Think it's worth complaining (Hastings Direct) to get car policy reinstated?

B0bbyEwing · 5 June at 8:49AM

I'd like the policy reinstated so if it's highly unlikely that will happen then there's no point in complaining. I fully get that that's probably going to be the case. I'm wondering if there's maybe people reading this that work in insurance or have found themselves in this position & can say what their experience was - hence my trying here.

So basically I have a few cars & sold one yesterday. The plan was to cut the insurance policy that wasn't needed.

It was a bit of a mess with policies & when cars were bought & what not so the plan was once the car that needed to be sold was sold, the policies would then get ironed out with changeovers.

I went via the app & cancelled the policy which turned out to be the wrong policy to cancel. I noticed this within about 30mins & since it's very app focused I sent them a message straight away requesting the policy to be reinstated.

I wondered if I should call & checked - their phone line ended 7pm & this was now 7:30pm.

This morning I get a response saying to call them & they'll look in to it.

I do this & the short of it with the guy constantly talking over me was that if I'd contacted them yesterday they could've done it but as it's a new day now they can't. "You should've called us".

I told them everything is heavily sent the way of the app.

Even when you phone, they ask do you have access to the app. I press 1 for yes & they basically say you can do everything on the app ………. loooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong pause, where you might think that's the end of the call & hang up as it's not clear you're going to get to speak to a person. Eventually you do, obviously but I bet some people hang up at that point because of the huge pause implying phone lines are off limits.

I recognised my error on the day, I contacted them the only way I could as the other option was a no go.

This equates to about 8 months of insurance.

Think there's any chance of getting it reinstated via complaints?

MyRealNameToo · 5 June at 11:25AM

They followed your instruction so it's a little unfair to really consider it a "complaint" but there is little harm in trying… presumably you still have the car that you accidentally cancelled the insurance on? Your main issue is that you either have to insure it or SORN it and so waiting for a complaint to be considered may be a problem

B0bbyEwing · 5 June at 1:21PM

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82024194#Comment_82024194

My complaint wouldn't be that they cancelled it. I gave the go ahead so I accept I have to take that on the chin.

But within 30mins certainly (it was actually probably more like 10) I found that it was the wrong policy & I immediately looked to contact them back to request they cancel the cancellation.

I couldn't phone them because it was after 7pm so messaging was the only option.

To say they "can't" do it (which is what the guy told me today) is incorrect. They can do whatever they like. It's that they wont do it. Or at least at this stage.

All they need to do is make the policy active again, maybe charge me a bit of an admin fee for it all & that's it, the policy continues. It's not that they "can't" do that. I can't run 100mtrs in 5 seconds, that's a can't.

As for having the car etc, it all got a bit messy tbh & I'll probably lose people with the explanation as I seem to be good at that.

My wife has 2 policies in her name for 2 cars.

I had this policy for a car I just sold.

What should've happened after the sale was the policy she has with 0yrs NCDs should've been cancelled & that car came over on to my policy, job done.

But I got policies mixed up. Totally my fault but for them to say they can't continue the policy is incorrect. It's really not hard.

XRS200 · 5 June at 1:42PM

Car insurance is governed by law so they probably can't undo the cancellation.

MyRealNameToo · 5 June at 2:07PM

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82024385#Comment_82024385

Its not that strictly governed by law however one of the things is that if you write personal lines motor insurance you must update the MID database, ideally within 48 hours but the hard SLA is 7 calendar days. When you update it you have to give an effective date of the change and its from that the clock starts ticking. So if they were to reinstate the policy today it would be backdated to the time of cancellation and if its inside or outside of the 7 day window is calculated.

They must get 95% loaded within the 7 days otherwise they face sanctions, the most extreme is being stopped from posting to the MID which effectively means they can't write Motor insurance any more.

A former client had a low hit rate because when someone called to cancel they were told to send the certificate in and that the cancellation would be backdated to the date of the call so needless to say 95% or more of cancellation notices were outside the 7 days because of the backdating.

Stuff happens, you void someones policy because they have undeclared conviction for fraud etc so thats going to be a backdated change so thats why the target isnt 100%

There is nothing in law that stops a policy being reinstated, if systems, underwriters, processes etc allow it is another matter.

Similarly have had policyholders stopped for driving without insurance after a system error cancelled their policy. We send a letter saying we would indemnify them for any claim they would have had which is a get out of jail free card. Typically we would simply setup a new policy and change its pricing to reflect the issue rather than reinstating the old one in the cases I did but that was because the new one never really got created because of the bug.

XRS200 · 5 June at 2:14PM

I wasn't thinking of MID or letters of indemnity.

Just that it would technically be backdating cover.

MyRealNameToo · 5 June at 3:31PM

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/82024418#Comment_82024418

And thats fine, mass market consumer insurance dont do it but its not uncommon in big ticket insurance… have known cover to be backdated 3 months or more (admittedly on a 20+ year policy). You can't bet on a race after its already been run but some bookies will take bets on races that have already started.