insurance cancelled .

[JeffC]

My 20 year old son took out his car insurance with General Accident 10 months ago,to build up his credit history he took it out on direct debit and Friday received a letter to say that they have cancelled it due to a direct debit failing,he had been paying £100 a month and had only 2 payments remaining, he hadn't realised his account was low and as he never checks his emails so had not seen any notifications from GA the first he knew about it was when he got the cancellation letter through the door.
GA do not have a telephone number and despite emailing them explaining and requesting to pay the balance he only gets an automated reply to say his insurance cannot be reinstated.

trying to get insurance now is almost impossible his quotes are almost £4,000 , its a tough lesson for him to learn as pretty sure this will impact on future borrowing as will also be on his credit history.

I think he is now to trying to shut the stable door after the horse has bolted but is there anything that can be done or suggestions for insurers that wont penalise him if he pays the premium up front.

he maybe should have read the reviews prior to taking insurance out

https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/generalaccident.c...

[dhutch]

Wow, that it's a hard pill to swallow. But I guess if your set up for notifications by email and then ignore emails there is little they can do. I've often thought 'havae you ever had insurance cancelled' was a very blunt question.

[LeoSayer]

He should read the policy back to back to make sure the insurance company have complied with their own policy regarding cancellation and non payment.

It is a tough lesson.

[Oldandslow]

Ouch. Did they go straight to cancellation after the failed DD or were there emails warning him of late payment?

[bitchstewie]

If they've tried to email him (sounds like it) I'm not sure there is much you can do other than as said, ensure they've followed their own procedures.

I can't see escalating it will get your son far as it's not really on them to ensure he pays them.

Harsh lesson as you say.

[JeffC]

It sounds as though they sent and email but being a typical 20 year old he doesn't do emails, unless its text instaface or snap chat he would never have got it he doesn't have an email app on his phone, the only time he sends an email is if he logs onto my PC to either apply for a job or get a quote once a year , annoyingly the letter only came 6 days after cancellation so he had been driving around uninsured for that week

trouble is now when getting a quote one of the questions is have you ever have insurance cancelled and once you tick that box everything goes from £1300 up to £4500 and there does'nt seem to be a time restriction on the question so does this mean for a £100 missed payment he is going to penalised for the rest of his driving life as he will always have to tick that box ? just sounds harsh, if he could speak to someone to resolve it its only the last 2 payments totalling £200 we are talking about.

pretty sure he has called that number and its a accident claim line only from looking online and reviews there is no call centre he just appears to be getting standard generated email replies.

Feel for him as the apple didn't fall far from the tree and he is a proper petrol head and he is gutted at the thought of no nice cars in the future if he can't resolve it

Edited by JeffC on Sunday 9th September 10:17

[Helicopter123]

JeffC said:

It sounds as though they sent and email but being a typical 20 year old he doesn't do emails, unless its text instaface or snap chat he would never have got it he doesn't have an email app on his phone, the only time he sends an email is if he logs onto my PC to either apply for a job or get a quote once a year , annoyingly the letter only came 6 days after cancellation so he had been driving around uninsured for that week

Edited by JeffC on Sunday 9th September 10:17

This.

I've only become aware of this recently, having assumed that e-mail was 'modern' and 'universal' but the current generation of c. 20 and below simply don't use it. If they have an e-mail address it's only as a gateway to the various app based messaging tools and onto Social Media.

Many large business's are going to need to adapt pretty quickly to this as they are very reliant on e-mail it seems.

[anonymous-user]

Under their policy Ts&Cs that are available online they need to write to the policyholder to give them 14 days notice of cancellation.

So it's likely that he has ignored a letter as well as an email.
Unless they have forgotten to write, in which case the cancellation is null and void or he has a different policy wording.

Worth checking given the sums involved.

Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 9th September 10:50

Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 9th September 10:51

[t400ble]

Doesn't check bank account or emails.?

[MB140]

I have to say I pay my car tax by direct debit now. If I didn’t get the automated reminder email I would have forgotten about it quite easily.

A very very harsh lesson to learn and I’m sure one many people could fall foul of. Especially with junk mail filters.

I too wonder about the timeframe for the “have you ever had insurance cancelled”. Seem like a licence to charge someone extra for the remainder of his life for one minor clerical error.

I feel sorry for your son. Especially with the exorbitant prices charged for young males already. Whilst I don’t condone it I can see why parents insure their kids as named drivers or young lads go without insurance and tak the risk.

Either way I hope he gets it sorted.

[dhutch]

I am 31 so don't fit the 20yo demographic, but I check emails continuously as it's on my phone and what all my bills/statements/etc come through on. I also check the post, and get a weekly text of my mian account balance, and alerts if any of my balances.goes below a threshold.


Daniel

[pc.iow]

Two missed payment you say?
So is that the last 2 months payments?
If so its no wonder the policy was cancelled no?

[JeffC]

pc.iow said:

Two missed payment you say?
So is that the last 2 months payments?
If so its no wonder the policy was cancelled no?

nope one payment failed, he was 10 months into it so payment 11 failed and 12 would be due end of this month he would have asked us for the money and paid it if he had known.

and yes I find it hard to comprehend that he doesn't check his bank balance but it seems to be the modern way, I thought I was hearing things when I discovered this but kids these days now have apps on the phone, they go to the pub they order food and drink on the app without leaving the table which gets charged to a card, they have no idea how much they spend on a night til they get a statement through!!

I am old skool and pay cash, when I am skint with enough left for a taxi I come home. I don't own a credit card and never have always pay up front i've never had a car loan If i cant afford it I don't get it but the kids of today certainly are not this way or my sons and their mates are not and think I am a dinosaur .

[JeffC]

desolate said:

Under their policy Ts&Cs that are available online they need to write to the policyholder to give them 14 days notice of cancellation.

So it's likely that he has ignored a letter as well as an email.
Unless they have forgotten to write, in which case the cancellation is null and void or he has a different policy wording.

Worth checking given the sums involved.

Edited by desolate on Sunday 9th September 10:50

Edited by desolate on Sunday 9th September 10:51

I will ask him today when I see him see if he got a letter.

[Helicopter123]

dhutch said:

I am 31 so don't fit the 20yo demographic, but I check emails continuously as it's on my phone and what all my bills/statements/etc come through on. I also check the post, and get a weekly text of my mian account balance, and alerts if any of my balances.goes below a threshold.


Daniel

Likewise, but now imagine the position if you don't use e-mail? With virtually all large companies reliant on e-mail to contact clients, what happens with a generation that just don't use it?

[JeffC]

JeffC said:

desolate said:

Under their policy Ts&Cs that are available online they need to write to the policyholder to give them 14 days notice of cancellation.

So it's likely that he has ignored a letter as well as an email.
Unless they have forgotten to write, in which case the cancellation is null and void or he has a different policy wording.

Worth checking given the sums involved.

Edited by desolate on Sunday 9th September 10:50

Edited by desolate on Sunday 9th September 10:51

I will ask him today when I see him see if he got a letter.

just spoke with him and the cancellation letter is the first letter that he got from GA, no notification by post, he did get the email although as said he only saw that on Friday after he got the cancelation letter.

[anonymous-user]

JeffC said:

just spoke with him and the cancellation letter is the first letter that he got from GA, no notification by post, he did get the email although as said he only saw that on Friday after he got the cancelation letter.

Ok.
If they didn't send the letter then the cancellation is null and void. They will have to reinstate the policy and restart the cancellation proceess. He'll then have 14 days to get his payments in order.

If they did they will have a record of sending it and he is fked.

Mistakes happen but the odds are they did send it and he ignored it.

[98elise]

Helicopter123 said:

dhutch said:

I am 31 so don't fit the 20yo demographic, but I check emails continuously as it's on my phone and what all my bills/statements/etc come through on. I also check the post, and get a weekly text of my mian account balance, and alerts if any of my balances.goes below a threshold.


Daniel

Likewise, but now imagine the position if you don't use e-mail? With virtually all large companies reliant on e-mail to contact clients, what happens with a generation that just don't use it?

What do they do at work? Snapchat their boss/clients/customers?

It's fine to ignore email in your social circle, but it's a business tool.

[JeffC]

desolate said:

JeffC said:

just spoke with him and the cancellation letter is the first letter that he got from GA, no notification by post, he did get the email although as said he only saw that on Friday after he got the cancelation letter.

Ok.
If they didn't send the letter then the cancellation is null and void. They will have to reinstate the policy and restart the cancellation proceess. He'll then have 14 days to get his payments in order.

If they did they will have a record of sending it and he is fked.

Mistakes happen but the odds are they did send it and he ignored it.

Yeh he is 100% certain he never received a letter , tbf he got the cancellation letter Thursday and opened it Thursday night and came straight to us for advice .

[Pica-Pica]

dhutch said:

Wow, that it's a hard pill to swallow. But I guess if your set up for notifications by email and then ignore emails there is little they can do. I've often thought 'havae you ever had insurance cancelled' was a very blunt question.

Wow. A 20 year-old who does not read e-mails.
As others say, if you set an e-mail up as your notification, then ignore them, what can the insurers do. They have attempted to contact the insured, so they assume he is ignoring their contact.