Car Insurance Nightmare.
Discussion
Just got off the phone to a good friend. They took out car insurance for their Daughter, and while concluding the transaction on the phone, they added breakdown cover.
What happened next seems unreal. Because he tried to make the two payments quickly, his bank thought it was fraudulent. The first payment of £1300 for the insurance went through, but they stopped the payment for the breakdown cover.
He relayed this to the Insurer, they made a note and thanked him and said that he could redo the breakdown cover when convenient. After a few days, his Daughter goes on holiday for two weeks. On her return, they discover that her car insurance has been cancelled!
A huge row then ensued, with the Insurer flatly refusing to re-instate the Policy. They then quoted double the initial price to take out a new policy.
He escalated up the chain, being told that the Underwriters and the legal team were adamant that it wouldn't be re-instated.
Eventually, a senior Manager agreed to re-instate the policy. I cannot understand why this happened from a legal point. She's very lucky not to have had an accident, or been pulled for no Insurance.
Any experts care to explain this?
Thanks
Tim
What happened next seems unreal. Because he tried to make the two payments quickly, his bank thought it was fraudulent. The first payment of £1300 for the insurance went through, but they stopped the payment for the breakdown cover.
He relayed this to the Insurer, they made a note and thanked him and said that he could redo the breakdown cover when convenient. After a few days, his Daughter goes on holiday for two weeks. On her return, they discover that her car insurance has been cancelled!
A huge row then ensued, with the Insurer flatly refusing to re-instate the Policy. They then quoted double the initial price to take out a new policy.
He escalated up the chain, being told that the Underwriters and the legal team were adamant that it wouldn't be re-instated.
Eventually, a senior Manager agreed to re-instate the policy. I cannot understand why this happened from a legal point. She's very lucky not to have had an accident, or been pulled for no Insurance.
Any experts care to explain this?
Thanks
Tim
Edited by catman on Thursday 25th August 20:14
What was the reason given for the cancellation?
Was the daughter meant to be sending documents - or is it a Ts&Cs thing ("if you don't clear a balance on a policy we reserve the right..." etc)
The daughter would most likely still have been covered in the event of an accident before she was informed the policy was cancelled.
Was the daughter meant to be sending documents - or is it a Ts&Cs thing ("if you don't clear a balance on a policy we reserve the right..." etc)
The daughter would most likely still have been covered in the event of an accident before she was informed the policy was cancelled.
I had a similar story about 4 years ago now.
Elephant insurance at at the time. I bought and paid in full about £800 as I always do and never gave it a second thought, documents swiftly emailed etc.
I then had a call from Halifax(pretty sure it was automated) about 2 weeks later or so telling me to ring a number as a payment had been put on hold and I had to approve releasing the funds. I thought it was a scam phone call to begin with, but I did call the bank out of curiosity and it was genuine. There were no dodgy questions, just asking if I had made a large payment recently, how much, who to and could I give any examples of any specific payments a couple of months back(assuming to see if I was the account holder)
I think I only called the bank after receiving emails from elephant regarding non payment. There was mention of the policy being cancelled within 7 days or something if I never sorted it. So I can well imagine it is a bit of a nightmare when that happens.
Elephant insurance at at the time. I bought and paid in full about £800 as I always do and never gave it a second thought, documents swiftly emailed etc.
I then had a call from Halifax(pretty sure it was automated) about 2 weeks later or so telling me to ring a number as a payment had been put on hold and I had to approve releasing the funds. I thought it was a scam phone call to begin with, but I did call the bank out of curiosity and it was genuine. There were no dodgy questions, just asking if I had made a large payment recently, how much, who to and could I give any examples of any specific payments a couple of months back(assuming to see if I was the account holder)
I think I only called the bank after receiving emails from elephant regarding non payment. There was mention of the policy being cancelled within 7 days or something if I never sorted it. So I can well imagine it is a bit of a nightmare when that happens.
tigger1 said:
What was the reason given for the cancellation?
Was the daughter meant to be sending documents - or is it a Ts&Cs thing ("if you don't clear a balance on a policy we reserve the right..." etc)
The daughter would most likely still have been covered in the event of an accident before she was informed the policy was cancelled.
Apparently, they said that, because she "cancelled" the breakdown cover, they assumed that she didn't want the Insurance either!Was the daughter meant to be sending documents - or is it a Ts&Cs thing ("if you don't clear a balance on a policy we reserve the right..." etc)
The daughter would most likely still have been covered in the event of an accident before she was informed the policy was cancelled.
It was two separate transactions, so no actual link to the insurance policy.
When it was pointed out that the breakdown cover wasn't cancelled and that they had been informed of the problem from the outset, it fell on deaf ears.
Tim
catman said:
She's very lucky not to have had an accident, or been pulled for no Insurance.
If push came to shove I don't think they'd be able to get away with saying the insurance had been cancelled, but it obviously could be a bit of nightmare.I doubt anyone could explain the thinking of the people in any large company, much as, ref another thread, no one can understand why Amazon won't recognise they've failed to deliver a members telly.
Perhaps it's a daughter thing - LV= inured my daughter's car on her first policy with them for the wrong year, so when the docs arrived they'd already run out. Of course she didn't open them (it was all done, right?) but they sent another letter a few days later advising her insurance had expired and thankfully she did open that.
To be fair, the person she spoke to did seem mortified and they said they'd have been held liable, but if she'd have been stopped and the CPS pursued the case and not had a friendly Mag then a conviction for no insurance would be very awkward for her career.
desolate said:
So policy was cancelled in error and reinstated when a complaint to a manager was made?
The thing is, they were insisting that they hadn't done anything wrong, and that it was impossible to re-instate the policy. He was told that the Underwriters and the legal dept agreed with their decision.Tim
desolate said:
ok.
you probably just got a poorly trained and/or crappy call handler.
He also got passed to a Supervisor who refused to do anything either, though. Very poor customer service and not forgetting the Legal dept and underwriters also getting involved who took the same view!you probably just got a poorly trained and/or crappy call handler.
Tim
catman said:
The thing is, they were insisting that they hadn't done anything wrong, and that it was impossible to re-instate the policy. He was told that the Underwriters and the legal dept agreed with their decision.
In LV= issue I mentioned above, they said they couldn't backdate the policy to the original start date as it isn't possible to backdate an insurance policy but they would be held liable for the period concerned.Having said that, I do recall asking my daughter if the renewal date had moved and she said not but I wouldn't be 100% that she would notice.
Insurers can't cancel a policy for which they received payment without another reason. Also motor insurers do not cancel without notice.
So did someone ignore a letter giving 7days notice the insurance was to be cancelled, did someone ignore a £1000+ refund? Surely all they needed to do was listen to the call recoding in which they had the discussion about the payment for breakdown cancelling.
This is the problem with buying cheap insurance from companies staffed by muppets.
So did someone ignore a letter giving 7days notice the insurance was to be cancelled, did someone ignore a £1000+ refund? Surely all they needed to do was listen to the call recoding in which they had the discussion about the payment for breakdown cancelling.
This is the problem with buying cheap insurance from companies staffed by muppets.
WillG said:
Insurers can't cancel a policy for which they received payment without another reason. Also motor insurers do not cancel without notice.
So did someone ignore a letter giving 7days notice the insurance was to be cancelled, did someone ignore a £1000+ refund? Surely all they needed to do was listen to the call recoding in which they had the discussion about the payment for breakdown cancelling.
This is the problem with buying cheap insurance from companies staffed by muppets.
Perhaps try reading the op properly? The insured was on holiday when the policy was cancelled. I also mentioned that her Father paid for the policy. Furthermore, the money hadn't reached his account when he had the row with the insurer.So did someone ignore a letter giving 7days notice the insurance was to be cancelled, did someone ignore a £1000+ refund? Surely all they needed to do was listen to the call recoding in which they had the discussion about the payment for breakdown cancelling.
This is the problem with buying cheap insurance from companies staffed by muppets.
Tim
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