Urgent please - car insurance and death

[CAPP0]

Hi all,

An elderly relative died last night, somewhat unexpectedly, and the family car was in his name with his wife/widow as a named driver. It has occurred to her today that the policy may lapse with his death? And therefore she's not insured to drive it?

What's more, she doesn't know who they are/were insured with. However she urgently needs to be able to use the car.

Q1 - is that correct, the policy will have lapsed?

Q2 - can she take out her own policy on the car now, or will that incur a double indemnity situation? Presumably not if the policy has lapsed?

Q3 - any issues around the ownership of the vehicle? It will have passed to her in his will but clearly probate is a long way off. Can she insure it and state that she is the owner?

Q4 - can we find out from MID who it's insured with? How long does that take? is it just an online thing or do you have to wait for a letter? And is it valid to use that service, which is supposed to be for when you've been involved in an accident, I believe?

Anything else she or we have missed?

They are (were) an elderly couple and whilst the widow has all her marbles (she's managed to realise that this is something she needs to deal with, despite her grieving situation) she doesn't know how to actually go about it, so we need to help her.

Thanks,

[Mammasaid]

First of all - condolences, sorry for your loss.

In your shoes, I'd use AskMid to find the insurance company (probably quicker than rifling through the deceased paperwork to find it.

Then give them a call to find out the true situation, they'll obviously not be able to discuss the exact details, but should be able to give you company policy etc..

HTH.

[HD Adam]

All you need is the name of the insurance company.

When my wife died, her car was insured in her name and I was a named driver on the policy.

They swapped names immediately on the phone (no charge) and reissued the policy.

I tool care of the V5 later.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

No insurance company will reasonable expect that a person losing their spouse will have "sorting out car insurance" as a priority. Whilst technically the policy needs to be changed, in real life the insurer will not be remotely concerned. If there's a claim, they will honour it. They would ideally expect to be notified within 3 months, or at next renewal, whichever comes first, before they even batted an eyelid. In reality, providing the policy hadn't been renewed without them being told, they probably wouldn't be that worried at all.

Edited by TwigtheWonderkid on Monday 6th August 17:42

[syl]

Condolences.

You can take care of the registered keeper situation online immediately.

As they were married, it was probably a joint asset, if so she is and always has been an owner.

If you ring the insurer, they will probably refund what’s left of the policy and give her a quote for new one in hers. They may even offer to transfer the remainder it into her name if they have been insured together for some time.

[littleredrooster]

When my mother died, I was a named driver on her policy; the Insurance company were more than happy to keep the policy going until I had disposed of the car.

[CAPP0]

Thanks all.

Provided it's not too big a fib to AskMID then I'll get the details from there later and give the insurers a call.

[Red Devil]

When my mother died, I wasn't even on her policy.

I just contacted her insurer which kept the policy in force with me as a temporary driver until the car was sold as I had no need for a bog standard Ford Fiesta.
No need for faffing around with cancellation/new policy and all that hassle. No charge for doing so either.

In the OP's case, as the wife/widow is already a named driver it should be seamless.

Regarding change of RK, the DVLA has a specific team for dealing with this situation - https://www.gov.uk/tell-dvla-about-bereavement/kee...
I wouldn't use the online service if there will be a VED refund cheque unless the bank account is a joint one (which will mean it's not part of the deceased estate and shouldn't be frozen).

[CAPP0]

Just realised that if we go via AskMID down the "I've been in an accident" route, that might then flag against their policy? We don't want that.

MID do provide a SAR service for a deceased person's details, but that'll take some time and can't be submitted without a death certificate, which they won't have yet. Guess they will have to take Twig's approach above then.

[otolith]

When my wife died, her insurer was very accommodating, and covered me until I sorted out a new policy with them. In my experience most companies are sympathetic and helpful and have policies to avoid being aholes in such situations.

[TwigtheWonderkid]

otolith said:

When my wife died, her insurer was very accommodating, and covered me until I sorted out a new policy with them. In my experience most companies are sympathetic and helpful and have policies to avoid being aholes in such situations.

Apart from More Than when my mum's husband died. They hit her with an additional premium because he was 61 and she was a mere 59, so a much higher risk. Not even a "sorry for your loss"

It cost them far more than they charged her by the time I'd finished with the swines!!

[Kev_Mk3]

Sorry for your loss.....



When my dad died my mum was a named driver but we where in France. The insurance company added me and my brother at no cost for the remaining time of the policy, making all amendments that are required and where fantastic.

[98elise]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

No insurance company will reasonable expect that a person losing their spouse will have "sorting out car insurance" as a priority. Whilst technically the policy needs to be changed, in real life the insurer will not be remotely concerned. If there's a claim, they will honour it. They would ideally expect to be notified within 3 months, or at next renewal, whichever comes first, before they even batted an eyelid. In reality, providing the policy hadn't been renewed without them being told, they probably wouldn't be that worried at all.

Edited by TwigtheWonderkid on Monday 6th August 17:42

Sounds sensible, and is very likely to be true.

It's not going to be be an unusual situation, and most big companies are geared up for dealing with a death and all the complications around it.

[Vaud]

98elise said:

TwigtheWonderkid said:

No insurance company will reasonable expect that a person losing their spouse will have "sorting out car insurance" as a priority. Whilst technically the policy needs to be changed, in real life the insurer will not be remotely concerned. If there's a claim, they will honour it. They would ideally expect to be notified within 3 months, or at next renewal, whichever comes first, before they even batted an eyelid. In reality, providing the policy hadn't been renewed without them being told, they probably wouldn't be that worried at all.

Edited by TwigtheWonderkid on Monday 6th August 17:42

Sounds sensible, and is very likely to be true.

It's not going to be be an unusual situation, and most big companies are geared up for dealing with a death and all the complications around it.

Yes, because there is no material change to the risk, if anything it has declined as the vehicle is probably not being used.

[anonymous-user]

Sad news but when dealing companies, authorities do let them know what has happened as they suddenly become human again.

The only other thing is get a reasonable number of death certificates as everyone will need an original one, photocopies are not good enough in most cases.

[Pica-Pica]

gottans said:

Sad news but when dealing companies, authorities do let them know what has happened as they suddenly become human again.

The only other thing is get a reasonable number of death certificates as everyone will need an original one, photocopies are not good enough in most cases.

Agree on the death certificates (certified copies). We had 12 at £4 each. It sounds a lot, but they soon go, and going back later for extras cost more, both for the certificates and in time.