Insurance Nightmare - What to do

[brucemillar]

Folks

I need some advice please. A long story. I will try and be brief.

I had three Mercs insured with Footman James / AON. I have been with FJ for 20 years and been happy with their service.

Last October I received a letter from them stating that they could no longer insure my C55 due to a change in their strategy. They were returning to their roots in Classic Car insurance and would no longer insure "modern" cars. This gave me just less than a month to find a new insurer. Not very happy about this, but these things happen.

I found Insurance for my C55 with MoreThan who offered the same premium and policy cover etc. - All Good.

I then called Footman James and asked about my C240 which they had recently renewed. Would they cancel that? Yes they would. As with the C55 they would not renew it.

Worse to follow. They would not insure my Pajero - They don't do imports. And they were reviewing the W124 as they were not sure it was a classic.

So. Back to where we are today. I now want to have all my cars on one policy to take advantage of any discounts etc.

I write to Footman James and ask them to cancel the C240 as their actions have made it plain they will not renew and I need to get the best deal with Multi car etc.

Footman James reply. They have cancelled the C240 on receipt of my letter. However I have to continue paying the monthly premiums to Close Finance as they cannot be cancelled as it is a credit agreement.

So now I have no insurance on my C240 but I am still paying the monthly premium and Footman James see no issue as they say they only did what I asked them to do.

I had assumed that cancellation of the policy also meant cancellation of he premiums. Why else would I cancel if it left me still paying monthly premiums.

Help...

 

[trapperjohn]

Cant help with Close Finance but this may help on the Insurance front.


http://www.mbclub.co.uk/forums/insu...orton-fleet-insurance-highly-recommended.html

 

[grober]

Promise of Service - Classic Car & Motorcycle Insurance from Footman James

 

[IanA2]

Well in terms of the future, I'd try NFU or Aviva, both do muti-car policies, my preference, although they are not the cheapest, would be NFU.

As to your premiums, they're trying it on. I assume they arranged the payment method, that being so, they should resolve the issue. However, if you cancelled before they sad they would not renew, they are entitled to use time on risk (TOR) for the purposes of calculating any refund. I am afraid that using that method you are likely to get very little return premium. Best bet would be to argue that it was a misunderstanding, reinstate cover, and then add the cars one by one to the new multicar policy. They do not have to go on all at the one time.

HTH.

 

[Charles Morgan]

Folks

I need some advice please. A long story. I will try and be brief.

I had three Mercs insured with Footman James / AON. I have been with FJ for 20 years and been happy with their service.

Last October I received a letter from them stating that they could no longer insure my C55 due to a change in their strategy. They were returning to their roots in Classic Car insurance and would no longer insure "modern" cars. This gave me just less than a month to find a new insurer. Not very happy about this, but these things happen.

I found Insurance for my C55 with MoreThan who offered the same premium and policy cover etc. - All Good.

I then called Footman James and asked about my C240 which they had recently renewed. Would they cancel that? Yes they would. As with the C55 they would not renew it.

Worse to follow. They would not insure my Pajero - They don't do imports. And they were reviewing the W124 as they were not sure it was a classic.

So. Back to where we are today. I now want to have all my cars on one policy to take advantage of any discounts etc.

I write to Footman James and ask them to cancel the C240 as their actions have made it plain they will not renew and I need to get the best deal with Multi car etc.

Footman James reply. They have cancelled the C240 on receipt of my letter. However I have to continue paying the monthly premiums to Close Finance as they cannot be cancelled as it is a credit agreement.

So now I have no insurance on my C240 but I am still paying the monthly premium and Footman James see no issue as they say they only did what I asked them to do.

I had assumed that cancellation of the policy also meant cancellation of he premiums. Why else would I cancel if it left me still paying monthly premiums.

Help...

If they cancel the policy they should refund the annual premium (less the usual grasping charges) and that can be used to repay the Close Finance bit - in essence Close are lending you the money to pay the annual premium. You must read the policy document and the credit agreement in full. You can cancel a credit agreement and under the Consumer Credit Act you have to be provided with a copy within x days (I think two weeks) of signing it - otherwise it is not enforceable.

Footman James lost their senior management last year to a firm (funnily enough set up by an acquaintance) and their service has declined precipitately.

Mr Trapperjohn posted a link to my thread on Norton, they are worth a try on the fleet (I have a mix of classics and modern cars, obviously including the C55 when I had it) and the service I have had is little short of superb.

 

[markjay]

As far as I know insurance companies are covered under http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/ .
Regardless of the ins and outs of the credit agreement, as a consumer you should not find yourself in a situation where you effectively can not get a refund for a cancelled car insurance policy.

But you need to demonstrate that you tried to resolve it with FJ first - in writing.

 

[BaldGuy]

Bloody hell, what are you rattling on about now???

 

[flango]

Folks

I have to continue paying the monthly premiums to Close Finance as they cannot be cancelled as it is a credit agreement.

Help...

No you don't you can cancel a credit agreement at any time if you are not receiving the services to which the credit agreement is linked. Just cancel the direct debit or standing order, wait for Close finance to get in touch, tell them you are no longer receiving the insurance services to which the credit agreement is linked, therefore it is null and void, end of

 

[Palfrem]

FJ insured my 1995 E36 on a "classic policy" only last November.
I hope they don't cancel the policy.

So they just wrote and cancelled completely out of the blue?

 

[Charles Morgan]

By the sounds of things the C55's insurance was close to expiry, so they sent a letter stating they wouldn't be able to renew the insurance.

If you have a contract unless there has been some malfeasance on your part (failing to comply with the policy) it should not be cancelled unilaterally.

 

[Charles Morgan]

Bruce

You should have two contracts - one being the contract of insurance, and one the personal loan agreement with Close to finance your premium. They may well be in the same document.

Can you check what the insurance contract says about cancellation and the amount of premium to be refunded if the policy is cancelled by you prior to its expiry. Can you also check what the Close agreement says about policy cancellation (if it does) and early repayment and revert back.

Not paying Close is a good way of getting into a world of pain, including a bad credit rating.

By rights, if you have taken out the policy quite recently you should receive a fair chunk of the premium back, and I don't know whether this goes to Close in the first instance or to you.

 

[brucemillar]

By the sounds of things the C55's insurance was close to expiry, so they sent a letter stating they wouldn't be able to renew the insurance.

If you have a contract unless there has been some malfeasance on your part (failing to comply with the policy) it should not be cancelled unilaterally.

Charles

I think you are on the money here. The C55 had a month before renewal. The C240 had just renewed. The cancelled the C55 - stating they could not renew due to a change in their market. That left me with multiple cars on multiple policies. I explained that to them and suggested that cancellation of the C240 - By mutual agreement - would allow us al to move on without the same hassle in 9 months time.

They have agreed but failed to mention that cancellation of the policy would not cancel the payments. Had they done so, I would obviously have left as is/was.

Lesson learned. I will now attempt to get them to re-instate the policy.

Thanks to all for your help.

 

[Rory]

No you don't you can cancel a credit agreement at any time if you are not receiving the services to which the credit agreement is linked. Just cancel the direct debit or standing order, wait for Close finance to get in touch, tell them you are no longer receiving the insurance services to which the credit agreement is linked, therefore it is null and void, end of

Hmmm...the snag is that there might have been a hefty (possibly very hefty) charge for early termination of the insurance policy.

This is something that catches a lot of people out who pay insurance monthy - it's not monthly insurance, you're taking out a credit agreement to cover the whole policy cost (just as if you paid by credit card and then didn't pay the full balance on your card).

 

[KillerHERTZ]

Please use the Insurance section... moving.

 

[brucemillar]

OK something else has now come to light as I attempt to get this resolved. I had a disputed "non-fault" claim, which my insurers insisted I had to pay the excess on, until they could resolve the dispute with the third parties insurers. After many months of me pushing my insurer on this it has been resolved as "non-fault".

Should I get my excess payment back?

NB. I notified my insurer immediately and provided them with third party details. The third part had admitted liability at the time. It now appears that my insurer simply did not follow up with any urgency and were happy for me to pay the excess and not chase recovery of costs.

 

[flango]

Yes if the accident is deemed non fault then the insurance company have to pay you back your excess that you paid to them. IIRC there is a time frame they have to do this within also. There's a member on here who is up on the legal side of insurance claims and payments but can't remember his name but hopefully he will see this thread,

 

[Rayny]

I'm glad that you added further information today - The open claim is probably the reason why there was no refund due when you cancelled the policy.

Ask your insurer about the excess, if they have not claimed it from the third parties insurer then you will need to claim it back.
If you had the 'legal protection' option with your policy then they could claim it for you. If not, then you just need to contact the 3rd parties insurer yourself.

At the same time (if you have not already received one) get a 'Claim closed - Non Fault' letter from your own insurer. If necessary, you can then send this on to FJ to get your C240 policy re-cancelled.

In trying to be concise I may have not made something clear - If you have any questions, please ask.