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Found 25 results

  1. Hi there, I have a quick question regarding buying insurance online. I took a policy out a few days prior to my existing cover ending with oncecall insurance. I was a bit panicky at the time and took the cover out, paid deposit of about £25 and that was that. I then decided to do what I should have done and read some reviews on the company. Oh dear I couldn't have picked a worse company if I tried. So I emailed them to cancel the polcy, and from there this is how things went over the last few days... Took the policy out, wasnt impressed with the documents (electronic format of the actual car insurance document was illegible, terms were dodgy) Phoned to cancel it a few days ago within the 14 day cooling off period. Email a few days later from them confirming cancellation. I queired the deposit refund then got another email 2 days later saying I had to call them to discuss the refund. Phoned them just now 3 times (first was wrong department, second cut me off) telling me they didn't need to refund it as the distance selling regs are there for consumers and insurers. they also said that their terms wouldn't normally alllow for the refund (even though cover hadn't even started). So I mentioned mentioned Trading Standards and the DSR. They then put me on hold and as a gesture of good will would refund me. SHAMBLES! Anyway, my question would be do they have to issue me the refund without asking me why I cancelled in the first place? Cheers, Paul.
  2. I have been insured by Endsleigh car insurance for many years. Never had any problems - but reality is that you only really get to know your insurer in times of trouble. In October 2015, a false allegation was made against me by a third party. The third party claims that I have crushed into their vehicle and darted off without stopping. The third party claims that they have CCTV of me - and there is even a rumour that this CCTV was handed to the third party by the police themselves. Very curious, because on the day of the alleged incident I was overseas on a business trip. One would think that I can easily prove my innocence, right? I have a stamped passport showing I left the country before the incident and arrived after the incident; on the day of the incident I used my credit card in a foreign country; on the day of the incident I made and received calls on my mobile phone, clearly showing that my location was overseas; my vehicle was parked in the airport car parks before the incident and was collected after the incident; the car parks have written to confirm that in this type of car park you do not have to submit your car keys - therefore the only pair of keys was with me. Despite all of the above, my insurer sent an engineer to assess my vehicle. The engineer could not find any damage consistent with the allegation. Yet, several months on, as I write this on April 2016, I am still being treated by my insurer as though I am guilty of a crime. The case is ongoing, and my insurer has now written to me saying that I have lost my 8 years of no claims discounts - despite the fact that case is ongoing, and despite my overwhelming evidence. The third party has been challenged to show us the CCTV. They can't, or they won't, and Endsleigh keep "reminding" this third party to give us the CCTV. Not once did they think that in the absence of the CCTV being sent to us they should close the case. Most incredible of all is that when I made a complaint to Endsleigh, it took them half a day only - just HALF A DAY - to find against my complaint and to send me a leaflet with the Ombudsman details. Brilliant show Endsleigh - expert box ticking on your behalf. If only you were THAT quick with everything else that you do. Months and months have passed since you have found against my complaint, and you are still scratching your chins wondering what you can do next to prove me guilty. You have seen all my evidence - there is no chance in the world that I could have been, or my car could have been, involved in the alleged incident. How can you still have this as an ongoing case, and how in the world did you only need half a day to find against my complaint? What's even more impressive is that when the allegation was first made against me, Endsleigh did not bother to tell me. They started working on a case against me, recording details that the third party sent to them, but they did not call me or message me to tell me. Two weeks after the allegation I found out when the third party sent me a letter to say they are making a claim through my insurance and there's nothing I can do about it - this is just for "information purposes". At that point I rang Endsleigh, they told me that they tried to contact me leaving "a voicemail and a message". I did not receive a missed call, a voice mail or a message. In any case, does it even matter that they tried to contact me, IF indeed they did? I was under the impression that their contractual obligation is to ACTUALLY contact me, not to try to (and fail) at contacting me. At least if you could prove that you have sent a message to me, or an email, I could put it down to just bad luck for not hearing from you. But this isn't the case at all is it? Shame on you Endsleigh. You stole my no claims discount over nothing. I am dealing with an insurer who has no sense of urgency and no sense of justice. I will have a new born in 2 months and clearly I have better things to worry about - I guess I should just move on to another insurer, lose my discounts, and accept the fact that people in your line of business are the judge, jury and executioner of us poor motorists.
  3. Apologies for length of this post! I got pulled over by the Police last night at approx 9pm and asked if I had insurance for the vehicle. I truthfully replied that I did so and stated which company it was with. The officer said that the vehicle check flashed up as uninsured, but he accepted that this was not always completely up-to-date. As it was out of hours he was unable to do a proper phone check. He then gave me a producer to show my insurance documents at a Police Station. He then phoned me today to say that the policy has been cancelled and I needed to sort it out immediately. He said the insurance company issued five letters (I have found five letters from them). He arranged to come to my house on Saturday where I'm expecting to be issued with a ticket/fine. He said he was being lenient as he could impound the vehicle. This has come as a genuine surprise as I thought I had completed my proof of no claims online (admittedly close to their deadline) and have not received a letter to say that the policy has been cancelled. I took my policy out in November with Auto Direct, but due to being generally disorganised, having young babies, work pressures etc etc had not sent in the proof of no claims bonus. I had received a number of reminder letters and eventually went on to the companies website to get further details on what they needed - intending to send it in the next day or make a call to my previous insurer to sort out asap before the final deadline. I then noticed on their website that it was possible to prove no claims on their website by completing a form, which I then did. This was several days before the final warning of cancellation was set (8th Feb 2012). I completed the form and then thought no more of the matter as it seemed that they had everything they needed. I have now found that one of the letters dated 10th Feb states the following: 'We are pleased to confirm that a refund of £106.84 has been passed to your Credit Card account in respect of your insurance policy." The letter goes on but it does not mention anywhere that the policy was cancelled. To be honest this letter has been sat on a shelf unopened until now so I only have myself to blame as I suppose I could have queried why they had refunded. Is there anything I could do now as it seems that I have not received a letter to categorically state cancellation of the policy? I would have thought that I should have a letter saying my insurance is now cancelled and that is why money has been refunded? I completed their online form, but if this did not work, surely they should have come back to me instead of cancelling the policy two or three days later? The company say that they informed me in writing that it was cancelled. I have found five letters (as previously mentioned), but cannot find anything to state a cancellation only the threat of cancellation if I don't send in the proof of no claims. I hope you can help me in this matter as it seems like it is going to be a big fine, points and difficulties in getting another policy. The company have already quoted £762 for a new quote! This assumes I get a INT10 fine on Saturday when the policeman visits.
  4. Hi all I wanted some advice please. I bought Car Insurance with John Lewis in Dec '12 and arranged to pay by Direct Debit. In January the DD failed, I recieved a letter saying the bank had told them it had been cancelled so I called paid over the phone and reset the DD. In Feb the DD failed, I called, and it was suggested that the issue was possibly due to the fact that I have another DD to john lewis on the same date and that was the confusion, I was told to wait, see what happened with the march payment and go from there. In march the DD failed, as the DD date was a weekend I didn't intend to chase the issue until a week had passed as sometimes they payment can be delayed a few days, however 5 days after the DD date I received two letters from John Lewis on the same day, 1 to say the payment had failed and I needed to pay or they would cancel my policy and the 2nd to say - "we cancelled your policy 5 days ago please pay us £135" I called straight away to sort out the problem, and to be honest the woman was really off with me until I broke down (I was hit by a lorry last year and the thought of that happening while id been driving around unbeknown to me uninsured got me in a right state) I paid all the cancellation charges, and purchased a new policy (the price had now increased) I logged a complaint with my bank as I hadn't cancelled these direct debits but each time I was told that the bank had said I had. After a month of investigation it turns out that John Lewis set the mandate up in December for the first payment in March! so each time they asked for payment my bank said no I'm fuming, I suffered PTSD after the accident last year and to be honest I was pretty histerical after my call with John Lewis that night, fortunatley I always insure fully comp and i've had a year of medical treatments that I couldn't have afforded, and still have £4k worth of pescription bills and loss of earnings that I'm trying to claim back to think I could have had an accident that week and not been insured doesn't even bare thinking about. I'm just writing a letter of complaint and I wondered if you think I am being reasonable with the following request: A refund for the £135 the charged me for the cancelled policy (admin fee & legal for the full year!) A refund of the additional £24 this year I'm having to pay on the new policy I had to purchase because they cancelled the original policy A letter confirming that a "cancelled Policy" was down to their incompetance (I've had to declare it to all my other insurance companies) Compensation for the fact that they wrote to tell me my policy had been cancelled and sent it 2nd class meaning I recieved it 5 days after they had cancelled and was driving round uninsured, invalidating my tax disc and breaking the law despite them having my email address (which they send the policy to) and my telephone number Compensation for the inconvience of regular calls with Santander to get updates on their investigation, ringing round all my insures with the embarrasment of telling them I have a cancelled policy on my records and to be honest the state it got me into that night my parents had to come sit with me and i'm 33! so embarrasing Also (sorry!) does anyone know if they can retract the "cancelled policy" note? as I'm going to have to declare that for 5 years Thanks for reading!
  5. Hello everyone, I don't have too much experience with car insurance companies, so not too sure what to do. Maybe someone could give me an advise. OK, so last year my car was insured with Direct Line and once I was involved in car accident which was not my fault. At the beginning I decided to make a claim because the other driver simply didn't stop and carried on driving, so informed about the accident to my insurance company. Apparently the damage to my car was not too bad at all, so phoned to Direct Line and told them that I would like to cancel the claim. I also asked them how this would affect my insurance history, they said that it will not affect it and it will look like nothing has happened. So I accepted that and just forgot about it. Then renewal time came, I went with another company called Admiral. I genuinely forgot to declare about the accident I had last year. Last week we were chatting with friends about various accidents and this came to my mind. It's been over 2 months since I'm insured with Admiral now. So what should I do now? Do I need to tell them about the accident last year? Will they believe me I forgot to mention this to them? Or should I just leave it as it is? My previous Direct Line insurance renewal letter didn't say I had an accident and Admiral has contacted Direct Line to confirm my 6 year No Claim Bonus. A few weeks later after purchasing new insurance with Admiral I called them and asked if my NCB were confirmed and if everything else is OK, they said it's all OK, you don't need to worry about anything. So could someone please advise me on my next steps I should take in order not to screw up my driving history. Thank you
  6. Hi all Here is a bit of background as to the problem I am facing. Someone recently reversed into my car which was parked in a pay and display car park in a town centre. Luckily (?) for me, he left a note on my windscreen and has admitted full responsibility. He's given me all of his details and even reported said incident to the police. I've made my claim and am currently waiting for my insurance company (Admiral insurance) to contact me re getting my car picked up and repaired / loan car issued etc. I have 14 years NCD which is protected and when I was speaking to the guy, I thought I would make sure that this didn't affect my renewal premium next year (I've only just renewed about 2 months ago, so it's not due for ages yet). He said he didn't know and I would need to speak to another department, so I did. They told me yes it would but said because the renewal was so far away I would have to call the New Business department and get a dummy quote (which would give me an idea based on today's figures). Before I did this I told them I really wasn't happy that I was getting punished for someone elses incompetence , they told me about all the statistics and how I am now a higher risk and more likely to make a fault claim in the future because someone had backed their 4x4 into me. I asked (for about 40 minutes) various people to explain, logically, why this it. They couldn't. Anyhow, I called new business and they ran through a cloned dummy quote and I was shocked to say the least. The difference was about £150 on an aprox £302 policy. Yep 50% roughly - I think the guy said renewal without the claim would be £302 and £450 with the claim. Seriously - what?! Like I said I have 14 years NCD (yep, I understand this is still protected and applied but now to a much higher premium) and have no convictions or points on my licence (not to mention, I wasn't even in the car when this happened and it was legally parked). Sooooo.... my question would be, how would I go about recovering this extra money they are loading me with? I've read a couple of stories where people argued with their insurers and they basically waived the increase in the end, but Admiral just seem to be reading from a script and not able to make decisions like that. Can I claim this from the other party's insurer? How long does this loading go on for? (If 5 years, then I would need to claim £750). Lastly, I also know that not all insurers load premiums for No Fault Claims, does anyone who has had experiences with this kind of thing know which insurers do and which don't? (I've heard eSure do as Elephant (which I think are part of Admiral anyway)). Would it be a good idea for me to speak to the financial ombudsmen? (I tried calling them but they are closed today). Thanks for bearing with me, would be grateful if anyone could shed some light on my next steps and I would also be interested to hear from anyone who has experienced this kind of thing - good or bad. Thanks all!
  7. Hi there, i was involved in a minor car accident in april 2012, i went into a the side of a vehicle on a mini roundabout at very low speed, causing minor damage to both mine and the other person's car. I swapped details at the time and contacted my insurance as soon as i got home. Initially liability was contested. I hit the vehicle as it approached from the right on the roundabout, however he didn't indicate so my insurance company offered to settle the third party's claim 50/50. (At least this is what they told me) However in september 2012 (5 months later) i received another letter from my insurance company saying after considering evidence, that they would be 100 percent liable. This was the last i heard until last week when i received county court damages claim forms from the other person asking me to pay 1800 pounds damages to the other guy. I have contacted my insurance, they are hopeless and keep fobbing me off, all the time the clock is ticking as i have less than 10 days now to respond to County court claim. I feel completely helpless, i cannot believe my insurance company have let me down and that i am in this very awkward predicament. Any advice or suggstions would be very gratefully received. P.S i did not claim for any damage to my own vehicle as was very minor.
  8. OH had an car accident just over a week ago, we believe it wasn't his fault (car from side road turned into him). We've made a claim on our car insurance. Yesterday, our insurers said that they'd spoken to the other party's insurers who had admitted fault. Our claim would therefore proceed as 'no-fault', we would not need to pay our excess on the repair, and it would not affect our NCD. Today, I've got home to find a letter from a solicitor with a copy claim from from the third party. On the form he says his car needs repair but he's not going through his insurer; and that he's claiming for injury (whiplash etc). Unfortunately our insurer cannot help us as it's post-6pm, we need to wait until after 9am tomorrow to speak to a Claims Handler. We are worried - is the solicitor's letter & claim just the other side 'chancing his luck' or is there any chance that we'd end up liable for his 'whiplash'? Can you put our minds at rest?
  9. After very carefully shopping around to find the cheapest deal to insure my car, I bought a policy with Quotemehappy.com on 30th September. On Monday 1st October I purchase my new car, however I still needed to sell my old car. I am disabled and due to illness this took longer than anticipated. I explained this to Quotemehappy.com and arranged for an extension to send in my proof of No Claims' Discount, which was granted until 22nd October. On 19th October, I sold my old car and phoned Admiral (my previous insurers) to cancel my policy and request that my confirmation be sent out. As this was going to take a few days, I asked if this letter could be attached to an e-mail and sent to me, so that I could upload it on the Quotemehappy website. The staff member said this was fine, however the e-mail I received was not what I had asked for, although it did confirm the necessary details. (Upon my third phone call to Admiral, I was informed that it was not possible for them to attach a copy of the posted letter of confirmation and I would have to wait for the hard copy to arrive). I went ahead and uploaded the proof to the QMH website, however after several attempts it did not seem to be going through as I was being returned to the same page and no confirmation was given or e-mail received (after some time). Thus, I e-mailed QMH to inform them of this issue and forwarded them the confirmation e-mail from Admiral, adding that I could scan in and forward the letter once I had received it via the post. As their system says, replies to e-mailed correspondence takes a few working days, so I didn't take any further action. Today, 24th October, I received a text and e-mail from QMH to say that my policy has been cancelled. Due to the company being online only, I cannot call to speak to anyone about this. I am very annoyed and worried as I am disabled and dependent on my car for mobility. I cannot risk being uninsured, yet I feel I have done everything I can to fulfill with the necessary procedures and have been penalised for a system error which was not my fault. Please advise...
  10. Hi, I've bought my car insurance policy yesterday 07/10 ,Yes insurance £293. I've noticed i forgot to mention that my car had 3 windscreen replacments over the last 5 years. After i've notice this ,I've run a dummy quote including my 3 windscreen claims at Yes website, they have quote me at £600!!! The policy will kick in next wednesday 10/10. I haven't called Yes explaing my error with the quote Should i: A-Call yes ,assume my mistake and ask them to re-quote me.... and pay the £600.... B-Cancell my policy with Yes... today is the first day of the 14 day coolling off period (can i do this???) C-Not call yes....and hope for the best Really would appreciate some insight on this. Help?!! gF
  11. Hi, I am a new user here and presently out of the UK working in hungary. My car insurance is due for renewal on 12th August and my wife searched for cheaper car insurance and found it. Taking it out to commence on the conclusion of the previous insurance. In the meantime she received a letter from the insurance company informing us of the renewal premium and that unless cancelled they would automatically renew the insurance. Consequently my wife rang the insurance company and informed them that I was out of the country and that we had found alternative insurance and wished to cancel. They would not allow her to do so as she was not the policy holder - although she is a named driver on the insurance. When she informed them that I was not available to cancel the insurance myself they were most unsympathetic and told her that she could not cancel and the insurance would continue. She told them that she would inform the bank/credit card company not to pay the premeium but they told her that they would still renew the policy and continue to seek payment. She rang me last night most distressed because she did not know what to do and as it is illegal to have 2 insurances on one vehicle, plus the expense I have emailed them myself cancelling the insurance but they have not bothered to reply. What can she do? I cannot phone the insurance company as it would cost the earth to phone from eastern europe via mobile. Any help and advice would be most appreciated. Thank you.
  12. 2 months ago I bought a 6 month old audi estate for £31,000. I have fully comp insurance, full no claims discount and GAP Insurance. Last week I was stationary in traffic on a motorway and a lorry hurtled into me at 60mph. Thank god for German engineering otherwise I would not be here today. Although I now have ongoing neck and back pain which is being investigated. However the problem now is my insurers. The car was completely stoved in at the back and back doors would not shut and chassis bent. The insurers want to repair the car. Their approved bodyshop is so far up to £15,000 worth of repairs which they say they will do and then run engine and front of car checks which will no doubt entail more expense as the covers popped off front seats and there is internal damage at front. They have given me an equivalent courtesy car at a cost to them of £9,000 per month. I have been told that my car will be out for repairs for at least 6-8 weeks. meaning £18,000 in courtesy car charges for them in addition to the £15,000+ car repair costs. Surely the car should be written off in these circumstances! I have no wish to drive it again once repaired and will put on the market the day it is returned to me. Which leads me to another question. Loss of value. When I come to sell the car can I claim for loss of value. I might not be posting on right section of the forum so if someone can suggest another place let me know Thanks for all the advice
  13. I purchased a car in Dec09 which was HPI clear and looked in Mint condition.Soon after I noticed major problems with the car, had it inspected and found it to be a death trap!I took the trader to court and won, but the garage then closed and the owners went into hiding, they are now subject to a £500,000 fraud investigation and have left me being owed over £90,000 and has put my life at risk both financially and physically.It transpired that 10 months earlier the car had been in a severe head on collision and the insurance company was Direct Line.It took Direct Line 18 months to apply the write off marker to the vehicle so that it could be seen on HPI, this was 8-9 months after I purchased the car. So far 18 months this car had no history what so ever!A major series of failures occured during this 18 months: They did not know where the vehicle was located. *** The vehicle was abandoned 2 weeks in to the claim, Direct Line where never aware of this! *** Paid out to someone who did not own the car, as it went missing whilst under finance when owners company went bust! Failure to pay out to finance company Failure to seek out correct ownership No warnings placed against the vehicle throughout duration of claim. When Direct Line decided to settle the claim 18-19 months after the accident they even let the claimant retain the salvage.(As many of you may know, an insurance company should process a MIAFTR check which looks at ownership, finance and security warnings. When DirectLine paid out none of the above was acted upon)I have contacted Direct Line Executives and now RBS group legal - and after 8 months recieved a letter saying liability denied. This was then put to them again stating their failures, to date no response.I have been to all the government agencies and that has been as useful as a hole in the head, no one is willing to pursue this as I was not the owner at the time of the accident. In essence I am a third party that has incurred loss due to the fraudulent actions of others and the inability of a major insurance company to act under a duty of care to protect the public.Anyone any ideas? The paperwork I have on this is sickening and I cant believe there is no legislation or law that can assist me.
  14. Long story cut short, had a minor accident (a bump), 3rd party's fault (no evidence of this but there is evidence that he has lied in his statement, I rang the police, the minor damage on my car coincides with his story of the position of his car to mine etc etc etc so many lies!). They claimed against my insurance and SOMEHOW won.....£7,000!!!!!!!!!!! I am outraged. I am 20 (19 at the time), I have never done a thing wrong, I have worked since I was 9, studied hard at school, college and now university, I volunteer in the community. I had a subaru at the time and ws the proudest of it! I saved for years for that car and now cant afford it and am so down that i drive a "normal" car (I'm crying now) and have been knocked back because it really has hurt me!! I am fighting the claim, have contested to my insurance company and now to the financial ombudsman. What I want to know: Is it possible/has it happened in the past, that you can "get your NCB back/have the accident (on your record) removed?". Because if Im really going to fight against this, the above needs to be the outcome! Thanks everyone. Abbey
  15. I'm hoping someone can answer a quick question. My car insurance company are charging me for a full new year's insurance when my car was vandalised (now written off) during last year's policy. The incident happened on 24th December and they were unavailable to contact despite calling every day, until 28th December (typically the actual date the policy renewed) - I sent them the email to an address they left on their answer-phone message on 27th December which I copied myself into, as they were still closed on this date. They then updated my policy ONE DAY before they wrote to say it would be a write off. increasing the cost of the policy on the car that no longer exists and claim I am now liable to pay for the whole year's policy. I previously asked if this would be the case IF the car would be written off when I spoke to them on 28th and was informed by two different members of staff that I would not be liable to pay for the year's policy as the incident occurred during last year's policy, and it's not my fault I was unable to contact them sooner. They are now saying I was mis-informed. Where do I stand legally?
  16. Hi, I had an minor accident some time back which turned out to be my fault even though the other driver was very fast. i agreed and paid for his repairs as he wanted, and at that time he seems happy with it. To close the case my insurance company had sent numerous letters for him to sign but he hasn't responded to any. now my insurance renewal is due and because he has not yet signed i have to pay additional premium for my renewal. Please can somebody advice is there is way i can sue him/ or legally ask him to pay any additional money i pay because of his negligence? many thanks BTW: i have pictures and all the repair bills from garage. and SMS confirmation of him accepting the repair is done to his satisfaction.
  17. Hello all, I could use an opinion on a recent incident, we are not sure how to proceed. My fiance drove me to a doctor's appointment on a Saturday morning, we parked in the surgery car park (just a minor check up at the GP). On exiting the car park we made a left turn and collided with another vehicle which was coming down the street. This was a narrow street, the kind with terraced houses and cars parked down the entire length on both sides of the road, with effectively one lane in the middle for both directions of traffic to share. She was approaching from our left. There were no witnesses and I was the only passenger involved. We had some damage to our front bumper, scraped and torn on the driver's side, the other car had severe crumpling to the front driver's side, broken headlight - but just bodywork, no engine damage. Photos attached - ours is silver, hers is red. We reported it for information to our insurance about half an hour after the incident. We took down details of her car and I snapped some photos on my phone, however, she was unable to give us her insurance info as it was a company car and she didn't know it, so she just gave us her employer's name (a large and well-known comapny) and her address and phone number. On the surface I know we would be found at fault as we were pulling out so she had right of way. But please consider the following: 1) We honestly had not seen her approaching - I looked as well and she was not visible before we pulled out. We had moved only inches out when the collision happened and were travelling less than 5mph. The damage to her car, not to mention the jolt, show that she must have been travelling pretty fast. 2) She said that she was rushing because she was late for an appointment - this is also why she didn't stick around very long at the scene. 3) She said at the scene that she saw us and "hoped we would stop". She did not sound her horn or brake. Even though she had right of way, surely if you see another car coming towards you you have a responsibility to stop? 4) She then rounded off by saying that she swerved towards us!!! She said this in the context of "it's a good job I did or you would have pushed me into the car parked on the other side". 5) She also said that she knows the road "very well" and knows that the visibility from the car park entrance is rubbish. We told our insurer all of the above and made a written note of it immediately. We have not made a claim at this point (about 2 weeks since) as the damage to our car is fairly minor and our excess is £300, which we cannot really afford to pay if it is found to be our fault (I will be unemployed in 2 weeks time). We have not yet heard anything from her or her company's insurance. Can anyone give us any advice for how to handle this if she claims against us?
  18. Hello Would anyone kindly give me some advice regarding the below? My wife had an accident in May 2010. On a narrow country road (no way two lanes) she turned a blind corner at 5 mph and collided with the third parties car, she did not have time to avoid the crash and strongly denies being at fault. The damage to our car (we did not claim as it is superficial but would cost £500) was underneath the drivers side headlight (golf 2006 model) and minimal. There are no in dependant witnesses. We reported this to our company aviva as a 50/50, we believed he and my wife were not a fault. However the third party rejects thus completely. He says my wife failed to stop in time and caused this (he admits she was going 5 mph), says she was on the wrong side of the road etc. Confusingly he states that the two people in his car are witnesses (not sure he understands the term in dependant) and that he was stationary on the road at the time of the accident (who stops in a middle of a road...). Hilariously he put his speed as 30 mph then crossed it out and put 0mph. The damage to his car is again on the drivers headlight side for me that would suggest my wife was not on 'other' side of a one lane road but consistent with two cars turning in opposite directions. From the start his solicitors have been aggressive and sending over a threatening letter requesting my wife pay the bills (1000+) within 14 days or go to court. I have seen his report and cannot understand how he can win this. I am guessing he has only 3rd party so needs to try.... My Insurers agree that there is nothing to accuse either party and suggested 50/50 to which the other company refused, at the time I would have accepted that, now not so. Had nothing regarding this for 6 months and thought it was over, however today I received a letter from my insurers asking to confirm my wife's address after a request from other parties solicitors. Can anyone help, I have legal cover etc and happy to go to court but want to gather whether i am right to refuse liability, whether I am missing something and should be worried, and what monies if any would I have to pay out if he won??? Sorry for long post
  19. Took out a car insurance policy last week with Performance Direct of Romford, Essex. Although it does not start until tomorrow (Friday 25th March) when I tried to cancel it, they informed me that I will have to pay a policy set up charge of £45. It does state this in their small print but I was not made aware over the phone when I took the policy out. I thought you have at least a 7 or 14 day cooling off period for over the phone sales. Can they legally still charge or is this just contractual bull.
  20. Hi all, I really need some advice. On the 18th Feb I got a letter from Swinton dated 16th Feb telling me that 'due to outstanding amounts' my car insurance was in the process of being cancelled. I panicked and called my bank immediately to make sure I was up to date with all my monthly payments. I was advised that I was. It was after 530pm so had to call Swinton on 19th Feb. I spoke to Paul who advised me that because my direct debit had been cancelled they were cancelling my car insurance. He also advised me that my payments were indeed up to date. He then told me I would have to pay a 50 cancellation fee. I was horrified by this - basically I didn't cancel the direct debit. There is a dispute between myself and an ex so my bank acc has been frozen (it was a joint account). I told Paul that I had not wanted to lose my policy and asked why I had received no warning prior to my insurance going straight to cancellation. He said a letter was sent out on the 9th Feb advising me - well I didn't receive any such letter regardless of whether their system says it was sent out or not. I told him I hadn't received this and he told me he would speak to his manager, Ian. I didn't get a call back so after nearly two hours I rang back and finally got put through to Ian who again agreed that no money was outstanding but that 'because we knew the direct debit was cancelled and there was no point trying to get the money, we cancelled the insurance' I am really upset and angry about this and asked whether they had a policy in place for people who did not receive the 'first letter' they send out as a 'warning'. I was told they did not. I then offered to make a payment then and there and give alternative bank details. This was refused. Paul had initially told me they could waiver the cancellation charge. Ian then refused to do this and said he would only waiver £25. If I wanted them to waiver the whole £50 I was told I would have to take out a new policy with Swinton. I was very angry by this point and told them no way. Ian then told me to write a letter of complaint and contact the customer service team. I sent a letter w/c 28th Feb to which I have as yet received no reply. Then on 11th March I have received another letter dated 9th March. This letter says my car insurance has now been cancelled but there is an amount outstanding of £128.97 for a period of cover I have already received. They have said they have passed my files straight to debt collection agents. I am furious. I have not even had a final bill from them and they have gone straight to DCA. They know I am disputing the cancellation fee and I am not convinced I owe them £78 for cover because I was paying on a monthly basis and was up to date! I rang customer services yesterday morning and was told that they hadn't received my letter (hmm funny that, why are they allowed to say that but I'm persecuted for not receiving their letter!?) and that I would need to write again. I asked him to make a note on his system that I am not ignoring their letters and would be writing again which he said he would do. I am livid about the way I have been treated as I have been a good customer since 2009. Please can anyone give me some advice about how to deal with this? Can I take it to the FSA?? Thanks in advance.
  21. Last week, a car crashed off the road, demolished my dwarf wall, went through the garden and crashed into my car which was on the drive. The driver, who was drunk and driving her husbands car, ran off but subsequently gave herself up to police and has been charged. My car, an old Punto is likely to be written off but I have not finished paying for it until July. I know that I can claim for the wall and for established plants but it doesnt seem fair that I will only get about £500 for the car but I still owe £556 on it ! Any suggestions gratefully received - I do have Legal Assistance from my Union membership but dont really know what to ask. Many thanks
  22. Hello all, I was hit by another driver a few months ago. At first he admitted liability (both to me in person and to my boyfriend over the phone) and offered to pay for the repairs (new plastic bumper). When we discovered that the front wing was bent and the cost jumped from £50ish to £400+ he changed his tune so I had to put a claim in to my insurance company. They put me in touch with their preferred garage who wanted me to sort the details out with the insurance company before carrying out the work (the damage doesnt affect driving, just cosmetic). I have submitted drawings, photos, a map of the incident and contact details for a witness who agrees that the other driver was 100% at fault. The other driver has said he thinks its not his fault but he will not provide any drawings, evidence or even an explaination, now he is refusing to answer calls from the insurance company full stop. My insurance company (Swiftcover) have been rubbish at answering my questions throughout the process. When pressed about the status of the claim they say there is nothing they can do as I have not suffered any financial loss (by paying for the repairs myself) so they will not take any further action to settle the claim, they wont even tell me how often they have tried to contact him. In short I'm stuck - the garage would rather I get the liability sorted so the insurance company pay them direct but Swiftcover wont resolve the liability issue unless I stump up the money. That means the other driver has been allowed to get away with causing £400 worth of damage to my car by not answering any calls from his insurance company! It would be a real struggle for me to pay the whole lot up front, especially with no guarantee for when I could get it back. This is the first time I have ever had to claim on my insurance so I dont really know what I should be doing. Sorry to ramble, what I want to know is - are Swiftcover correct in saying they dont have to do anything unless I pay for the repair or is there further action I should be pushing them to take to get the claim resolved? Thanks all
  23. I had fully comprehensive insurance on my car when I had a supposed 'no fault' accident in July 2010 in which my it was written off after hitting several things including a BT telegraph pole. I say 'no fault' because the driver who caused it did not stop. My passenger and I were lucky not to be hurt. The telegraph pole was broken near the base but as far as we could tell, the lines were intact. It was just leaning over at about 30 degrees from vertical. The details of accident were reported by phone. I was never given a claim form to complete, though I did mention in all correspondence that the car had hit the telegraph pole. The insurance company only agreed to pay the full value of my car after I complained to the FSA about the way the claim had been handled. Some months later, in November, I had a letter from BT Openworld requesting that I pay damages of about £2500 (I don't seem to be permitted to state exact figures, see further on) for repair to the telegraph pole. I referred them to my insurer who contacted me to confirm that I had hit the telegraph pole which I did. Yesterday (14th January), I had a letter from BT to state that my insurer had refused to settle the claim and that I had 14 days in which to pay the money before they would instigate legal proceedings against me. We passed the scene of the accident about two hours later and the telegraph pole was back in service. The claim from BT Openworld seemed to suggest that it had taken about 50 man hours to fix. It stated working rates regarding which it said they would prosecute if they were divulged, so I'd better say no more. Suffice to say that I think that the costs are GROSSLY exaggerated. Without going into details, I have a lot of **** on my plate at the moment and this feels like it is going to tip me over the edge. Can somebody please offer some advice?
  24. 'Hi Fellow CAGers I would like clarification please on whether a 'statement of detail' (the info car insurance companies collect from an on-line application) is a valid contract or not! I got a call from Swinton this month (Oct) saying my car insurance was due. Trouble is I took out my car insurance with the AA in Sept '10 as this is when I thought my insurance had run out. However, Swinton now want £50 cancellation charge from me, even though I had 2 months insurance left with them. I asked Swinton to send me a contract showing my original signature ie a 'binding contract', however all they sent me was a statement of detail. I would like advice on how to handle this matter. My plan is: - - return statement of detail to Swinton with the words 'No contract return to sender' on cover of letter. - If they further harass me with threatening letters saying I have 7 days to pay or I may incur more charges, I will then dispute the claim, write to Swinton head office, and file a complaint with FSA and FOS - I will inform Swinton that if they pursue matters, then I shall issue a fee schedule, and I will charge £200 for each letter I have to reply to. So, the question; is a statement of detail' a binding contract? and can I refuse to pay this ridiculous and unnecessary fee? Any help would be most appreciated.
  25. My wife was hit by 3rd party. Car is an old civic, to replace it would be about £900. Her (the 3rd party) insurance co. have sent a cheque out without agreeing with us or bothering to contact us to the hire car co. this has the effect of cancelling the hire car in 7 days. We don't agree with this or accept it no one has had courtesy to tell us they were making a payment - the accident was not our fault as they are only sending out £400. We then have to find the extra money to get another car also. My question is can we insist on car being repaired (it would cost £2500 approx) which would be a lever to increase the payout. We were told by the hire co. not to accept the first offer but we have not even had a first offer any ideas or facts gratefully received. It wasn't our fault we would have still been driving the car but the insurance say they only have to payout the value before accident. I was informed by a couple of people that we could insist on it being repaired. many thanks
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