Insurance rip off and now we are screwed!

Morning everyone, hope someone can help with this or have had anything similar happen to them and give me an idea of which way to start heading.

As some of you know we had our landy stolen last year in October. We were insured by Direct Line. After a visit from the assessor etc we settled on a payout , which took quite some weeks, but in the end it was paid. We purchased another Landy and because of the bad service from Direct Line went with Swinton (we lost two years no claims from Direct line because of the theft)

We received a phone call from Swinton saying that our insurance would raise by.. get this £1500 because Direct Line wont release our no claims to them, saying we have none. So, we rang Direct Line who said they couldnt find our account when Swinton rang because my husband (who I married last year) had moved house and their records dont link house moves, but, they will let Swinton know when they ring.

We have just had another call from Swinton saying that Direct Line still wont release the paper work and our insurance will become null and void in the next 7 days if we dont pay the rise in the insurance. Another call to Direct Line this morning has revealed that they wont release the paper as this was a 'Fault Claim' and therefore the insurance is still active and we will have to pay them the monthly payments for the remainder of the term, which is to April. At NO point BEFORE on ANY phone call have direct line told us that we have to pay even if the account is closed!

So in short.. We have our car stolen, we lose 2 years no claim, they pay out, but we have to still keep paying them to be insured even though we dont have the car and if its recovered Direct Line own it!! (we realized at this point that they have indeed been taking money from account)

PLUS we have to pay the upped insurance with Swinton to be able to continue being insured.

Now, Im no law person, but surely this cant be right? and when we asked to speak to a manager we are told that there isnt one available and they will ring us back later.

HELP!

P.S Ive tried a search, on here and on the net and cannot, surprisingly, find anything about this situation.

Were you paying Direct Line monthly? If so, you will have to pay the remaining months left on the annual policy, normally this would be deducted from any settlement. If you pay the full year's insurance they will close the account. If they do not release your NCB to Swinton, threaten them with the Insurance Ombudsman.

crikey i got lost on the longest paragraph... hope you get it sorted soon. someone on here might have the know how for this kinda thing.

*minty* said:

crikey i got lost on the longest paragraph... hope you get it sorted soon. someone on here might have the know how for this kinda thing.

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Like I said, the remaining instalments on the policy will need to be paid before this is resolved.

Crash has got it spot on.
Your contract was for insurance for a year. Therefore Direct Line are correct in requiring you to pay the full amount. In the event of a total loss payout this is normally deducted before you are paid.
As for your N.C.B. then this is what it says, a bonus. If you have not completed your side of the contract then why should they be 'nice' to you.

Before you cry "unfair", you agreed to buy a product for a set price. Just because you make a claim on the policy doesn't mean you arent liable for the outstanding amount.

Thank you

We have contacted them again and they have agreed to send out the no claims. We are going to check out the paperwork too to see if anything was deducted. As to being 'nice' to us they havent since we woke to find our beloved gone (first and second time)

I guess my anger is vented, the w***kers that stole the car are the ones at fault.

In hindsight I guess we should have just transferred the insurance to the new car, but they never offered I suppose because it would have been cheaper

You live and learn eh?

Thank again

Agree with the rest. the remainder of your premium should have been deducted from your settlement however if that premium is still active for a few months, u should have been able to add your new car to that premium without cost. by choosing to go with swinton you'v basically chosen to run two premiums side by side. your old one wich has no car on it and your new one with your new car. I was in this same position last year. pain in the arse

If you pay monthly, it's usually a finance company you're paying, not the insurance company. You do have to pay a full year's insurance if you make a claim according to any insurance paperwork I've ever had - read the small print! Either way, there's no reason they shouldn't send you or your new insurer proof of no claims. It's not a matter of being "nice", they have an obligation to do this, it's not like they're doing you a favour.
Anyway, why shouldn't they be "nice"? It doesn't cost anything, and it's good for business - it's called customer service.

Y dint you just stay insured with your new landy with direct line and change vehicle details and dont renew it in april.

dogsbody said:

Crash has got it spot on.
Your contract was for insurance for a year. Therefore Direct Line are correct in requiring you to pay the full amount. In the event of a total loss payout this is normally deducted before you are paid.
As for your N.C.B. then this is what it says, a bonus. If you have not completed your side of the contract then why should they be 'nice' to you.

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Nail & head.

I love that they pay out, so you reward them by taking your business elsewhere, then moan about them. FFS.

dont think they insure trailers either...

make sure you get protected ncb too

Insurance companies are as bad as the thieves in my experience. Not a surprise to hear of so many going without insurance.

if 2years NCB is 1500 How much are you Paying for your insurance

Orch said:

Nail & head.

I love that they pay out, so you reward them by taking your business elsewhere, then moan about them. FFS.

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I moan because we were treated as though we had had the car stolen on purpose, they came and offered us the most ridiculous payout (at which we only looked at him and they said "I know, you couldnt possibly replace this car with that"

Then they delayed paying us after we had sent all the documents, keys, required forms etc. After inquiring weeks later why we hadnt been paid they said that we hadnt sent them anything. Lucky we did it by registered post eh? but what a pain to prove that!

I moan because after they said that everything was in order and actually had sent everything, they couldn't possibly transfer us to the department that send out the cheques because they dont have a transfer number to them, but hey we will put a flag up again on the system. Three times, two weeks apart this happened

Oh and just to add as an update to today. The manager rang back, eventually, and has ADMITTED that they had misled and miss-advised us and offered us a £50 discount from the payout of the policy. We have offered to pay off the remainder, however they cant take payments on a sunday. But we can tomorrow, however we've been warned that they may be busy.

The reason we didnt want to stay with them was because the customer service was appalling and didnt help us, but hindered us instead when we had the landy stolen.

Again thanks for your responses, we followed some advice on here and have got it sorted.

The way it works :
You agreed to pay for a policy covering your vehicle, that policy has to be paid in full . When your vehicle was stolen and the total loss payment was made , they were then trusting you to honour the installment contract , untill it was paid in full.
You could not transfer what was left of the policy to run , as the policy would terminate on payment of a total loss on that policy .
So if you stayed with them for your new vehicle you would have to take a new policy . If there was any no claims bonus still left that could have been transferred to your new policy .. HTSH