Car insurance renewal cancelled

[bmw2602]

Hi everyone, got a question, had a renewal through for hastings direct car insurance, but no longer have the car so i sent a letter and returned the certificate of insurance telling them i no longer have the vehicle i do not want to renew my insurance, so i cancelled direct debit and 2 weeks later had a letter off them telling me they were going to take me to court for not paying my insurance, and said within 7 days if no reply they were going to cancel renewal, then 2 wks again later they sent me a letter saying thanks for your instructions to renew and thankyou for my payment by debit card, which i did not contact them, they only went and took 2 payments off my other halfs debit card without her authorisation, emailed them and now they wont return the money, can they take money off someone else's debit card without their authorisation i thought that was fraud ?

[CleverClogs]

Re: Car insurance renewal cancelled

Did your OH give her authority for the payments to be made using her card?

What did the bank say about it?

[des8]

Re: Car insurance renewal cancelled

As you no longer had the car you had no insurable interest and therefore you could not contract a policy of insurance for it. Be good if you returned certificate "signed for", but the fact they contacted you about non payment shows they had been informed by bank that DD had been cancelled. There has been no risk, and so no premium is due. IMO they must return all monies collected, even if your OH gave them authority to collect, as there could not have been any contract.
If no premium is paid the policy is generally voided by the insurer, if only as a precaution for themselves.
I'm surprised any company is this desperate for business.
I'd go through their complaints procedure (in writing signed for!) before starting proceedings in CC, but do listen to other posters here.

[bmw2602]

Re: Car insurance renewal cancelled

Hi thanks for your reply, no my OH didnt give her authority to take payments off her card, as we no longer had the vehicle,and the insurance was a renewal it was my insurance policy not her's, all DD payments were up to date, i have since sent them an email with my concerns again and they said we will contact you within 20 working days whew !! thats a long time. i have contacted the bank and they have sent me debit card dispute forms to fill in and return, now its just wait.

[des8]

Re: Car insurance renewal cancelled

Don't wait for the 20 working days! The direct debit guarantee means that if an error is made in the payment of a direct debit a full and immediate refund has to be made by your bank. No ifs and buts. Tell your bank they have 24 hours and if they don't respond correctly refer the problem to BACS at email: servicedesk@bacsservices.com or phone: 0870 165 0018. From experience I can say it works. It really p****s me off when the banks/building societies either don't know the rules or refuse to keep to them! Good luck.

[des8]

Re: Car insurance renewal cancelled

Just read your post (correctly this time!) and see its the Ins Co saying 20 days and not the bank. However when you return the bank dispute forms refer to the DD guarantee and give them 24 hours max. They have no choice!

[CleverClogs]

Re: Car insurance renewal cancelled

The payment was not taken by Direct Debit but by a Continuous Payment Authority, which may not have been properly authorised.

The insurance company was quite wrong, however, to have requested payments to be made from an account other than that operated by the policy holder.

[des8]

Re: Car insurance renewal cancelled

Right CC. As always I read too fast, noted DD had been cancelled and failed to realize payments taken via OP's other halves' card. Mea culpa and gone to the back of the class!

[bmw2602]

Re: Car insurance renewal cancelled

Hi all thanks for your help with this little dispute. Sorted :thumb: my bank refunded me without any problems and apolgised too. Also got letter off hastings saying that it investigated my complaint and they agreed there was an error to take the card payment and apologised profusely.. hence the return of my money... :whoo:

[billyjay]

Re: Car insurance renewal cancelled

Hi just need some help my friend and I shared a car, his name was on my policy as a named driver and the first insurance payment came from his debit card and the rest of the installments came from mine. However after a year my friend got his own car so I had his name taken off when insurance was renewed but they have taken 3 payments from his bank for my insurance and none from mine. We have told insurance company payments should be coming from mine but were told we had to sort the payments between us and I have noticed no payment has gone from my account this month.

[Esy 1]

Re: Car insurance renewal cancelled

oops

[bmw2602]

Re: Car insurance renewal cancelled

Hi just need some help my friend and I shared a car, his name was on my policy as a named driver and the first insurance payment came from his debit card and the rest of the installments came from mine. However after a year my friend got his own car so I had his name taken off when insurance was renewed but they have taken 3 payments from his bank for my insurance and none from mine. We have told insurance company payments should be coming from mine but were told we had to sort the payments between us and I have noticed no payment has gone from my account this month.

I would phone up your insurance company and tell them to start a new direct debit instruction from your account and tell them again that your friend is no longer on your policy. did they take 3 payments from your friends debit card or direct debit ? if it was his card ask him to phone his bank and start a debit card dispute and explain why ? i did and it worked they refunded my money within a couple of days. :thumb: