Got pulled for no insurance - Help!!

[LikesBikes]

Stitch said:

The list of coincidences leaves a bit of a whiff:

Insurance Co don't get your letter

You don't get insurance co's first letter

You don't get insurance co's second letter

You don't notice the repayment of your premium (you must have one hell of a bank balance or did the statement go missing in the post as well?).

If I were you I would try and get your day in court - I am sure everyone in the courtroom could do with a laugh

Cheers for that, very helpful.


As it happens I've just spoken to the insurer and it would seem they did receive my declaration, although last night they said they hadn't. Also when was the postal strike? would that have been the end of Jan/beginning of Feb?

They claim that my previous insurer said they did not recognise my name, car or address. However in front of me I have the certificate for that year with my correct name, registration, address, d.o.b. and occupation. However when they couldn't get the details they cancelled the policy rather than try and contact me via the 4 methods of contact I ticked on the original agreement.

The girl on the phone said that I was the victim of a mistake and she's very sorry about that. All these details are now passedonto the ombudsman who is very interested indeed thank you stitch.

Off to recover my car now, will be back later to provide more detail if required.

Many thanks all. Well, almost all

[JB!]

Good luck in court.

[voyds9]

On a similar note it took 4 attempts (2 by post, 2 by fax) to get no claims accepted one time.

Insurance companies are so large that if something goes wrong and you end up dealing with an individual getting the information to them is very difficult.

[johndoe14]

LikesBikes said:

Stitch said:

The list of coincidences leaves a bit of a whiff:

Insurance Co don't get your letter

You don't get insurance co's first letter

You don't get insurance co's second letter

You don't notice the repayment of your premium (you must have one hell of a bank balance or did the statement go missing in the post as well?).

If I were you I would try and get your day in court - I am sure everyone in the courtroom could do with a laugh

Cheers for that, very helpful.


As it happens I've just spoken to the insurer and it would seem they did receive my declaration, although last night they said they hadn't. Also when was the postal strike? would that have been the end of Jan/beginning of Feb?

They claim that my previous insurer said they did not recognise my name, car or address. However in front of me I have the certificate for that year with my correct name, registration, address, d.o.b. and occupation. However when they couldn't get the details they cancelled the policy rather than try and contact me via the 4 methods of contact I ticked on the original agreement.

The girl on the phone said that I was the victim of a mistake and she's very sorry about that. All these details are now passedonto the ombudsman who is very interested indeed thank you stitch.

Off to recover my car now, will be back later to provide more detail if required.

Many thanks all. Well, almost all

tell em unless they write a letter confirming the above mistake and they consider you to have been covered.

your going to sue in the small claims court for damages

[LikesBikes]

Got cover this afternoon to collect car, trouble is I missed it closing by 5 minutes so will have to be tomorrow now.

Anyway, they said they couldn't get anything from the previous insurer. However a bloke I spoke to today called me back with a new quote. He said that confirmation of no claims bonus was required before the policy could start and he managed to get it over the phone in 5 minutes with just my name and address?

As I recall, Hastings were considerably cheaper than the next best quote, £301 rather than over £400. Interesting after looking into their fine last year.

[saaby93]

I'm confused now
why are you taking out more insurance?

[LikesBikes]

saaby93 said:

I'm confused now
why are you taking out more insurance?

I need insurance to get the car released.

[AndyM31]

Like i said before on DVLA post, when communicating in writing to any company regarding anything legal the companies have got quite large. The only solution is registered recorded post.

With this you have receipts and names; hope that your problem gets sorted soon.

[LikesBikes]

I know that now

Won't be making this mistake again

[AndyM31]

It is terrible that there are some systems that we can not trust in this day and age. Keep us posted

[saaby93]

LikesBikes said:

saaby93 said:

I'm confused now
why are you taking out more insurance?

I need insurance to get the car released.

I thought youd phoned up theyd apologised and they were able to reinstate your insurance

[saaby93]

ajstephe said:

He got refunded the money so has had to pay again. This point looks like the sticky bit should it go to court

Yup that's no good to him, he needs the insurance reinstating

[MikeDH]

I've had this happen (the no insurance bit, didn't get done fortunately!). I think what happened was I'd ticked the wrong box when they asked how many no claims discount I had, essentially saying I had 4 years or whatever specifically with that ins. company, rather than with the previous company.

Apparently sent letters etc. which I hadn't recieved (possibly through moving house, and they didn't update their database when I wrote to them). Fortunately I noticed the repayment on my online banking. They then tried to charge me significantly more to renew! A snotty letter soon sorted that out...

All that hassle, just to save a few quid as I swapped to the current company when they came up a bit cheaper than the one I'd used for the previous few years.

What annoyed me was no attempt to communicate via phone, email, etc., despite them having all that info. I'd paid for the year so obviously wanted the cover!

[LikesBikes]

saaby93 said:

LikesBikes said:

saaby93 said:

I'm confused now
why are you taking out more insurance?

I need insurance to get the car released.

I thought youd phoned up theyd apologised and they were able to reinstate your insurance

No not yet, she said they couldn't reinstate the policy however they would happilly put me through to someone to quote me for a new policy

Its been suggested on another forum that as they failed with confirming the no claims where this other bloke found the details easily in a few minutes and that an apology was made during the call that I should request a letter along the lines of "Policy cancelled in error... would have been covered as a minimum level of third party only should the worst have happened" to take to the Police and have the FPN cancelled.

This seems a bit too good to be true, have a number for a couple of specialist 'motoring offence' type solicitors who give free advice over the telephone. Will ring those tomorrow and see if I can go down this avenue?

Cheers



edited because I missed out an important part

Edited by LikesBikes on Thursday 15th April 21:56

[LikesBikes]

johndoe14 said:

tell em unless they write a letter confirming the above mistake and they consider you to have been covered.

your going to sue in the small claims court for damages

Ah, missed it when you said that. Apologies

[saaby93]

LikesBikes said:

No not yet. Its been suggested on another forum that as they failed with confirming the no claims where this other bloke found the details easily in a few minutes and that an apology was made during the call that I should request a letter along the lines of "Policy cancelled in error... would have been covered as a minimum level of third party only should the worst have happened" to take to the Police and have the FPN cancelled.

This seems a bit too good to be true, have a number for a couple of specialist 'motoring offence' type solicitors who give free advice over the telephone. Will ring those tomorrow and see if I can go down this avenue?

Cheers

Since they apologised why couldnt they just reinstate the insurance
Cant see policy cancelled in error working as you still wont have cover for the period in question
Surely all that does is confirm that you werent covered so banged to rights
You need the insurer to uncancel the policy from the point it was cancelled

Edited by saaby93 on Thursday 15th April 22:02

[LikesBikes]

Thats what I mean about too good to be true. However I'm hoping that if they admit their error and state that in light of that error I would've been covered should an accident have occurred. I'm not really that hopeful but its the most hopeful I've been so far

[saaby93]

LikesBikes said:

Thats what I mean about too good to be true. However I'm hoping that if they admit their error and state that in light of that error I would've been covered should an accident have occurred. I'm not really that hopeful but its the most hopeful I've been so far

Cant see it myself - as edited above
unless the insurer is going to give you a letter saying that you were covered
Reinstatement would have been the answer - why wouldnt they do that?

Edited by saaby93 on Thursday 15th April 22:10

[LikesBikes]

Got to be worth a go. Can record calls on my phone, should I do this I presume I'd need to inform them of this at the start. Wish I'd recorded the one where she apologised.

Will be back shortly, just need to do something.

[Deva Link]

Isn't it the case that if you physically hold the Insurance Certificate then the insurance company can't deny 3rd party liability - hence you technically (and therefore legally) do have insurance cover?

That's why it's a specific offence not to return the Certificate on demand.