Hi all...

I understand that this has been discussed previously, but cannot find a resolution to refer to that reflects a similar issue to mine.

Yesterday, 20th September, I was travelling alone in my car driving to work, aquaplaned across a pool of water an a dual carriageway, and my car crashed into trees, the car was severely damaged and is now a write off. A major concern is that despite being up to date with MOT, the airbags did not inflate. Luckily, I am living to tell the tale, and do have some whiplash, cuts, bruises, but also mentally, the accident has really affected me, I cannot sleep, it was quite severe.

Anyway, I have called today to inform my insurer which is More Than that the accident has happened and of course I'll need to make a claim. I am currently using the car to get to work which is an hour away and there is no other way of me getting there.

My problem is, they have told me that they cancelled my car insurance on the 14th of this month, which is just my luck as I have never had any form of accident before in my entire life like this. I was not informed of this cancellation at all, they claim to have sent out a letter to inform me on 24th August, however i most certainly did NOT receive this letter as this would be something I'd sort immediately. They cannot seem to prove that anything has been sent either. On the phone, at one point they actually admitted to cancelling the insurance, and the reason they gave was due to an 'error', but refuse to let me make a claim as they said I should have renewed my insurance after receiving the letter, which I did not actually receive!

I am already heavily distressed from the accident, and now hearing this has made things worse. I am stuck with no car, and no way to get to work. Of course I will need to now take some time off work, but I need to get back to work asap as I hold such an important, and barely replaceable position within the company. I have been told to get a solicitor involved but am worried this is going to take a lot of time and cost me a lot of money. I have no idea what else to do, I was wondering if anyone here could advise me any further or offer support in this situation?

I have noticed another member complain of MoreThan cancelling car insurance without notification which is worrying.

Thanks for all your help in advance.

Hi pix

Welcome to CAG

Which ever avenue you decide to take, this might take some time to resolve, no quick fixes. The first think to do is write a Formal Letter of Complaint, mark it as such. Explain that you've never received a letter etc. If you need to get info from them send a SAR

Request, but do that before you send a Formal Letter of Complaint. A SAR could take upto 40 days it should show what they have sent to you.

Once you get a final response you can make a complaint to the FOS. You need to find out why they canncelled the policy.

Thanks for your assistance.

Unfortunately I need a resolution to be quick, as quick as normal car insurance procedure. I cannot wait 40 days for letters as I need a car to get to work. I don't have the spare money to pay for another car at the moment.

To add to the matter, we called them back again to ask WHY it was cancelled again, and WHY this 'technical error' had occurred, but the foreign supervisor repeatedly continued to contradict himself on the phone by actually telling us it was a technical error, then later denying it (!!!). We said the colleague we spoke to earlier admitted this as well, he then shockingly said to us:

'How do you know if my colleague was lying or not?'

This company is appalling, and with 'service' like this should be running at all. A company cannot just cancel car insurance without advising the customer. We had no letter, we asked where the letter was and they could not give an answer, continuing to make up excuses.

Might seem like a longshot but if all else fails, email the Watchdog team....I'm pretty sure they've already been investigating Insurance Companies for doing this without the 'insured' knowing and they've helped resolve.

The fact you were informed over the phone by an employee of More Than that they couldn't find any evidence of this letter leads me to believe it was raised in error, the letter then cancelled (hence you never received it), but someone still cancelled your insurance and rather than them now admit to this error (and so lose out by having to pay for your vehicle), they are hiding behind excuses.

Sorry, I forgot to mention..... as we are ALWAYS told via a recording when we dial this sort of company, ALL calls are recorded. May I suggest you write to them requesting a copy of the recording which would prove your claim to being informed by the employee that the cancellation had been done in error? Also, please check to see if they were still taking payments from your account after the date they say they cancelled the policy as to have done so would insinuate you were still paying for their insurance.

This company are horrendous. I made a house insurance claim, they decided that due to a technical error they had not calcuted my premiums properly and they wanted the £200 before the would consider my claim. Then when I paid it, they tried to knock my £1150 claim (the price given to them by direct validation services) down to £350 due to wear and tear. I had to phone through to dvs and get them to speak to morethan to inform them that the £1150 already was the reduced figure from about £2000, reflecting todays current market. The man on the phone was extremely sarcastic, dvs said they generally don't know what they're talking about and try to get out of claims.

They day my cheque cleared I moved to another insurers who are a whopping 75% cheaper despite this extra claim!