My insurance policy (with a very large UK insurer) expired a few days ago, and a month or so ago they sent me the renewal offer with a slightly reduced price. I didn't really have time to go around looking for new quotes so happily went along with it - the letter said that unless I asked otherwise they would automatically renew the policy for me upon expiry. I thought nothing more of it.
The expiry date was the 2nd (Sunday). I phoned them yesterday (3rd) to add a temporary driver for the day. The conversation went like this, after I had given my policy number:
Them: "Sir, your policy expired yesterday"
Me: "Isn't it supposed to automatically renew?"
Them: "Yes"
Me: "Well....did it?"
Them: "No"
Me: "Why not!"
Them: "Don't know. It's set to automatically renew on our system but it hasn't worked. Maybe the computer's broken"
Me: "So you mean I've been driving around all day with no insurance"
Them: "Yes, I think so"
Them: "We'll just get it renewed for you now sir"
!!
Two points come to mind...
What luck I had to call them to add a driver. I'm not the kind of person who would have noticed not getting a new certificate in the post; I haven't even opened the post from last week yet! It could easily have been weeks before I realised.
What would have happened if I was pulled over that morning?
|
"What would have happened if I was pulled over that morning?"
You would have been stuffed! Moral is always check.
Mind you, the penalties for non insurance seem to be almost non existant these days.
|
"What would have happened if I was pulled over that morning?"
Nothing. The database probably isn't updated, or is wrong anyway. And they have their own insurance to cover screw-ups like this, should you have had an accident.
|
I'd suspect if you'd asked next week all would have been well.
Combination of slow update of database - but then again the insured would object if charged ahead of renewal - and ill informed call centre operative.
Bit like the railway one today who kept parroting "I've not been briefed about engineering work on 27 December" when challenged on the one hour journey turned to three.
Edited by Bromptonaut on 04/12/2007 at 22:48
|
>>>>>> Round The Bend
"What would have happened if I was pulled over that morning?"
You would have been stuffed! Moral is always check.
Mind you, the penalties for non insurance seem to be almost non existant these days.
**********************************************************************
**
I would certainly beg to differ on the last comment from Bromptonaut
Caught driving an uninsured car will likely see it removed and impounded.
If you end up in Court you will get upwards of five points on your licence (providing you have one to endorse of course)
|
Impounding is a scary thought - if they had taken my car would the insurance company have been liable to pay for its return, and my inconvenience in getting myself around in the meantime? Or would I have been liable as I was negligent in not phoning up to check the auto renewal had worked? And if they were liable, could that be stretched to paying my fine for me & contributing towards future increased premiums (not likely !!)
I wonder how much discretion an officer has in circumstances like these. I would hope (though perhaps not the case) that he would have a different attitude in pulling someone like me - a young business type driving a new car, polite & respectful - than perhaps the stereotype that we would associate with having no insurance of a "chav" driving an old banger with no MOT, and as said above possibly not even got a license at all!
It's all very well the insurance company having insurance to pay for an accident in these circumstances, but I'm more bothered about my points and fine which they can't do anything about.
Hopefully as said above it was just a case of a slow database update and had I phoned them next week there would not have been a problem.
|
>>I wonder how much discretion an officer has in circumstances like these ?
>>
Judging by recent TV police documentaries the answer is a big round ZERO.
|
What has happened to the old rule that was you are only insured if you have the physical certificate in hand. Not 'in the post' , not 'I was told by telephone they had done it............', or not even a fax copy.
If you have been brought up on rules like that you will NEVER make that mistake. It was always possible to get a locally issued cover note if the cert had not arrived, altho that has become increasingly difficult. Altho I did mange it about 3 years ago to get a local branch cover note issued ojn the telephone say so of head office.
I do have to admit to having accepted a telephone conversation backed up by a fax copy of the certificate on one occasion in about 100 car years of motoring.
--
pmh (was peter)
|
What has happened to the old rule that was you are only insured if you have the physical certificate in hand.
It still applies - though few people seem to realise.
Holding the certificate must carry some weight as it's a an offence not to return it promptly if you cancel a car insurance policy.
|
What has happened to the old rule that was you are only insured if you have the physical certificate in hand.
Yes, James86 should have had alarm bells ringing when his new insurance certificate had not arrived by the expiry date of the old one.
I also suspect that the call centre staff who spoke to James were probably misinformed.
|
Yes I do know that it is technically the case where you have to have the certificate "in hand" but wasn't sure how appllied that was these days.
I very often have to swap cars for work reasons, often on virtually no notice at all. I'm always ringing up adding cars / drivers (probably 3 - 5 times a month) so waiting for postal certificates would not be practical. Also I'm away from home quite a lot so my post can take days to get opened; I would have had no idea that I hadn't had a certificate.
Either way it sounds like I may have had a lucky escape!
I was surprised recently; I borrowed a demo BMW 123d from a dealer through our company car scheme for 2 days, but it had to be covered through my own insurance. The dealer rang me the day before to give me the details to get it covered, but said not to bother bringing the certificate as they would just trust me!
|
One major problem with auto renewal occurs when your card expires before renewal. They will say they will renew, have out of date details, card payment gets bounced then they write to you.
It is up to you to check the details of the account they will process the payment from, which should be on the renewal letter.
|
"as they would just trust me!"
Trust is still very popular here in Sweden.
Took my car into the Toyota dealer the other day to have the engine heater fitted, and was given a Yaris for the day.
No checking licence, no insurance required, no forms to sign, no dire warnings about insurance excess higher than the value of the car, half a tank of gas, and they don't even know my address. They obviously still know the meaning of 'courtesy' car, ie. free.
|
I'm always ringing up adding cars / drivers (probably 3 - 5 times a month)
It seems to me that you have found a very good Insurance Company that is prepared to make so many changes so often.
As it is a positive feedback, can you tell us the name of the company?
Are they required and/or do they send you a new certificate at every change?
How much do they charge for making each amendment?
|
It's Direct Line actually. This is my second anniverary with them and they've been almost faultless - only ever had glass claims so not really much to report there. Other than this issue I don't have any other complaints.
They never seem very bothered about my changes, as I say one every couple of weeks at the least, sometimes more often.
They vary between adding a new driver to my car or adding a different car to my policy (either as a second car or as a replacement car, with mine sitting unused)
Sometimes get no charge at all. Other times a few pounds - never very much. They don't distinguish between an admin fee and increased premium. As an example, it cost £7 or so to swap my normal Focus 2.0tdci to a BMW 123d for 2 days, but then a month or so ago it cost £12 to upgrade the Focus to a BMW 320d for a few weeks. That suggests most of that is an admin fee rather than premium increases. A few weeks ago I added a different 320d for 2 days and there was no charge at all. Then it cost me £14 yesterday to add my dad to my Focus for 24 hours. Their charging policy doesn't seem to be very consistent!
They always send me a new certificate - quite often I find I get two new certificates in separate envelopes on the same day!
|
James, many thanks for the reply. Useful information. Much appreciated.
|
If you are ever in doubt that a car is insured you can always check the Insurance database yourself:
www.askmid.com/askmid.aspx
|
|
I would certainly beg to differ on the last comment from Bromptonaut
I didn't mean to suggest there was nowt to worry about - just that I suspected a small cock up rather than a major one.
My own insurers, current and previous, have sent out the certificate with renewal paperwork. I think Liv Vic asked for it's return when I failed to renew.
|
|
|
|
