Car being written off

[Krzysbass]

Hi! My car has been written off after an accident that wasn't my fault. Do I still have to pay my insurance company even if I don't have this car anymore? They told me if I want to cancel my policy now it would cost me approx 700 as the claim is still open. Cheers

[mcflurry]

AIUI you'll have to pay the balance of the premium, as the insurance period covered was a year.

[Haltamer]

The claim being open sounds like the problem, They should end the policy with a total loss once the claim is complete?

[Krzysbass]

They keep telling me that they are negotiating the final costs with other insurance company. Apparently they don't have any time frame for this

[Driver101]

You will have to pay the full cost of the insurance policy for the year. The insurance company will deduct it from your pay out.

[Krzysbass]

That's what I was afraid of. I may just keep paying them monthly until end and then cancel.

[Driver101]

Krzysbass said:

That's what I was afraid of. I may just keep paying them monthly until end and then cancel.

You won't be allowed to do that. Once the insurance company settles with you the policy will end.

[Sheepshanks]

Driver101 said:

You won't be allowed to do that. Once the insurance company settles with you the policy will end.

Seems a bit random that = I've heard of it before but when daughter's car was written off she got a new one and the policy carried on.

In the OPs case if it's his own company who are settling then I think they might deduct the outstanding premium from the payout.

[Krzysbass]

Driver101 said:

You won't be allowed to do that. Once the insurance company settles with you the policy will end.

At the moment they keep charging me monthly as usual

[Decky_Q]

Sounds like you had finance arranged for you to pay the insurance (very common if paying insurance by installments), so insurance company were paid in full at inception, you still owe the finance co for the loan so have to finish paying them or face a penalty?

[MikeM6]

I've only ever paid for insurance up front, but when I had a car written off the insurance policy remained and I just changed the car details when I bought a new one.

[Krzysbass]

Sounds about right. I guess there's nothing I can do 😕

[Sheepshanks]

Krzysbass said:

At the moment they keep charging me monthly as usual

You don't (i presume) have a monthly policy. You have an annual policy which you're paying monthly. So you have to pay the whole premium.

[gazza285]

Driver101 said:

You won't be allowed to do that. Once the insurance company settles with you the policy will end.

I’ve had two cars written off by other drivers, on both occasions the policy was carried over onto the new vehicle and ran for the usual duration. No mention of the policy ending after settlement.

[Driver101]

gazza285 said:

Driver101 said:

You won't be allowed to do that. Once the insurance company settles with you the policy will end.

I’ve had two cars written off by other drivers, on both occasions the policy was carried over onto the new vehicle and ran for the usual duration. No mention of the policy ending after settlement.

From the people I know the policy was ended and deducted from the claim. I thought that was normal.

[mikeswagon]

I've only recently experienced this.

My sons first car was written off a few weeks ago, 100% not his fault. We got a letter to say the policy was suspended, IIRC this happened once we'd been told it was written off - fair enough, nothing to insure. The policy remained, albeit suspended, until we found another car at which point I called them, policy opened again and all good.

[MustangGT]

First question is:

Have you agreed a write-off value with the insurance company? If not, then until you agree a deal the car is not written-off.

As others have stated, the offer will generally be made assuming the full annual policy payment has been made. Since the third party is at fault you may/should be able to transfer the remaining policy time to a replacement vehicle.