Tesco Motor Insurance

[JWhite]

I cancelled my Car Insurance last year and stopped my direct debit, I'm now getting letters from them and a debt collector asking for money as they say they got no letter from me stating that I wanted to cancel so they kept on charging me until now!

 

Now they say that if I don't have a SORN or proof of other insurance the debt still stands, all I have is a photo copy of the original letter I sent (what has the date on).. I've already told them that I wrote to them which they say they didn't receive.

 

My next step is to take legal action as I've had enough of them, so what I bascially would like to know is what is the best route, should I go straight to the courts, their watchdog (which is?) or give them one last chance.

[ScarletPimpernel]

I had a similar problem with Tesco, even though I sent them a cancellation letter they said wasn't required! They attempted to chase me for premium they claim wasn't paid (untrue), one month's premium, and a £75 'cancellation charge'. Eventually, after a farcical exchange of correspondence, in which Tesco sent everything to different incorrect addresses, they put the masterminds at Moorcroft onto it.

 

I disputed the debt with Moorcroft (on the basis that the extra month's premium and cancellation charge are unreasonable penalties), and sent them a CCA for the instalment plan, to which they failed to respond other than with a proforma letter (to the wrong address). Tesco sent me two different printouts of their standard agreement, with different dates and addresses, that did not meet the CCA requirements.

 

I have not heard from either Tesco or Moorcroft since.

[Yorkyclaims]

I can understand Tesco's stance here. From their point of view you have asked for premium to be refunded for no apparant reason. If they refund you the money, whilst you still have the car, and no other insurance, then they are acting illegally, by aiding you to drive without insurance.

 

They are covering their back. Do you not have this info to send?

[JWhite]

Unless I can drive two cars I find it quite difficult to drive my old Car as I have been riving a Company car since I canceled the insurance.

 

Also presently it is not illegal to own a Car without Car insurance as long as it is privately stored etc.

[xrchris]

OK lets try and be a little more productive here, what did you do with the old car? Has it been sold, stored off road etc?

[JWhite]

Its been a long week!

 

When starting my new job the Car was stored off the road, then when the Tax ran out (It was on HP and I was trying to return it at this time) I declared a SORN which was about two months ago, the Car was returned last week to the Motor company.

 

Tesco are asking for me to pay from roughly June - Oct last year while the car was off road but not declared as SORN due to it being taxed.

[xrchris]

OK that clears things up there.

 

If you havent done so already i would send them a letter enclosing a copy of your original cancellation request letter. One more question - did you return the insurance certificate with this letter and did you state this fact in your cancellation letter?

[JWhite]

I've done everything except send them a copy of the letter as I thought since from their first reponse with it not being a SORN or a new license agreement it wouldn't be much good.

 

I'm at the point where I know I cancelled it, if they wanted to kickup a fuss they should of back then and not just leave it.. This in turn as ust made me dig my heels in

[Trojan1401]

OK, a couple of things here ;-

 

1. When you wrote to Tesco, did you enclose the certificate of insurance stating the date the cancellation was to take effect and the reason for this.

2. When did you take out the policy and what date did you ask for it to be cancelled. Was it in the first year of insurance or had it been renewed ?Reason I am asking as that insurers do not always cancel on a pro-rata basis & almost not when in first year. Cancellation is on what's called a short period basis & generally a percentage of the annual premium plus any of these "admin" charges that all are applying. If you let us know the cost & period, I'm sure we can work out for you what "should" be charged.

3. Generally for backdated cancellation, a SORN, bill of sale would normally be required but "off road" would not be acceptable. The insurer would be liable for any Third Party Claim should the vehicle be stolen - This is in the RTA.

 

With the above info though I'm sure us insurance bods will make things clearer for you & help where possible.

[JWhite]

1. Yes I did

2. It was coming to the end of the 3rd year

3. I am aware it is not currently illegal to have a Car without insurance if it is stored on private property, this does seem to be their small grasp of getting some money out of me which I will go to court over if required as it would only make me more than happy to hear them say in Court I am falsifying claims of doing this.

 

I have decided that it may be best to write to them one last time with all the paper work I have, if they believe to accept then it will be over, if not at the bottom of the letter I will ask them to take this straight to Court and stop faffing about.

[Trojan1401]

Ok,

 

My view here is that DL should cancel on a pro-rata basis from the date of receipt of the certicicate of motor insurance. It is an accepted rule that pro-rata rates should apply after the first renewal where no claim has been made within the policy year.

 

They may charge an admin fee which in my opinion is unfair in itself but I would ask for a full breakdown of how they arrive at the TOR ( Time on Risk ) charge.

 

One thing to be aware of is commission clawback as Tesco will take a commission from UK Insurance ( back to Direct Line & RBS again !!! ) and they may effectively charge you back the portion of the commission from the annual policy they must repay the Insurer.

 

Do get a full breakdown & post it on here.

[JWhite]

Have decided to take peoples tips from this post but will be going through FOS sent the forms off yesterday, even though its not much money on this I will NOT back down as I beleive these sort of placed need to stop thinking just of profits and think more of the people on the other end

[irritated2]

I wrote on my renewal notice for it to be cancelled as I had been in dispute with them over a very minor accident where they were rude and would not accept a word I said so I lost my no claims bonus.

 

They then sent to me a notice saying that they had cancelled my insurance from the 1st of Oct which I received on the 4th Oct giving me a £15 refund. My renewal date is the 22nd Oct. If I had accepted this I would have been driving illegally for 3 days without knowing it. Who would cancel 3 weeks of insurance and why was I not charged a cancellation fee.

 

Are they just trying to be awkward

[indebtstudent]

All insurance is a con, I have reached this conclusion based on my breif acquaintance with insurance (I'm only in my early 20's). Unfortunatley it is a neccesary evil so all we can do is do our best to make sure they screw us as little as possible.

[LemonTwist]

All insurance is a con, I have reached this conclusion based on my breif acquaintance with insurance (I'm only in my early 20's). Unfortunatley it is a neccesary evil so all we can do is do our best to make sure they screw us as little as possible.

 

I don't believe it is true that *all* insurance is a con. For example, the flood victims this year who had insurance would be very grateful that they were covered.

 

Furthermore, there are many insurance workers on this forum who are spending their free time to give advice to you and to others needing help. Why would they do this if they wanted to con you?

[Chesterexpress]

All insurance is a con, I have reached this conclusion based on my breif acquaintance with insurance (I'm only in my early 20's). Unfortunatley it is a neccesary evil so all we can do is do our best to make sure they screw us as little as possible.

 

What a load of rubbish, but having read your posts it doesn't come as a surprise.

[cazzaswfc]

I don't believe it is true that *all* insurance is a con. For example, the flood victims this year who had insurance would be very grateful that they were covered.

 

Furthermore, there are many insurance workers on this forum who are spending their free time to give advice to you and to others needing help. Why would they do this if they wanted to con you?

 

 

agreed, I'm one of them, I can assure you it's not part of my job to spend my free time on here!

 

Indebt, I can understand your frustration ( having read your post etc) but please remember the alternative, lets say no body has insurance anymore!! and then you crash into somebodys 50k merc????

 

The problem with insurance is it DOES seem like and expense for nothing, but the day you claim is the day you realise it's worth it!

 

Yes by reading this forum it's easy to think that things go wrong etc all the time but thats not the case. And trust me, when my car got swept away this summer in the Sheffield floods I was very happy to get a chq and my claim sorted within a week!!

[indebtstudent]

"but the day you claim is the day you realise it's worth it"

 

Ok ok saying all is too harsh but insurance companies often display quite breathtaking ability to wriggle out of paying...

 

Insurance is ok when it is straight forward but it seems to me more and more companies are hiding behind the T & C's when they know it is not practical for customers to go through them.

 

I know you could argue that the blame rests with the customer but think about it if you got say twenty quotes are you really going to read through them all to see exactly what is covered? No in reality you go by what the site or company tells you.

 

To be honest it was more the company I was dealing with's attitude that got on my nerves, I could feel the guy thinking no sale here so i dont care.

[Michael Browne]

Insurance is ok when it is straight forward but it seems to me more and more companies are hiding behind the T & C's when they know it is not practical for customers to go through them.

 

Insurance companies are merely glorified bookmakers, the only difference being bookmakers are far more likely to pay out in full on a legitimate claim

[indebtstudent]

That was what I was getting at, I've just realized my words have been interpreted wrongly. I meant insurance is a con in terms of the way it is administered.

 

As an ex bookie I need to make another comment...

 

Interesting to note that, contrary to the average punters opinion, the rules applied in a particular betting shop are clearly set out. Nobody reads them, but they are there to see and don't change often. Different firms have some slightly different rules BUT most of these rules are common sense. For example in a dead heat you get half your stake not half the odds because if you got half the odds the bookie could make a loss.

 

Why should I care the punter cries? Well because this risk would be reflected in the prices generally so that when you did back a winner the price would very likely be lower.

 

The rules governing betting seemed to me to be very much governed by common sense and most of the ones which limit what the customer can do came about because somebody did beat the bookie somehow.

 

With insurance it seems that the rights of the parties are too much in favour of the insurer.

 

Anyway can anyone give any guidance to the threadstarter? I think it best if I started my own thread for a sincere dialog with those who work in the insurance industry.

 

I too give my time for free and would like to get some more of the other side of the equation.

[LemonTwist]

I know you could argue that the blame rests with the customer but think about it if you got say twenty quotes are you really going to read through them all to see exactly what is covered? No in reality you go by what the site or company tells you.

 

In response to this, I would say that there is a 14-day cooling-off period when someone buys a policy. That, I believe, should give the customer ample time to read through the terms and conditions, read through what is covered and decide whether the policy meets their needs. If there is anything they don't understand, they can always ask.

I realise some people don't bother to read terms and conditions, but if they don't then they can't really complain if it turns out they're not covered for something.