Should I pay or should I go(to court)?

135

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  • Money_Grabber13579
    Money_Grabber13579 Posts: 4,256 Forumite
    Newshound! Name Dropper Combo Breaker First Post
    When your father switched current accounts, how did he do it? Was it through the current account switching service or did he just open up a new account and manually close the old one himself?

    If using the current account switching service, my understanding is that the banks have an obligation to maintain direct debits and standing orders on the new account and so if they have not, are they not partly liable? Not sure how that gets around the penalty points though.
    Northern Ireland club member No 382 :j
  • onomatopoeia99
    onomatopoeia99 Posts: 6,957 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    caprikid1 wrote: »
    "Yes, I had previously been a named driver on his insurance. "


    I think you missed the point , did you have a policy entitling you to drive other vehicles not were you a named driver.


    That said most have a clause stating the other vehicle must be insured also.

    Has anyone got a policy that allows "driving other vehicles"? All of mine say "driving other cars", and like a panel van, a campervan is not a "car". As I reminded a friend when he asked to borrow my Transit using his driving other cars cover.

    Direct line do not have a clause stating the other car must have its own insurance.
    Proud member of the wokerati, though I don't eat tofu.Home is where my books are.Solar PV 5.2kWp system, SE facing, >1% shading, installed March 2019.Mortgage free July 2023
  • shaun_from_Africa
    shaun_from_Africa Posts: 12,858 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Post First Anniversary
    onomatopoeia99 wrote: »
    Direct line do not have a clause stating the other car must have its own insurance.
    Nor does Aviva.
  • AdrianC
    AdrianC Posts: 42,189 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    Money_Grabber13579 wrote: »
    If using the current account switching service, my understanding is that the banks have an obligation to maintain direct debits and standing orders on the new account and so if they have not, are they not partly liable?
    They would be liable for any costs incurred through late payments in the short term, but three months after a completely failed renewal, itself an un-named period after the transfer, with a failure to do basic admin like checking for any correspondence in the spam bin? No... That's not reasonable.
  • Stoke
    Stoke Posts: 3,182 Forumite
    Take the fine pal. No offence, it's hard to have sympathy, having just gone through a mucky break up with my ex, part of this involved taking on all of the direct debits after closing down the joint account. It was my responsibility and simply closing the account didn't result in them going somewhere else. I phoned up every company (and there were a few, bills, gas, electric, house insurance, and the like) and had to sit on the phone and deal with Indian call centres until they were all done.

    I'm usually sympathetic, but not with this one bud. Take the hit.
  • dacouch
    dacouch Posts: 21,637 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post
    If you are a named driver on the new campervan insurance, has your father declared your pending no insurance conviction to the insurer's
  • System
    System Posts: 178,092 Community Admin
    Photogenic Name Dropper First Post
    Head_The_Ball wrote: »
    Does that permit you to drive other vehicles with permission? (That is rarer these days than in the past when it was quite common)

    If yes, then check your own policy. You might have a get out although........

    Not a chance because car policies don't cover vans, campervans or even a car derived van such as an Astravan which is basically an Astra estate without windows.

    Most policies also require the third party vehicle you're driving under your own policy to be insured in its own right.
  • IanMSpencer
    IanMSpencer Posts: 1,517 Forumite
    First Post First Anniversary Combo Breaker
    Seriously, get real legal advice. Pepipoo is a good start. If you had genuine reason to believe you were insured then that is mitigation and reason not to endorse. You would need your father to explain the reason by appearing in court.

    The court is likely to take a dim view of an insurer depending on an email notification only, and it may be worth a complaint to the insurers along with the intent to take it onto the insurance ombudsman when they are in denial of this being unreasonable behaviour.

    I'm pretty sure that there was a similar case on Pepipoo and the magistrates went for an unconditional discharge - essentially you are guilty of not being insured but blameless. I think the case in point was where a company insurance had lapsed so someone was driving uninsured but they had good reason to believe that they were insured.

    The OP acted reasonably - no doubt the father would have produced a valid (looking) insurance certificate.

    I think the insurers are at fault for not writing a letter, it is unreasonable to cancel by email.
  • Car_54
    Car_54 Posts: 8,208 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    IanMSpencer wrote: »
    Seriously, get real legal advice. Pepipoo is a good start. If you had genuine reason to believe you were insured then that is mitigation and reason not to endorse. You would need your father to explain the reason by appearing in court.

    The court is likely to take a dim view of an insurer depending on an email notification only, and it may be worth a complaint to the insurers along with the intent to take it onto the insurance ombudsman when they are in denial of this being unreasonable behaviour.

    I'm pretty sure that there was a similar case on Pepipoo and the magistrates went for an unconditional discharge - essentially you are guilty of not being insured but blameless. I think the case in point was where a company insurance had lapsed so someone was driving uninsured but they had good reason to believe that they were insured.

    The OP acted reasonably - no doubt the father would have produced a valid (looking) insurance certificate.

    I think the insurers are at fault for not writing a letter, it is unreasonable to cancel by email.

    But the insurers did not cancel. Father failed to renew.

    Also, if the Pepipoo case involved a company insurance, there is a specific statutory defence covering this. There is no such defence in other circumstances.
  • AndyMc.....
    AndyMc..... Posts: 3,248 Forumite
    Combo Breaker First Post
    IanMSpencer wrote: »
    Seriously, get real legal advice. Pepipoo is a good start. If you had genuine reason to believe you were insured then that is mitigation and reason not to endorse. You would need your father to explain the reason by appearing in court.

    The court is likely to take a dim view of an insurer depending on an email notification only, and it may be worth a complaint to the insurers along with the intent to take it onto the insurance ombudsman when they are in denial of this being unreasonable behaviour.

    I'm pretty sure that there was a similar case on Pepipoo and the magistrates went for an unconditional discharge - essentially you are guilty of not being insured but blameless. I think the case in point was where a company insurance had lapsed so someone was driving uninsured but they had good reason to believe that they were insured.

    The OP acted reasonably - no doubt the father would have produced a valid (looking) insurance certificate.

    I think the insurers are at fault for not writing a letter, it is unreasonable to cancel by email.

    Really, did his insurance certificate not give him written notice of when the policy would end?
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