Total Loss policy weirdness

[Blackpuddin]

One of my vehicles has just been written off as a result of a sheep 'strike' two months into its 12-month fully comp policy. I've been told by the insurer that all the remaining monthly premiums will have to be paid and that this is standard practice on a Total Loss policy. This is new territory for me so I have no experience to draw on but the concept of paying for insurance on something that no longer exists seems odd. Presumably the answer is that I am buying a product up front and paying for it in stages. Is that the actual legal status here? It just feels a bit weird that when I get a replacement for the vehicle I'll be paying two lots of premiums until next June. I wonder if there's any limit on this sort of thing as there is no guarantee it won't happen again bearing in mind the state of the sheep fencing round here.

[vonhosen]

When you pay monthly the yearly premium is paid by finance & then you are paying the finance back monthly.

[Flumpo]

Rings a bell from when my car was written off, final payout was minus remaining premium. But as it was the other drivers fault I don’t think I had to pay any excess.

[Dingu]

You were quoted £x to insure your vehicle for the year and since you are making use of the product the full amount of £x is due. It’s perfectly normal.

Some insurers may allow you to then change the vehicle from the lost vehicle on that same policy and just pay the difference but there is no obligation to allow this. Typically they either will or won’t allow this based on how they wish to handle it.

[BertBert]

Yes it's normal. The ins company do their sums on getting a full year's premium for the risk of one full payout. So once the full payout is made you need to have paid for the whole premium for the year. So all you are doing is converting the monthly payments to buying the remained of the 12 months in one go.

Feels odd, but it'll be in the agreement somewhere.

[Blackpuddin]

Flumpo said:

Rings a bell from when my car was written off, final payout was minus remaining premium. But as it was the other drivers fault I don’t think I had to pay any excess.

I asked the sheep for its details but no luck.
Thanks all.

[Flumpo]

Blackpuddin said:

Flumpo said:

Rings a bell from when my car was written off, final payout was minus remaining premium. But as it was the other drivers fault I don’t think I had to pay any excess.

I asked the sheep for its details but no luck.
Thanks all.

Surely you offset the outstanding insurance against the freezer full of mutton and the new rug?!

[Blackpuddin]

Maybe insurance should be sold by the month though rather than by the year. Feels quite scammy as it stands.

[Blackpuddin]

Flumpo said:

Blackpuddin said:

Flumpo said:

Rings a bell from when my car was written off, final payout was minus remaining premium. But as it was the other drivers fault I don’t think I had to pay any excess.

I asked the sheep for its details but no luck.
Thanks all.

Surely you offset the outstanding insurance against the freezer full of mutton and the new rug?!

Passing motorist picked the thing up and tossed it in her car! I was in no state to stop her.

[Dingu]

Blackpuddin said:

Maybe insurance should be sold by the month though rather than by the year. Feels quite scammy as it stands.

Hardly. You can buy it by the month anyway if you want to. Will likely be more expensive though.

[Blackpuddin]

Dingu said:

Blackpuddin said:

Maybe insurance should be sold by the month though rather than by the year. Feels quite scammy as it stands.

Hardly. You can buy it by the month anyway if you want to. Will likely be more expensive though.

Not as expensive as paying for 12 months but only using two!

[Bill]

Blackpuddin said:

Not as expensive as paying for 12 months but only using two!

You took that risk, if the insurance co had you'd have paid more per month.

[Dingu]

Blackpuddin said:

Dingu said:

Blackpuddin said:

Maybe insurance should be sold by the month though rather than by the year. Feels quite scammy as it stands.

Hardly. You can buy it by the month anyway if you want to. Will likely be more expensive though.

Not as expensive as paying for 12 months but only using two!

I don’t know what your premiums are roughly but I suspect across the time you have been driving the temporary monthly insurance would have been more additional cost than the 10 months insurance. Unless you are relatively new to driving.

[Blackpuddin]

Dingu said:

Blackpuddin said:

Dingu said:

Blackpuddin said:

Maybe insurance should be sold by the month though rather than by the year. Feels quite scammy as it stands.

Hardly. You can buy it by the month anyway if you want to. Will likely be more expensive though.

Not as expensive as paying for 12 months but only using two!

I don’t know what your premiums are roughly but I suspect across the time you have been driving the temporary monthly insurance would have been more additional cost than the 10 months insurance. Unless you are relatively new to driving.

Fifty years so point taken.

[CoolHands]

Yes it’s perfectly normal for the insurance company to have it’s cake and eat it too

[BertBert]

CoolHands said:

Yes it’s perfectly normal for the insurance company to have it’s cake and eat it too

Yawn

[Hackney]

Blackpuddin said:

Dingu said:

Blackpuddin said:

Maybe insurance should be sold by the month though rather than by the year. Feels quite scammy as it stands.

Hardly. You can buy it by the month anyway if you want to. Will likely be more expensive though.

Not as expensive as paying for 12 months but only using two!

It's not like a gym membership that you can cancel after two months and stop going.
You're not paying your car insurance monthly, you're paying a loan off. You took out a loan (at higher interest than a credit card IIRC) from a finance company who paid your annual premium to your insurer in full on day one.

My advice, if you can't afford to pay the premium in full, compare the inurance monthly payment with paying in full on a credit card.

[Blackpuddin]

That doesn't address the central point though.

[x type]

Basically you took out insurance for the year
Instead of paying for the year upfront you chose to pay monthly
You only paid 2 months out of the 12 , you owe them the 10 months you haven't paid yet

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Blackpuddin said:

It just feels a bit weird that when I get a replacement for the vehicle I'll be paying two lots of premiums until next June.

I doubt it. They will probably allow you to do a substitution, replacing thew written off vehicle for the replacement. If it's a similar model, you won't pay any extra. But yes, as they've written the car off, they require the annual premium paid in full before settling the total loss claim.