs dad was told, he could have been told 10 tens and deleted the lot and can never remember a thing about it.

The insurance company should have been informed of the diagnosis. A material fact that would have had impact on renewal if not much earlier. 

emmajones1976

Thrugelmir said:

emmajones1976 said:

Aretnap said:

If you (or your dad) can persuade the Ombudsman that it was reasonable for him to think that his insurance would automatically renew, the insurer may have to cover his costs regardless of the fact that it didn't. 

We are dealing with someone with early onset dementia, surely all bets are off as to whether the OPs dad was told, he could have been told 10 tens and deleted the lot and can never remember a thing about it.

The insurance company should have been informed of the diagnosis.

I dont think he had been diagnosed yet, judging by the wording of the opening post

born_again

Who was your fathers ins co?

Aretnap

emmajones1976 said:

On the balance of all probabilities he was likely told, thats the stark reality.

He was almost certainly told. However if you read the FOS cases that I linked to, you'll see that it's not necessarily enough that he was told. The insurer has a responsibility to tell the customer clearly, prominently and often enough that he is unlikely to miss the fact that he is about to be left uninsured (paraphrasing slightly, but that's the gist). Did the insurance company do that? I have no idea, but it is worth a little of the OP's time to find out. 

Sandtree

Aretnap said:

emmajones1976 said:

On the balance of all probabilities he was likely told, thats the stark reality.

He was almost certainly told. However if you read the FOS cases that I linked to, you'll see that it's not necessarily enough that he was told. The insurer has a responsibility to tell the customer clearly, prominently and often enough that he is unlikely to miss the fact that he is about to be left uninsured (paraphrasing slightly, but that's the gist). Did the insurance company do that? I have no idea, but it is worth a little of the OP's time to find out. 

Certainly worth checking, however the "told enough" is only applicable if the insurer switched them from auto renewal to manual renewal this year. If hes been on annual renewal for years or just switched insurers and opted out of autorenewal etc then there is no extra requirement on the insurer (though most do chase manual renewal customers whereas let autorenewals go through as quietly as possible)

elsien

emmajones1976 said:

Aretnap said:

If you (or your dad) can persuade the Ombudsman that it was reasonable for him to think that his insurance would automatically renew, the insurer may have to cover his costs regardless of the fact that it didn't. 

We are dealing with someone with early onset dementia, surely all bets are off as to whether the OPs dad was told, he could have been told 10 tens and deleted the lot and can never remember a thing about it.

No one has mentioned early onset dementia. What they have referenced is early signs that may be dementia but there is no mention of any formal diagnosis.