Car Insurance Renewal Problem

I've had an issue with my renewal of car insurance, which effectively resulted in a period of time where I had no insurance, yet the company had taken money from my account for the new policy.

I got notification of the renewal and the letter stated that if I wished to stay with the company I didn't need to do anything, just sit and wait. I decided to stick with them as they had knocked a good bit off last year's premiums and I was happy, so I did as instructed, i.e. nothing.

A couple of weeks went by and nothing happened. So I contacted the provider and they were happy enough with the renewal. More weeks go by and no certificate. Now the insurance has lapsed and there's still nothing and when contacting the insurer I get the phone equivallent of a shrug of the shoulders and the statement that my policy has lapsed and that I should go through the quotations system again.

In a situation of having no car insurance (fortunately I was able to not drive during this period), I thought that as they'd fecked up somewhere I should sod them and get a different quote, I did and ended up saving even more. Problem is, the original company then take money from my account and still don't send through any certification or discs.

I contact them again asking why they took the money and told me the policy no longer existed and that I didn't need their insurance anymore. In response to this they sent through the discs and took more money from my account.

Effectively the original insurer left me in a position of having no insurance, despite telling me orignally that all was fine. They then lapse the insurance and then magically renew it.

Before I get onto them with a long letter of complaint and ask for my money back, I just wondered whether:

a) Anyone else has experienced this?
b) They stated that I didn't need to respond to the renewal if I wished to stay with them. Is this right?
c) What are the aspects of this and leaving me with no insurance? I did everything they asked (even though this was to do nothing) and I had a period of 2 weeks uninsured.


thanks in advance.

the insurers are completly at fault
If you have a direct debit facility set up, by doing nothing and leaving it in place you are signalling your intent to renew.
Equally by taking money from your account the insurers are taking money for a service provided - i.e. insurance cover
If you had of had an accident the insurers would of had to stand by any claim as they have taken monies from you.
Despite what the CSA you were talking to on the phone said, I believe if you asked to talk to thier manager they will confirm that cover was in place, as it sounds to me that the person you were talking to didnt have a clue what they were talking about.

I'm a bit confused with timespan.

'a couple of weeks go by', then 'more weeks', then policy lapses, but yo uwere only two weeks without cover?

Could it be that you were two weeks without the certificate and disc, but were insured all the time?

If the money was taken out, then you were covered.

Ravima said:

I'm a bit confused with timespan.

'a couple of weeks go by', then 'more weeks', then policy lapses, but yo uwere only two weeks without cover?

Could it be that you were two weeks without the certificate and disc, but were insured all the time?

If the money was taken out, then you were covered.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the replies.

Renewal form came in about 1 month before end of cover.

The two weeks of "no cover" came about from the end of the policy date and the company saying it had lapsed and finalising new cover, which was delayed as I was away with work and usual efficiency issues of the postal system.

Policy lapsed on a Friday, I was told that day that it had lapsed by company and therefore had no cover. I went through an alternative provider to arrange cover.

Then two weeks later the original company took money from my account, after they claimed the policy had lasped.