Car Insurance Nightmare.

[catman]

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

Edited by catman on Thursday 25th August 20:14

[catman]

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!

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]

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

[catman]

desolate said:

but did they reinstate the policy?

Yes, as mentioned in my op.

Tim

[catman]

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!

Tim

[catman]

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.

Tim