Anyone know about car insurance?

[ProtegeMoi]

Hoping someone can please advise me, we are really stuck.
Sorry it's long i'm trying to get all the facts across.

I'm a new driver (just over a year) and bought a new car 4 weeks ago at which point I took out a new insurance policy, the car was £1000, the insurance £1400, typical for new drivers.

I had an accident last week and the insurance company took my car, they informed me today that it is a write off. The accident is my fault.

Now I know I will lose my no claims (only 1 year) and I know my insurance will go up but I cannot afford a new car and rely on it heavily as I have a disabled child.

I was under the impression that the insurance would pay me for the value off the car minus my £100 excess so £900 and then my insurance policy continues and I add the new car that I buy with the pay out onto it.

However someone has just told me that my policy will be cancelled and I will have to pay the remaining insurance. Checking the website of my insurer this seems correct.

So basically they will owe me £900, but there is £1200 owing on the policy still meaning I will owe them £300 PLUS I will lose my no claims bonus and pay higher insurance for the next 5 years.

Please, please tell me this isn't right!

I'll be worse off then had I never claimed, the scrap value of the car is £200 so if I had not claimed and scrapped it I lose £800 but still have my no claims, whereas this way I lose £1300 and my no claims. What's the point having insurance if this is how it works?

Plus this means the insurance company actually making money off my accident. They get the £1400 policy that I would have paid anyway, plus the get the car which they can scrap for £200.

Are they actually allowed to do this?

I am so desperate. I can't afford a new car but I need one, my son can't get around without one. I was relying on the fact they would pay out.

I'm not sure about paying off the rest of your insurance however they are well in their right to cancel the policy. I wrote my first car off quite a few years ago, they paid out for the car but would not re-insure me for my new car so had to go somewhere else and I also lost my no claims.

I paid my insurance premiums monthly and I can't really remember if i carried on paying them or not - I don't think I did to be honest with you!

See I thought if they cancel it they wipe the remaining payments like you said or if they want them paid then they continue to insure. Surely they can't expect 11 months of payments but not insure me.

They keep saying you took out a contract for 12 months insurance and you have to complete that contract. Fair enough, but doesn't that mean they must also complete the contact by providing me with 12 months insurance?

Also I have been through the policy documents over and over again and there is nothing mentioned.

They have been a nightmare to deal with. The policy says they provide a courtesy car when they collect your car to use while the car is repaired, it says if the car cannot be repaired the courtesy car is returned. Whereas when they collected my car they refused to issue a courtesy car and told me I only get one once they start repairing it. It then took them a week to decide it was a write off so no courtesy car but according to the policy I should have had one for the week it took them to decide it was a write off, has cost me a fortune in taxis this week.

Yea you're right. If it's not in the policy documents then I would dispute it. It doesn't sound right at all.

Just speaking to DH and before he was deployed abroad he sold his car and cancelled his insurance part way through the 12 months, and it wasn't a problem. It may be that you only have to pay the first three months rather than the rest if the 11 months?

Make a complaint about the courtesy car. Find out the salvage category of your car to see if you can get it delivered back to you and the claim for your damage cancelled. If proceeding with the claim is going to leave you that out of pocket then it's worth asking them to not proceed with the claim for that reason. Ultimately you still own the car until you have agreed and been paid the value (although you don't get paid in this case). If the damage is such that it's just more expensive to repair as opposed to unsafe to try, then you can still see if that would be an option.

Its cat B so unrepairable due to flood damage.

Will definitely dispute it, I'm happy to pay the rest of the policy I just expect to be insured for that time. I will be getting a new car ASAP as can't manage without out and will be adding that car to the insurance.

I work in insurance . Under the terms of your policy it will be cancelled as there is no vehicle to insure iyswim and since you've made a claim if the policy is cancelled the full premium is due.
If you get a new car and cover it with the same insurer they'll usually give you a credit on the new policy to the value of the remaining premium that was paid

So its normal that I'm left owing them money after a write off? How is that fair? They won't insure a second car, they have told me outright they won't insure me now so my insurance claim is leaving me owing them money and losing my no claims bonus. This can't be legal surely.

Polter I can't buy a new car and amend the policy, they are cancelling the policy, no option to continue it which means I won't be getting a pay out as my premiums are more than my car. I actually owe them money now.

When you take an insurance policy the full amount is due, by paying monthly its a form of credit as technically it all needs paying for you to be covered. This means if you claim partway through the year, you haven't paid the full amount of your insurance so need to pay the rest of the credit off. Hope that makes sense (although agree it sounds unfair).

blushingm

I wonder if you answer a question for me. When I renewed my car insurance I asked the question about paying any amount owed. I asked a number of times and the operator checked with a supervisor- she said that I would not have to pay the full amount . The policy has come through and it seems that as I have paid up front if something happened I would not get any money back. Basically (or so it seems to me) they lied to get me to sign up with them. As I often do with phone calls I have her name and the date and time of the call. Where would I stand if something does happen?

I am fighting it, I understand the full policy is payable, I am happy to pay the full policy, preferably over monthly installments but I expect to receive the 12 months insurance I have effectively paid for.

There is as I said nothing in the policy I've read it over and over again. The website FAQ,s say the policy premiums are deducted but the policy document I was told to read and sign has nothing.

Hi - the policy will cancel as there's no insurable vehicle as your sis damages beyond repair.........so no they wouldn't put a new car on cover. What normally happens is you start a new policy for the new car and give you a credit for the time you lost out on cover on the old policy.
I'm not sure if my explanation is making sense............
You agreed to pay a certain amount for 12 months cover - they allowed you to pay monthly.
Could you ring them or email them and ask them to clarify what their procedure is regarding a new car and a new policy - youmightjust have got a dud on the phone last time

Good luck!