Insurance issue.. again

[itannum990]

Received a letter for MID yesterday informing me that my car is uninsured. Checked on the website and lo and beyold, no insurance. Excellent, that makes me a cretin.
Bought the policy in October and had not been told at any stage that it was cancelled. So I've been driving.
I'll phone tomorrow to see what is going on, and obviously haven't touched the car since getting home yesterday, but how can they do this? I'm livid, frankly. If I'd have been caught, I'd lose my license and my job. I'm actually considering chasing 'compo' for this, if there isn't a justified reason for them to cancel my insurance policy.

[barker22]

what happened when you took out insurance, did the money come out?
Has it gone back in, did you send off your proof of no claims, changed address?

[itannum990]

Yep paid and money been taken, checked my statements last night. No refund, no ncb it's a classic policy.

[ging84]

How have you established it was cancelled. Is this going to be another case of the missing letters from your insurer, or did you get the letters and ignore them?

[itannum990]

ging84 said:

How have you established it was cancelled. Is this going to be another case of the missing letters from your insurer, or did you get the letters and ignore them?

Because it was paid and good, and now it is not good. Like I say I'll speak to them tomorrow and see what's happening but no, wouldn't ignore a letter threatening cancellation, that would be daft, and the policy has ran now for three months, only found out I didn't have cover yesterday but who knows for how long that has been the case?

[Nickyboy]

They don't just cancel it without notifying you, you'll get phone calls, letters etc. The fact you haven't received any communication is unlikely

[itannum990]

Nickyboy said:

They don't just cancel it without notifying you, you'll get phone calls, letters etc. The fact you haven't received any communication is unlikely

That's what I thought, but genuinely haven't been told or warned by any means. Searched my emails for any communication, none, no letters (wife would have got involved ) nothing by phone, nothing.

No BS, got no need to lie to you guys

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Have you checked to ensure the reg number on the insurance docs you received matches your actual reg number. Could just be a simple error like that.

[PurpleMoonlight]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Have you checked to ensure the reg number on the insurance docs you received matches your actual reg number. Could just be a simple error like that.

Or the insurer has failed to update the database.

[ging84]

Car not showing as insured on the mid does not mean your insurance has been cancelled. You have taken a big jump to that conclusion.

[LoonR1]

Wow, amazing. If your insurance has been cancelled, here's yet another example of no letters arriving at all, which is totally believable. It does seem that insurers have it in for PHers, as they cancel insurance randomly, without justification and fail to send any letters at all

What will really have happened is that either the reg has been input incorrectly, or the insurer has failed to update MID correctly for whatever reason. Both as has already been said.

Why the instant leap to "my insurance has been cancelled and all insurers a re s of the highest order"? Of course, this will be the case when it all gets checked tomorrow, as the OP can't lose face on here.

[Vaud]

itannum990 said:

I'm actually considering chasing 'compo' for this, if there isn't a justified reason for them to cancel my insurance policy.

As noted it is a leap from "not on MID" to being "uninsured"

And you have suffered no loss yet, so what would you be compensated for?

[Mound Dawg]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Have you checked to ensure the reg number on the insurance docs you received matches your actual reg number. Could just be a simple error like that.

This happened to me, my insurer mistyped the reg. number when I gave it to them, there was no certificate to check as I was on a motor trade policy so I only found out a couple of months later when I tried to tax the car on line.

[itannum990]

Apologies if I'm blowing off onto the wrong conclusion here, as I'm sure that you can all understand I am quite upset that I have been driving without insurance and do not hold insurance companies in the greatest of regards.
I am at work now but will check the reg when I get home in the morning.
Don't worry, whatever the story is I shall post it here be it my fault or theirs.

[Vaud]

itannum990 said:

I'm sure that you can all understand I am quite upset that I have been driving without insurance

The MIB is not the deciding body. A court is. They have sent you a letter saying they don't think you are insured.

If you were driving without insurance and have received a summons then it would be different.

If your insurer agrees that you were insured for your car, with you driving at x time for y purpose, then you are insured.

[LoonR1]

itannum990 said:

Apologies if I'm blowing off onto the wrong conclusion here, as I'm sure that you can all understand I am quite upset that I have been driving without insurance and do not hold insurance companies in the greatest of regards.
I am at work now but will check the reg when I get home in the morning.
Don't worry, whatever the story is I shall post it here be it my fault or theirs.

And still you continue to say you are uninsured without anything to substantiate this. If I wrote you a letter saying I think you're uninsured, it'd be just as truthful.

[WatchfulEye]

Don't worry. You're not alone. This happens quite a lot.

It happened to me. I renewed a policy online, because I was happy with the cover and quote, got on screen confirmation that everything had gone through and I got a new certificate in the post.

A few months later I get a solicitor's letter asking for "the return of their client's property, namely the certificate of insurance". I checked on MID, and sure enough, the car was listed as uninsured. I called the insurer asking what the hell was going on.

They said that I hadn't paid for the policy, so they had cancelled it. They had apparently written giving 7 days notice of cancellation, but I never received this.

I did complain asking why they hadn't phone, or used recorded delivery. I got a reply back stating that it was not their policy to contact customers by phone, or to use recorded delivery. They went on saying that under the interpretation act, the notice was sent be first class post, and was deemed to have been received on such-and-such a date, and therefore they have complied with teh road traffic act. Complaint dismissed.

Complained to the ombudsman, who just said that the insurer had acted appropriately. Complaint dismissed.

I checked the bank statements, and sure enough the money had not come out of the account, although the renewal for the breakdown insurance I had purchased at the same time had. I complained to the bank as to why they had declined a transaction, and they wrote back stating that no transactions had been declined, and that no such transaction had been presented.

[LoonR1]

WatchfulEye said:

Don't worry. You're not alone. This happens quite a lot.

It happened to me. I renewed a policy online, because I was happy with the cover and quote, got on screen confirmation that everything had gone through and I got a new certificate in the post.

A few months later I get a solicitor's letter asking for "the return of their client's property, namely the certificate of insurance". I checked on MID, and sure enough, the car was listed as uninsured. I called the insurer asking what the hell was going on.

They said that I hadn't paid for the policy, so they had cancelled it. They had apparently written giving 7 days notice of cancellation, but I never received this.

I did complain asking why they hadn't phone, or used recorded delivery. I got a reply back stating that it was not their policy to contact customers by phone, or to use recorded delivery. They went on saying that under the interpretation act, the notice was sent be first class post, and was deemed to have been received on such-and-such a date, and therefore they have complied with teh road traffic act. Complaint dismissed.

Complained to the ombudsman, who just said that the insurer had acted appropriately. Complaint dismissed.

I checked the bank statements, and sure enough the money had not come out of the account, although the renewal for the breakdown insurance I had purchased at the same time had. I complained to the bank as to why they had declined a transaction, and they wrote back stating that no transactions had been declined, and that no such transaction had been presented.

A solicitor's letter. Of course you did Walter.

[WatchfulEye]

LoonR1 said:

A solicitor's letter. Of course you did Walter.

It looked like a solicitor's letter. It was certainly written like a solicitor's letter, and yes, the "client's property" phrase was used in it. Regrettably, I don't recall the name of the firm.

[LoonR1]

WatchfulEye said:

LoonR1 said:

A solicitor's letter. Of course you did Walter.

It looked like a solicitor's letter. It was certainly written like a solicitor's letter, and yes, the "client's property" phrase was used in it. Regrettably, I don't recall the name of the firm.

There is not a cat in bells chance that any insurer would write via a solicitor for such a simple matter. Equally, they are unlikely to write using anything other than their own branded paperwork. I'd love to know which insurer this was. There is no "name and shame" issue by saying who it was. So feel free to name them.