| Motoring Discussion > Walk of Shame :( | Tax / Insurance / Warranties |
| Thread Author: Fullchat | Replies: 17 |
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New Fri 6 May 22 23:44
Walk of Shame :( - Fullchat
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Today I received a letter from the Motor Insurers Bureau claiming my vehicle (VRM details shown) was not shown as insured on the MID (Motor Insurers Database) and advising that I should contact my insurers. Consequences could be DVLA on my case for breaching 'Continuous Insurance'. WOT!!!!!??? So I checked MID and sure enough it corroborated what the letter was saying. Into the folder for that vehicle and pull out the envelope with insurance details therein. Ive been with Direct Line for some years now. Insurance expiry date 16.2.22. Renewal letter 18.1.22 Renewal Txt 18.1.22 Renewal letter reminder 1.2.22 Renewel Txt 1.2.22 So plenty of reminders. DL have a 'My Account' with copies of all the documents etc. The renewal notice gives several options one of which is through 'My Account'. I recall entering 'My Account' on the renewal date and it stated that it would auto renew and not to do anything. At 15.05 On the 21.2.22 I decided to recheck 'My Account, to see if the policy had renewed and it stated 'Your policy will automatically renew on 21/02/2022'. I had the option to 'Stop the renewal' or 'Pay now'. Not much point paying now the transaction was about to be completed. Something was niggling me so I did a screen shot. However and its probably a bit slack on my part I never re re checked and credit cards are way behind as regards payments so it never flagged up. So bottom line is that it would appear my vehicle has not been insured from the 16.2.22 until 6.5.22. Called DL and the policy renewed. They stated that it couldn't Auto Renew as they hadn't got my card details. However the start date is today. When I expressed concern that DVLA could potentially be chasing me the representative said that they had never known it happen and they could supply some sort of Certificate of Indemnity to cover admin issues. Good job I've not been using it on the road. It did have the potential to cause me some pain. Last edited by: Fullchat on Fri 6 May 22 at 23:49
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New Sat 7 May 22 06:45
Walk of Shame :( - Lygonos
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Did you get a new CC between last year's renewal and this year's? A new card would have different expiry and CVC so auto-renewal would fail. |
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New Sat 7 May 22 11:29
Walk of Shame :( - zippy
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>> Did you get a new CC between last year's renewal and this year's? >> >> A new card would have different expiry and CVC so auto-renewal would fail. >> Automatic Billing Updater from the card companies ensures that trusted retailers and insurance companies have the latest card details. |
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New Sat 7 May 22 18:20
Walk of Shame :( - Lygonos
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>>Automatic Billing Updater from the card companies ensures that trusted retailers and insurance companies have the latest card details. Is that a relatively recent system? I have had autorenewals fail due to card changes although I think was maybe about 4 years ago, and the insurer contacted me at the point of failure advising me to sort it out within 14 days or cover would lapse. |
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New Sat 7 May 22 07:14
Walk of Shame :( - CGNorwich
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It is illegal to back date a certificate of insurance. However when there is a genuine error the insurer is usually prepared to issue a letter of indemnity stating that they will act as if the certificate had been issued and the insurance was in force. That usually satisfies the authorities. Used to happen a lot when I worked in motor insurance and cover notes were issued by hand and our diary system, a filing cabinet, failed. |
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New Sat 7 May 22 07:28
Walk of Shame :( - James T
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I've just had similar. I had a renewal letter from LV a couple of weeks ago. It says the policy will auto renew. I had two letters yesterday. One was the new policy. The other revoked my insurance for non-payment. It turned out they had an old credit card number on file. I'm pleased I wasn't away from home - I was able to phone them and give a new number. There was no attempt to phone me, or email (they have both). The post around here has been a bit erratic. All told, I feel fortunate to have caught it. But I've turned off auto-renewal. It was supposed to make things easier. Instead I'll just go to the website and pay each year. |
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New Sat 7 May 22 08:37
Walk of Shame :( - Bill Payer
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>> I've just had similar. >> >> I had a renewal letter from LV a couple of weeks ago. It says the >> policy will auto renew. >> >> I had two letters yesterday. One was the new policy. The other revoked my insurance >> for non-payment. >> >> It turned out they had an old credit card number on file. >> I've had the same with LV= which I don't understand as I thought with continuing authority on a credit card it should just keep working - I certainly had that on amagazine subscription I though would just die when I closed a card account but the card company just sent me a new bill. Anyway, in my case with LV they said they'd gone ahead and renewed it anyway, and asked me to get in touch to pay. |
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New Sat 7 May 22 08:19
Walk of Shame :( - Bromptonaut
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I had exactly the same experience with communications from Direct Line. Insurance expiry c30-01-22. In early January I received a communication advising of the 22/23 premium and either in the body of that message or upon checking on line there was a clear statement that the policy would auto renew. Subsequently I received, like Fullchat, messages by various channels reminding me to pay. After the third of those I rang DL. The agent I spoke to advised my policy would *NOT* auto renew. I cannot remember the reason I was given. I paid up on line there and then. Like Fullchat I was alarmed to have been put at risk if driving uninsured. At the time I was still working in Northampton so that as well a ordinary social use I was commuting two days a week. I made a strong verbal complaint. No insurance is a very serious offence; at least six points and a fine and likely severe difficulty/cost in finding insurance in the future. I too was assured that in the event of being caught they would indemnify me in some way. Frankly, I didn't believe they would produce such a document; they'd wriggle on the basis of their reminders and my responsibility to check. Even if such a document were issued I doubted it would be legally valid. The agent clearly though I had no cause for complaint; the policy was after all now renewed. I had an email a day later saying the complaint was closed. It was about the same time that I was placed at risk if redundancy due to changes in the DWP contract that funded my post. I should have pursued it further but did not When I was caseworking for the Court of Protection one of my 'customers' was driving without insurance. If I recall the circumstances involved various disreputable hangers on he had. He was stopped and somehow managed to secure a backdated cover note - he was well educated, articulate and had money - hence the druggie hangers on. So far as I recall the Police pointed out that insurance law forbade backdating cover and he was convicted and fined. If I'd been in an accident, at fault, and had caused injuries requiring life long care and millions in lost earnings would they have stumped up? Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Sat 7 May 22 at 08:24
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New Sat 7 May 22 08:36
Walk of Shame :( - Zero
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>> No insurance is a very serious offence; at least >> six points and a fine Fear not, you have a good character witness, retired policman, exemplary record, prepared to explain how administration errors can happen. |
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New Sat 7 May 22 10:22
Walk of Shame :( - Fullchat
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No Insurance is however an 'Absolute Offence' with only one defence, and that is if as an employee you had no reason to believe that your employers would not have insurance cover. Some mitigation maybe. Consider the scenario at the roadside having been pinged on ANPR. PC makes all diligent inquiries and the 'computer says NO'. That's it, car is recovered on a low loader and you are arranging a lift.Then having to fight your corner. Recovery fees. £200 fixed penalty and so on. A whole load of grief. Back in the day the first question when inquiring as to the validity of a policy was, "Have they been involved in an accident?" If the response was "No" they normally deemed their customers as covered. As regards the card details they have been the same for a number of years. I'm sure with DL you used to get a 'touting for business call' a couple of weeks prior to see if you wished to renew and take payment. Last edited by: Fullchat on Sat 7 May 22 at 10:23
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New Sat 7 May 22 11:55
Walk of Shame :( - zippy
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As you weren’t using the car FC, no harm done. The DVLA SORN thing seems unfair to me. Seems to catch innocent errors like this and not the real crooks who have no intention of getting insurance and clone plates etc. (I have just checked my credit card online and a payment went out to LV in March on automatic renewal -PHEW- I saw the reminder and as there were only a few £ between them and the cheapest I left it to automatically renew.) Last edited by: zippy on Sat 7 May 22 at 11:58
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New Sat 7 May 22 14:59
Walk of Shame :( - Bromptonaut
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>> The DVLA SORN thing seems unfair to me. Seems to catch innocent errors like this >> and not the real crooks who have no intention of getting insurance and clone plates >> etc. In this case it's actually worked by flagging a car that was off insurance by accident. Whilst continuous insurance unless the car is SORN is a bit of a pain it has the practical advantage of closing the loophole where the car has to be caught on the road. The rule has a clear red line that is visible to all. |
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New Sat 7 May 22 17:23
Walk of Shame :( - Dave
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Here in sunny Sweden they send an invoice and the insurance is automatically renewed unless you tell them otherwise. A bit confusing at first, as I assumed by not paying, the insurance would lapse automatically. Then I got a reminder with a late payment fee. Now eveything is on a central computer somewhere, if you swap insurers the new one contacts and cancels the existing policy. |
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New Wed 18 May 22 07:36
Walk of Shame :( - Bromptonaut
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Not exactly the same but disturbingly similar: www.theguardian.com/money/2022/may/17/direct-line-mix-up-led-to-300-fine-and-six-points-on-licence In this case LV are wriggling off the hook. |
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New Wed 18 May 22 10:04
Walk of Shame :( - zippy
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>> In this case LV are wriggling off the hook. >> To be fair, I think that it was Direct Line. |
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New Wed 18 May 22 10:17
Walk of Shame :( - Rudedog
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A bit odd.. Do you get a roadside 'cover' so you can continue to drive when it's no insurance in the UK? Also I thought no insurance was a years ban? I've been meaning to post about a family experience we've had that lead to my daughter's partner getting a ban for no insurance to show that there is absolutely no give or empathy over this. He had a first car bought for him by his dad which came with insurance but unfortunately they had a massive falling out and out of spite the father cancelled the insurance without telling his son, of course he was stopped not knowing he wasn't covered. He went to court and pleaded his case but they banned him which meant he lost his job. The father was going to attend and explain but never showed up! As it happened just as covid started he then had the issues with the driving test delays so it caused no end of grief and heartache. |
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New Wed 18 May 22 11:08
Walk of Shame :( - Lygonos
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>>Also I thought no insurance was a years ban? No insurance isn't an immediate ban, it's 6 points. If, however, you get 6 points within 2 years of passing your test then your licence is withdrawn and you need to resit the test (theory and practical). Not a technical disqualification so presumably doesn't wreck your insurance premiums for years. Last edited by: Lygonos on Wed 18 May 22 at 11:08
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New Wed 18 May 22 12:36
Walk of Shame :( - Fullchat
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Same set of circumstances as myself. Only difference was that I was contacted by the MIB to inform me the vehicle was uninsured on their database and remedied. Fortunately I was not pulled by the Old Bill (well I wouldn't be if I wasn't using it) or the outcome may have been exactly the same. Fortunately I have a screenshot of 'My Dashboard' which indicates I need to take no further action at renewal. That MAY have been my get out of jail card - if I'd been using it. |
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