Budget Car Insurance.. is this right?

[droopinlily]

Hello, new to this forum, so go gently on me please

I seek advice on behalf of my son. At the beginning of this year, someone crashed into the back of his car whilst he was parked up on the services. need I say the offender left no address or other details, so my son had to put in a claim to his insurance company - Budget - with whom he had a fully comp insurance.

To our suprise the insisted the car be written off and he ended up with a pay out of £1400, far less than the car was worth but ok, he accepted it because he didn't want any more hassle.

The insurance docs were sent back to budget along with a cancellation letter as they requested.

Now he is being bombarded with letters demanding the sum of £300 -odd , which the say is payable as they have a right to demand this amount for what was left of his insurance cover.

Now, I have only ever had to claim once off my car insurance, which resulted in the car being written off, but once they wrote it off and paid me - that was it. No more payments were asked for etc. This was a different company and some 5 year ago, so maybe the rules have changed?

can anyone advise us please? It seems a bit naff to me but if its correct then so be it... sigh.

Thanks for reading.

[benjee]

When an at fault claim happens (thats where there is no one to claim damages off or is the policyholders fault) the Insurer has the right to charge the full years premium as you purchase the policy in good faith for the year and they would have provided cover for the policy term.
Usually in situations like this, the insurer can keep the policy running to enable the policyholder (in this case your son) to buy a new car and transfer cover to it under the same policy.

The amount he received is proportionate to the current state of the car pre-accident and would take into account mileage and general condition of the car as well as in comparison to the current cost to replace like for like. Most people reject the initial offer of payment as the insurer will always try to pay less in the 1st instance. It could be that the £300 odd is the excess he had to pay although most insurers deduct this from the payout amount.

Hope this explains things but please don't hesitate to add more if you need more help

[craigwalton]

What they are saying is correct. Did you replace the car with your accident, and your son has not?

An insurance policy is usually a year long policy. If a fault claim is made in that year, then the premiums have to be paid in full. If a non fault claim is made, then you can cancel.

The only way he wouldn't have to pay is to pay the claim back to the Insurers (not worth it in this case) or to ge t the vehicle reg of the car that hit him.

Sorry I couldn't be more help

[patdavies]

Most insurers would have deducted the remainder of the premium from the payout cheque. I am presuming that he was paying in monthly instalments for his insurance.