Trouble proving car was scrapped for Insurance cancellation 29 September 2022 at 12:14AM in Motoring 5 replies 384 views

theDon876

I scrapped a car on 28th July. I didn't get a receipt from scrap guy. I sent letter to DVLA saying car was scrapped. The DVLA say this was received on 24th aug. 

Also the car renewed it's insurance on 24th July. 

So currently I've paid July , aug and sept insurance and to cancel I'll need to use the aug 24th date and hence pay a cancellation fee, I will be able to claim back the September payment though. 

However if I can prove the car was scrapped on 28th July then I should be able to waive the cancellation fee(as the 28th is within the 2 weeks free cancellation period) also I will be able to claim back the August payment and maybe even july payment. 

So it all rests on me being able to prove the car was scrapped on the 28th July. 

So I phone the scrap guy and he sends me vdicheck documents which clearly say the car was scrapped on the 28th July however the insurance company won't accept these, they say they will only accept proof of scrapping from the DVLA, but as I said the DVLA say the earliest date of scrapping they have is the 24th aug.

Do we have any options so I can backdate my insurance which is still running on this car?

Any ideas?

Ectophile

I would be very surprised if the insurance company allow you to backdate the cancellation, and then claim you're cancelling within the 2 week cancellation period.  That period ran out in early August, and it's now the end of September.

Steve182

I doubt there is anything you can do if you agreed to auto renewal. 

Lesson for next year, put reminder in calendar 2 weeks before due date. Worth doing that just to check price and if not happy .. shop around

We've all done it (or failed to do it...)

Herzlos

You should have contacted the insurance company the day it was scrapped.

As it is, you're well outside the 14 day cooling off period, so you're just going to have to cancel and get a rebate minus the fees.

Grey_Critic

Moral of the story is Never Ever Auto Renew. - Personally I have been following Martins 22 day rule and found it works.

Herzlos

Auto renew is fine, it saves a lot more people who forgot to insure their car than it catches people who forget to cancel. The penalty for being caught driving uninsured being a lot worse than a few months insurance premium.

Of course, there's still some responsibility on the driver to pay attention to insurance policies.