car insurance

[enaid]

Re: car insurance

I don't know what you mean the policy carries on after the car is written off, I understand if you do have it repaired and the car is still being used then the policy would carry on.
If the car is squished up then there is nothing to insure but I understand you would have had to pay for the whole policy.

[alham]

Re: car insurance

The policy exists (shall we call it "suspended") until expiry - as mentioned above the replacement vehicle can be covered by the same policy!

[TUTTSI]

Re: car insurance

From my experience both as a former insurance broker and a Mum a total write off is what it is there is no insurable car after the payout so therefore the policy is finished. This happened to my son he wrote off his brand new car which was less than 3 months old on HP the payout went straight to his HP company less his huge excess and the policy came to an end but it had to also be fully paid up. My son was very hot headed and I would have thought he would have gone balistic at loosing his car and nothing to show, but hey that is life and the terms on the policy and he accepted that QED he also had a small shortfall which he had to pay.

I don't see a need for this to be changed without the insurers putting up vastly the cost of your car insurance, by changing the way it is now - shop around ask questions and see how much a Monthly policy is - I know when we sold it at the brokers it was exhorbitant and people really only took it if they only wanted to insure for a very short time.

I am trying to help the original poster and have asked some questions in an earlier post which if they answered I may be able to advise more. So lets try sticking on this thread to the orinal posters predicament. This is not the thread for these sort of discussions which some of you believe is an unfair term. Can I respectfully suggest that you start a new thread on that topic so that we can best help this poster without going off in another direction.

ps just read Alhams post - he is incorrect.

Not correct my friend. Even when the car is written off the policy carries on. Say, the car is written off because not worth repairing, you buy it back from insurer, repair it - the policy will carry on covering it until expiry (I did this twice, once in early 90s, the second time a few months ago). Whether or not you buy the vehicle back the policy carries on - say you replace the written off vehicle, the replacement, especially if like for like, will be insured on the original policy until its natural expiry. That's the reason why I asked about the replacement offer in thread 11 - they need to be pressed hard to get the better deal.

[miliitant]

Re: car insurance

i know nothing at all about insurance etc so please stay with me on this

if you cancel a policy mid term then you get back a percentage of your premium minus and broker fees etc if paid 12 months up front

so why do the insurance company in this case take back the full premium, it must be just a percentage , after all, you cant insure a vehicle that you no longer have, it has been written off

paying dd makes no difference, the policy just gets cancelled mid term

why are people being charged the full 12 months then ??

that would be subject to unfair contracts legislation if it was in the t&c

[TUTTSI]

Re: car insurance

You state you know nothing about car insurance so why are you giving wrong advice. It is just your opinion and that is not fact. Again I will re-iterate start a new thread for this type of discussion to see if the terms and conditions are unfair and can be challenged but it is NOT for this thread as it does not help the original poster.

i know nothing at all about insurance etc so please stay with me on this

if you cancel a policy mid term then you get back a percentage of your premium minus and broker fees etc if paid 12 months up front

so why do the insurance company in this case take back the full premium, it must be just a percentage , after all, you cant insure a vehicle that you no longer have, it has been written off

paying dd makes no difference, the policy just gets cancelled mid term

why are people being charged the full 12 months then ??

that would be subject to unfair contracts legislation if it was in the t&c

[enaid]

Re: car insurance

Just a last word from me, this is not cancelling the policy it using the policy to the full.

[bluebottle]

Re: car insurance

I dunno. I recently stopped insurance on a car 'mid-term,' and did so by cancelling the Direct Debit and informing the insurer that the 'risk' had ceased. I was not forced to continue paying my monthly instalments for the rest of the year. It may well have become 'accepted' that we pay our car insurance in one-year 'chunks,' but I don't think that is now any more 'acceptable' than the old 'accepted' charge of £25 to £39 for bouncing a cheque. Once a car is written-off, then the insurance 'risk' ceases to exist. So the underwriters get a full year's premium for just 6 months cover ?

I don't think so. We have been programmed over the years to accept such things as 'grace and favour' privileges, when in fact we are being ripped off all along. It may well be 'custom and practice,' - but I really don't think we should be accepting that without a challenge. NOT here - of all places !!!

Being 'allowed' to spread the cost of an upfront yearly premium over 12 months in NOT a favour, IMO. It is a loan - just like front-loaded PPI is - and it is subject to loan interest. Writing off the car effectively returns the remaining 'goods or service' back to the supplier, in that the risk ceases to exist - and the 'loan' is paid off early.

There is new legislation coming into force in 2013 that is going to knock on the head a lot of the unfair practices insurance companies have engaged in over the years. As regards paying by instalments, I recently had to scrap my car which had been on cover for two months and only had to pay for those two months. As for "custom and practice", to the best of my knowledge and belief, this was knocked on the head by the courts some years ago as the ruling affected a wide number of practices in a wide number of areas of business and industry. The terms and conditions of the insurance policy should state whether the insurers can do what they say they can. If not, I would be inclined to challenge this and, if necessary, refer the matter to the Insurance Ombudsman. In my experience, if a car is declared a Total Loss, the insurance policy ceases to have any effect.

[BBNB]

Re: car insurance

I wrote my car off 8 months into ownership (no gap insurance so still paying the underpayment off) and transferred the insurance onto my replacement car with no hassle. I guess it depends on the circumstances. But 3 years on and I am still paying off finance for a car that was a write off. That's life sometimes. Do I think I shouldn't pay - no. I had the goods, they are gone, not my insurers fault or my finance company's fault. I think we need to get real people. Check your T&Cs relating to your cancellation clause and go from there.

[wales01man]

Re: car insurance

A lesson here for everone CHECK THE SMALLPRINT no use trying to avoid the terms and conditions after the event we all ignore the smallprint at our own peril?

[bluebottle]

Re: car insurance

Well put, Wales.

As all TSOs, Watchdog and Dominic Littlewood are always banging on about CHECK THE SMALL PRINT!!

[shell]

Re: car insurance

From what I understand the policy continues for the term of the policy taken out.

I'll explain. About 2 years ago I had a car that was quite heavy on the fuel, I bought a small car from my local mechanic, Swapped my old car as well. While at the garage I phoned the insurer and had the policy swapped to the new car. I drove out of the garage, around the corner, hit diesel in the road and wrote the car off. I phoned the insurers from the accident, I also phoned my mechanic who then brought my old car round. So while on the phone to the insurer to report the accident, I also changed the insurance back to my old car again. The insurance then paid out (more than I actually paid for the car) and my policy continued until the end of term when I renewed it as I normally would.

The insurer informed me I was buying a policy, and although it could go up or down depending on the value of the car, I was buying insurance for the year. So what I understand is that I am buying a policy and all I have to do is nominate a car to go on it. So if you don't cancel the policy then you should get the full payment minus the excess.

[Bill-K]

Re: car insurance

My son has just written his car off and the insurance people have offered him £1000. Minus 250 excess, minus 675 as they pay monthly and so havent paid for all their insurance yet!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! so they will pay them £75!!. Can they do this?????

Again I will re-iterate start a new thread for this type of discussion to see if the terms and conditions are unfair and can be challenged but it is NOT for this thread as it does not help the original poster.

I beg to differ, Tuttsi. The OP has asked our opinions as to whether the insurer can charge for the remainder of the year for which the policy was originally taken out, and we have been giving them. Whether they are right or wrong makes no difference to the fact that we are all trying to help the OP as best we can.

If the T&C's ARE unfair, then it may be possible to challenge them via the Ombudsman or the courts. At the very least, the OP should check them - and perhaps allow some of us here to see them as well. If the small print in a contract contains T&C's which are unlear and/or unfair, then surely the validity of that contract can be - and just as importantly, SHOULD BE - challenged ?

[bluebottle]

Re: car insurance

From what I can gather, the motor insurance industry has been toying with the idea of motorists paying for their insurance by monthly Direct Debit as part of Continuous Insurance Enforcement for some time, especially where young and inexperienced drivers are concerned. However, in order to do this, the insurer needs to install a "black box" in the insured's vehicle. This works using GPS/GPRS and mobile phone technology and tracks the vehicle, noting driving style, speed, etc.. At the moment, motor insurers cannot force motorists to fit these "black boxes" to their vehicles and politicians seem reluctant to to give in to them. It has many legal hurdles to jump, not least Human Rights and Data Protection issues. Possibly, the new legislation on its way in will answer this question, especially the one posed by the OP.

[the hawk]

Re: car insurance

Aha I see your still keeping this subject alive WELL DONE but still you have not given much advice to nannieali who i presume has checked the T & C and i am guessing it is in the documentation to pay the remainder of the policy but some of you are coming on the side of the Insurance companies i thought you were a consumer help and advice centre maybe i was wrong anyways no one here has seen todays news headlines on the BBC ??" Car insurance facing Competition Commission study" so guess what! thats another office thats going to recieve a letter from me yes some of you can fall on the side of the insurers saying you havent paid the full amount! what about if you bought a fridge on monthly payments and it broke down would you have to wait until you paid it off before you could get a replacement ?? dont think so I will part with a shot so to speak "TUTTSI" try and help people and understand where they are coming from and not come down like a ton of bricks! "are you sure your not an ex -insurance advisor that feels hes got rumbled? lol "Blue bottle" Take that policemans helmet off and return to being a consumer! enaid join up with the previous two and go on a HR course and by the way if all three of you can afford to loose money on Car insurance like nannieali's son give me your bank account details i need a holiday!

[Angry Cat]

Re: car insurance

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-18268650