What happens if you miss car insurance payments

trampolinepark

My boy lost his job and now he's struggling to pay his car insurance so what will happen if keeps missing payments as he's already missed one and they charged him £7.40.

JohnnyB70

It could be a range of things, including canceling the policy (very bad, has to be declared for ever), just sending him letters until he pays, or taking him to court.

If you aren’t able to help him it may be a good idea to cancel the policy himself and ask for a payment plan to pay what he owes, or he could sell the car and use the proceeds to settle.

In future it’s better, if possible, to pay up front.

HampshireH

Read the policy documents. They will explain that particular insurers policy, but ultimately they will cancel it & he will have to declare it.

This means he may struggle to get reinsured.

He would have had a letter upon the missed payment. That probably explains what happens next

trampolinepark

JohnnyB70 said:

It could be a range of things, including canceling the policy (very bad, has to be declared for ever), just sending him letters until he pays, or taking him to court.

If you aren’t able to help him it may be a good idea to cancel the policy himself and ask for a payment plan to pay what he owes, or he could sell the car and use the proceeds to settle.

In future it’s better, if possible, to pay up front.

I cannot afford to help him and the car is not worth what he owes on the insurance.

He pays £255 a month and I think he has 5 payments left so if he cancels the insurance will this go against him because this is the first year of insuring a car.

If the insurance cancels the policy what will happen if he doesn't declare it as I don't think he will say.

MovingForwards

It won't go against him if he cancels it.

If he doesn't declare a cancelled policy, the new insurer will find out, cancel that policy and then having 2 cancelled policies will be even worse, together with a chance of being referred for insurance fraud. Thus messing up his life for a long time.

JohnnyB70

trampolinepark said:

JohnnyB70 said:

It could be a range of things, including canceling the policy (very bad, has to be declared for ever), just sending him letters until he pays, or taking him to court.

If you aren’t able to help him it may be a good idea to cancel the policy himself and ask for a payment plan to pay what he owes, or he could sell the car and use the proceeds to settle.

In future it’s better, if possible, to pay up front.

I cannot afford to help him and the car is not worth what he owes on the insurance.

He pays £255 a month and I think he has 5 payments left so if he cancels the insurance will this go against him because this is the first year of insuring a car.

If the insurance cancels the policy what will happen if he doesn't declare it as I don't think he will say.

If he cancels it then there’s no issue other than he doesn’t get a year’s no-claims bonus.

If it’s cancelled on him and he doesn’t declare then they’ll find out if he ever makes a claim. They may well find out before, and he may be unable to get insurance.

TELLIT01

Hopefully he isn't using the car any more.  If he is he could end up with more than a default showing on his credit record.  The insurer will cancel the insurance cover and may come after him for the missed payments.  If police stop him once insurance is cancelled he will have the car impounded, 6 points on his licence and a hefty fine.

Sandtree

Once the insurance is cancelled, by him or them, he will have to either get new insurance or SORN the vehicle... you can no longer just not drive a car and leave it on the road without insurance.