Tesco have wrongly cancelled my insurance

[Tilly84]

Hi all,

 

I'm not sure if this is in the right section or whether it should be in the motoring section.

 

I had a car insurance policy with Tesco Bank but my vehicle had to be scrapped in June due to being uneconomical to repair following a breakdown. I wrote to Tesco on 14th June to cancel my policy and I cancelled my direct debit on 16th June.

 

The first I heard back from Tesco was a letter from them dated 28th June in which they informed me that there was a problem with my direct debit and they said I needed to pay the outstanding balance or my policy would be affected.

 

I wrote to them again on 3rd July and informed them that I had written to them on 14th June to cancel my policy and that I then cancelled my direct debit on 16th June. I received a reply dated 24th July once again saying that there is a problem with my direct debit but this time the letter stated that if I did not clear the outstanding balance, then they would cancel my insurance which would then make it hard for me to obtain car insurance in the future.

 

I yet again wrote to them on 25th July but this time sent my letter recorded delivery. Surprise, surprise this time they finally acknowledged that they had received my letter but they deny that I have written to them previously. They also say that they have now cancelled my insurance policy and that this will now make it difficult for me to obtain insurance in the future. How can they cancel a policy that I cancelled myself 2 months ago?!

 

To add insult to injury, they now want over £90 to cover the period between June and August for which they claim my cover was still active because they supposedly didn't receive my two previous letters!

 

This has left me fuming!

 

They have completely ruined the chance of me ever being able to get a car again due their incompetence! I have been biking it to work whilst it is warm and trying to look for another car but now, because they have cancelled my insurance, I won't be able to obtain cover in the future which means I am not going to be able to get to work and back through winter!

 

Apologies for the long post but I wanted to put in as much detail as possible.

 

Is there anything I can do about this?

[dx100uk]

go to the CEO and email a complaint

 

 

why cant you get insurance now or drive a car

this should not stop you?

 

 

dx

[Tilly84]

According to Tesco, and a quick Google search, having insurance cancelled by the provider makes it very expensive and hard to obtain insurance in the future.

[ccholland]

Tesco insurance are a nightmare! I had a car insurance policy with them around 4 years ago - to cut a long story short they wanted to cancel my cover because they reckon I had not provided adequate documentation with regards to my NC and also the Thatcham security device fitted to the car (by the manufacturer I might add) even though I had and it had been acknowledged during a telephone call to them! Anyway I complained and told them to dig the telephone conversation out and listen to their employee - they still insisted I owed them an amount for time on risk but I said 'go away'! Anyway the point of this is you do not have to take it from them - complain and make sure you detail your complaint accurately. They backed down and even sent me a small amount for the inconvenience etc.

 

 

Good luck.

[unclebulgaria67]

Phone Tesco complaints ( record call if you can). Explain what has happened re cancelllation letters, where you sent these and when. The car has been off the road since x date. If they are still being difficult, ask them for their final response and say you will go to the FOS. You should be able to get it resolved.

 

Cancellations due to payment issues are not a big problem. It is not due to any non disclosure, fraud or anything that affects risk. The cancellation due to payment issue would not be a black mark on a central register. Personally i would not disclose it as some companies will just not quote you as they don't want a customer who might have payment issues, even if there is an explanation. Just arrange insurance normally and use Tesco no claims prrof which they will send if you ask.

 

Silly situation which can be resolved with a bit of commonsense.

[ccholland]

totally agree with what unclebulgaria has just posted

[dacouc]

Phone Tesco complaints ( record call if you can). Explain what has happened re cancelllation letters, where you sent these and when. The car has been off the road since x date. If they are still being difficult, ask them for their final response and say you will go to the FOS. You should be able to get it resolved.

 

Cancellations due to payment issues are not a big problem. It is not due to any non disclosure, fraud or anything that affects risk. The cancellation due to payment issue would not be a black mark on a central register. Personally i would not disclose it as some companies will just not quote you as they don't want a customer who might have payment issues, even if there is an explanation. Just arrange insurance normally and use Tesco no claims prrof which they will send if you ask.

 

Silly situation which can be resolved with a bit of commonsense.

 

Cancellation due to non payment / payment problems is a problem with a small number of Insurers.

 

Failure to declare the cancelled policy to such an Insurer could potentially void the policy

[unclebulgaria67]

Cancellation due to non payment / payment problems is a problem with a small number of Insurers.

 

Failure to declare the cancelled policy to such an Insurer could potentially void the policy

 

Can't see the FCA or FOS backing such a stance.

[TSx]

We've done this debate before.

 

If an insurer doesn't underwrite policyholders who have had a policy previously cancelled for payment issues, they would be completely in their rights to void a policy if this was later discovered (unlikely but not impossible). The FOS would look at the underwriting guidelines of the insurer and if they said that they would decline applications where a policy had previously been cancelled they could void the policy potentially leaving you liable for thousands.

 

The question they ask is "Have you previously had a policy cancelled" (or words to that effect) - there is little room to argue it is an innocent mistake when Tesco have warned you it should be declared.

 

The easy way around this is to do your quotes as normal without declaring a cancellation but take the policy out over the phone and make them aware of the cancellation then.

[unclebulgaria67]

Payment issue is not risk related.

 

Ridiculous to expect millions of people with a payment issue cancellation to have to declare this forever. Once you start declaring a cancelllation for this, it limits the market. The comparison sites will exclude most companies from quoting.

[dacouc]

Payment issue is not risk related.

 

Ridiculous to expect millions of people with a payment issue cancellation to have to declare this forever. Once you start declaring a cancelllation for this, it limits the market. The comparison sites will exclude most companies from quoting.

 

But as stated, there are a very small amount of Insurers who do not want to provide cover to customers who've had a policy cancelled for non payment.

 

If that's their underwriting stance then as a commercial business they're entitled to it, the Ombudsman tends not to get involved with underwriting decisions.

 

The FCA tend not to get involved in underwriting decisions as they're more interested in abiding by regulations and issues that are detrimental to the customer.

 

Here is the "help" answer to one of the Insurers who do not like customers with policies cancelled for payment issues which is next to the question "Have you ever had a policy cancelled or declared void"

 

"Have you ever had insurance cancelled or declared void?

 

What does this mean?

 

An example would be an insurance provider stopping a policy before its renewal date. This could be for reasons like failing to pay or providing false information.

 

Is it only car insurance you need to know about?

 

No, you need to tell us if any type of insurance has been cancelled or declared void.

 

 

What if changing my car meant that car insurance could no longer be provided?

 

If changing the car was the only reason that cover could no longer be provided, that's not seen as having insurance cancelled or declared void.

 

 

What if insurance could no longer be provided because I moved house?

 

If moving home was the only reason that cover could no longer be provided, that's not seen as having insurance cancelled or declared void."

 

Note they're not limiting the question to just car insurance.

 

The question and accompanying explanation are well worded, the Ombudsman may rule in a customers favour if they feel the question / explanation is not clear enough but I doubt they would rule in the customers favour as an underwriting issue

 

edit

 

Obviously voiding / cancelling would only be possible / an issue if the client had been asked such a question and / or been given this as a statement of fact in a clear way. If they had simply clicked through from a comparison site (Who tend not to ask such an in depth question) that had not asked such a question and the insurer had not asked such a question and / given a statement of fact to this effect you'd normally be ok.

 

Relying soley on a statement of fact / assumptions can be sticky ground

[CrappoMan]

The question "Have you ever had insurance cancelled or declared void ?" is a simple unambiguous question with a yes or no answer.

 

Then they state that the question is a grey area that you have to use your judgement to answer, in other words the answer may be "It depends"

 

When you are asked the question on an internet form you don't get to answer "it depends", you have to answer either yes or no.

 

They can't have it both ways. Either ALL cancellations should be delared or the answers given shouldn't be used to calculate risk.