I recently rented a car via a 3rd party website. After the rental I found out I had been charged extra for damage and theft excess protection insurance by the 3rd party website on top of the quoted price. I don't need the extra insurance as I already have travel insurance on my credit card which includes this. Upon checking their website I see it is checked automatically but not included in the headline price. It's up to you to un check it and opt out. Unfortunately I missed this. I emailed them and asked for it to be cancelled but they refused on the grounds that the rental had already started. I booked the car 1.5 hours before pick up so there was no way I would have spotted this before I picked the car up as it didn't appear on my credit card statement until next day. I thought all these pre selected charges requiring an opt out had been banned now. Is it worth disputing the extra charge with my credit card company?

So I need some advice. Long story short, I was working for a small lettings agent. I was given a company car however the owner told me to take out personal car insurance, stating that he would pay the monthly direct debit. This was the case and I was working their for a couple of months until unforntualy I had an accident in the car making it a write off. I then had to claim on the insurance, the car was paid out, after that the owner decided he didn't want me to work their anymore. I then lost my job, the owner canceled the direct debit for the insurance which then, in turn, caused Direct Line to cancel the insurance. I then, however, started receiving letters from Direct line insurance stating that I owed the £1809.71 for the rest of the insurance premium as per the terms and conditions. I ignored these letters for months, however, I am now receiving letters from Moorcroft Debt recovery LTD who have been instructed by Direct Line insurance to collect this £1809.71. I need some advice asap, I am currently not in a situation where I can pay off this debt and to be honest I don't really want to.

Ace and Studio customers who purchased optional accidental damage and theft insurance are entitled to a refund Through our own review we have identified concerns with this insurance, which was sold through the Ace and Studio brands, and have notified the FCA. We concluded, along with the FCA that the insurance did not provide adequate value to customers. Therefore, together with Assurant General Insurance Limited and ANV (which is now part of AmTrust at Lloyd's) who were at various times the underwriters of the insurance, we wish to put customers back in the position that they would have been in had they not purchased the insurance. What we're doing to put things right We have designed and agreed a customer contact and refund programme and will refund Ace and Studio customers the premium they paid for the insurance together with interest. The average premium amount to be refunded will be approximately £38. We have identified approximately 330,000 affected customers. https://www.express-gifts.co.uk/looking-after-our-pp-customers And ... https://www.thinkmoney.co.uk/news-advice/bought-cover-from-a-catalogue-company-how-to-get-a-refund-0-8575-0.htm

Hi guys, About a year ago my daughter in Law was reversing out of a parking bay in her local Tesco car park. As she was doing so another driver came up fast behind her and there was a very minor collision (nothing more than scuff marks). They exchanged details and when she got home she informed her insurance company (Hastings). They duely recorded her account of what happened, told her not to worry about it and that they would probably ask Tesco for any CCTV evidence they may have. That was the last she heard of it until yesterday. Shes now received a letter from some solicitors (cant remember the name) saying that they represent LV (the other drivers insurance Co) and demand just over £1700 within the next 7 days or they WILL proceed with court action. It would seem that the other driver has claimed on his own insurance and the insurance Co are now trying to claim it back from my daughter in Law. So Im wondering where she stands with this? How can a solicitor demand money from her for a decision made behind her back and which gave her no chance of defending herself? Is this just a solicitor trying to pull a fast one or are they entitled to do this? Im waiting for a copy of the letter and will post it up when it arrives, but my son mentioned that it contains clauses from the Road Traffic Act etc. Thoughts anyone?

hey hoping someone can advise me! I had my first car insurance cancelled in 2013 coming up to 5 years ago the reason being that i took the policy out as i was buying my first car and mistakenly said id had my licence for 1 year (id had it for 10 months) so when i sent my licence as proof they cancelled the insurance. The fact is it was a silly mistake,i just thought oh its been around a year i wasnt trying to deceive them as i knew i was going to have to send proof anyway.. i now seem to be paying for this mistake! Will I have to disclose forever? and as a consequence most insurers will turn me away? My current insurer know all this but my premium remains nearly the same as when i first took it out despite the fact i am now older than 25, have 5 years no claims and have a 1.3 litre car.

Friend of mine had a limited company and his van is on finance in the name of the limited company. The V5 is in the name of the company but the insurance is in his personal name. I don't think there is anything wrong there as you can insure (with owners permission) a vehicle that does not belong to you. but - the ltd company is now dissolved, he is still paying the finance. How does he stand legally with regard the V5 being in the name of a dissolved company and the insurance in own name.

Trying to add a replacement car to my car insurance as previous written off-no fault of mine..other driver went into me whilst I was stationery. Case still open. I need to insure a replacement car but my insurance has advised I have to register this incident as my fault until case concluded. Apparently both parties have to register same on insurance until case concluded. Can anyone advise how I can get a car insured without trebling my premium..

My daughter is NOT self-employed but works for a company that requires her to meet clients within the region she works in. Her contract does not state that she had to have a car but she has been told that she must use her car to go meet clients. Fair enough. When she went to claim her fuel expenses they refused because they said she needs business insurance on her vehicle and once she produces a certificate to prove this they will then pay for the fuels at 45p per mile. W Why should she have to pay for business insurance, it is not her business. She has said she would be happy to get it insured for business and then claim it back from the company but they say they wont pay it. She likes the job and does not want to leave but as I say this was not written in her contract. Others within the company have forked out for business insurance just to get peace but my daughter is taking a stand on this. Where does she stand legally? Any help or advice is much appreciated.

Is it possible to force the landlords insurance to provide a copy of a survey they carried out due a insurance repair job that was queried as poor workmanship by the landlord ?

I was in a car crash in October with my husband and our children, the car was written off and we ended up having to pay the entire years premiums within 7 days. We weren't in the wrong, but the knock on effect of an open claim has left us having to pay higher insurance premiums and we were unable to replace our car for months. I've wrote this in depth, but I can't paste it from here, unless somebody else can. I was just wondering if anyone has had a similar experience and if so, how long did it take until it came to an end? My husband, our children and I were in a car crash in October 2017 after a man decided it would be a good idea to turn his head 90 degrees to the left whilst driving at the national speed limit, going around a corner! We were travelling in the opposite direction to this man, when my husband noticed him. My husband drove us completely off the (county) road, to the left and stopped the car. The man then decided to look at the road he was driving on and noticed us, then his instincts told him to swerve his car, head on into us! We were off the road, there was no other traffic in either direction. The road was clear for him, but he ran his car into us on his right!! He started up his car and tried to drive away, but his car made a crunching sound and stopped him. The police just happened to drive by and it was (we thought) clear who was at fault, but his insurance company is big and ours are small, and someone on the drivers side is denying liability, even though the driver had previously accepted it. Our car was written off, car seats were rendered unsafe and we were faced with an insurance bill of almost £1k, to be paid in 7 days, because apparently, when your car is written off, you need to pay the remaining balance to your insurer and we were 2 weeks into our new insurance cycle. We live in an isolated rural area, a 2-hour drive away from our nearest family and my husband had a 2 hours drive to get to work and back each day. 'Luckily' this happened on my husband's first day of our holiday week, so we had a bit of time to try and sort something out. We eventually got a courtesy car, but it wouldn't accommodate all our family and the cost of replacing the car seats was too high for us to cover. Just the cost of getting a courtesy car cost us a small fortune, having to go back and forth (40+ miles) to the hire company and garage by bus, over 4-5 days. We were foolish to think that this would be resolved easily. We were on the right side of the road, the other driver wasn't, simple right? We were faced with the reality that the £1k we'd just paid the insurers, to pay off our annual car insurance bill, was not going to be finding it's way back to us anytime soon and now Christmas and 2 of our kids' birthdays were here! Credit cards and overdrafts were now needed to do the shopping and we were unable to spend Christmas with our family, which had never happened before. It devastated my parents and the kids' missed spending the day surrounded by all their family, like they'd grown up with. I can't drive and buses don't run here very often, and the cost of getting to the nearest town with the kids is over £20 to get there. I wasn't able to leave the house until January, when we were able to buy another car. We have continued back and forth with the insurance company, but it's now June 2018 and all our money went into paying the insurance company and replacing our car. I can't believe that this is our reality! Our insurance company has told us it's now our word against theirs, and we've been advised to back down, but we weren't in the wrong, so we told them no and that we wanted to fight the decision, but that now means that there's no end in sight and that money we paid, will not be returned until the case is closed. We are unable to have a holiday this year, we haven't had one for years, but we'd saved for the previous few years and all that saving paid the insurers and replaced a previously decent car. The kids don't feel as safe as they did and I don't feel like I can keep them safe anymore. This man is still on the road, driving around our area and that's the worst thing. He's a danger to himself and everyone else. I would really appreciate any help anyone could offer and if anyone knows how long this is likely to go on, that would help greatly. I know there are so many more needy cause on here, we have a house and we have staple foods like pasta, so we're not in as much need as those with ill children, so I don't expect or want funds that could otherwise help those causes. I just wanted to share our story and perhaps make a change to the way these things are dealt with, because our problems are very real. Thank you for reading.

Hi everyone. We've had a motor trade policy for 5 years now. 10 days before renewal this year, the insurer flagged up 4 vehicles we've had for a while, and wanted proof of ownership and V5s. I neglected to send these when requested. Over the next few days, they started sending me emails regarding renewal, and that the policy will auto renew. The policy autorenewed, but I know they always want proof of trading (ie. recent invoices) and driving licences. I could see emails coming through, that we had X days to send these documents. In all this, I understood that the deadline for the documents for the renewal was 5pm on the 25th May. I sent the proofs of trading and driving licences, and said in my email "Here are the documents for renewal", and asked to confirm some details about cover. The lady answered my email, but didn't mention those previous proofs of OWNERSHIP of the other vehicles. I assumed those were for the past policy (same insurer). I carried on as normal, awaiting the insurance certificate. It never came, and the following Thursday 31st May (almost a week later) I called them at 4pm to chase it up. I was then informed that insurance had been cancelled due to not providing those proofs of ownership. I'd never gotten so much as a courtesy email informing me of this, and had been driving uninsured for a week. They said if I sent them, they would see about insuring me again. As it was late, they called me the following day (1st June) to say they could cover me, but that since it's a new month, the premium is now £450 more. They wouldn't budge. AND I now have a cancelled policy in my history, bumping up my premiums. Now my question is, all the policies so far were under our Ltd company which is being closed down. Obviously on the schedule of fact it was "Mr X and Miss X (XXX Ltd)" and the account payer for the insurance (on their docs) is "XXX Ltd". We are no longer trading under that Ltd company, we are now a partnership. So when we're asked have you ever had a policy cancelled, what do we say? Legally, if I say no, since the cancelled policy was under a Ltd company, am I covered? Thank you.

Hello all, Had to guess as to the best place to put this as a bit of an odd case this: A year or more ago I took out Income Protection Insurance with Trent services. On May the 3rd 2018 I was told -totally out of the blue- that I was to be made redundant. Last week I received a letter from Trent services saying they were going into administration but a new company was taking over from May the 9th so I needn't worry. The issue is that my "incident date" as they call it, is six days prior to that and therefore, although my claim is legitimate, it can't be/won't be paid. The old company has no money to pay it. The no one won't accept responsibility and my employers can't change the date of my redundancy because of potential audit repercussions. This puts me in a pretty dangerous situation as I have only just committed to a new mortgage (two hours prior to redundancy!) Is there anything I can do? Thanks all Ali

Hi.. I am insured on vehicle and my current insurnce compnay will not transfer me to the car I want to drive, they even said no one was coming back with a quote as I was uninsurable... I knew this was rubbish. I went on go compare and got a quote for £995 (still high but given my circumstances I knew it would be about that). I have a short while left on my current policy, I want to know am I good to get another policy out before old one has ended? i am giessing yes?).

I have found that Barclaycard/ Stonebridge had been charging me for an accidental death insurance I did not want or apply for some years ago as being self employed and working at heights I had to carry my own special accidental death insurance. I have contacted both companies in March 2017, they passed me back and forth until late last year with no result other than an offer of £25 from Barclays and £50 from Stonebridge which I did not accept. In Stonebridges case they wanted me to sign a form saying that the payment was in full and final settlement which I found strange. I went on to make a claim through the Financial Ombudsman, but they were about as useful as a chocolate fireguard. They have just come back to me to say they cannot help. My question is should I now make a claim on the small claims court and if so who shall I make the claim against as I do not want to get bogged down between the two companies again. Any advice would be welcome. I have full documentation and a sequence of events if that helps. Many thanks for any help.

Just wanting a little advice guys please.. I took out an unsecured loan with these numptys back in 2007 for £2500. I have paid back £201 each month on time and I want to see if I am owed any charges they have robbed me of . I have sent my SAR today and when it comes back I will have a good scan through it, but I just need to know once ive highlighted all the charges I think are unfair how do i calculate what they owe me? i have read through posts on here and my maths is decent but I just need to know how I work these charges out thats all, Thanks in advance!

I signed up to AA home insurance February 2017. I paid circa £120 up front for the year. I moved house in November 2017. It was cheaper to go with someone else, so I called aa to cancel my existing policy and also cancelled my dd. It seems that they tried to auto renew me in february and failed to take an annual payment. I have post redirection but didnt receive any notification of this. I have now received a default notice and a request for monies. After speaking to their customer service manager they have promised to review their records to see if I did call or not. I cannot prove that I did as my phone doesnt go that far back. I am sure they have very clever t&c's but do I have a leg to stand on?

My house buildings insurance renewal has been refused due to a motoring conviction. As far as I know houses don't have wheels or engines and aren't subject to the Road Traffic Act. How on earth can motoring convictions apply to houses?

HI All, After a bit of advice please. some background. - In March 2017 I had a car that had a 2nd engine failure on it - after the garage inspected the car, and advised on costs to fix, I decided not to go ahead with it. The garage agreed to take the car in lieu of any costs incurred as part of them diagnosing the issue. I should add that the garage is run by my next door neighbour and has a very good reputation in the area. I left the V5 with them (though stupidly didn't do the whole transferred to trader/dealer section) Roll on to the start of March this year when I recieve notice of a £350 fine for "being the registered keeper of a vehicle that does not meet insurance requirements". The offence was committed in July 17This was dealt with under the single justice procedure in Bristol. All correspondence related to this were sent to my old address where the V5 was logged to, they must have done a search at some point to get my current address. I have now been to Portsmouth Magistrates court to do a Statutory declaration which was accepted. I now have a new court date in Southampton on May 1st which I have already stated I will be pleading not guilty. On speaking to my neighbour, the car was taken on by their auto electrician who has since fixed the car and is back on the road. He has said he didn't get the car back on the road to August 17, after the date of the offence. The garage have stated that the car was always kept off the public highway.Just to throw something else into the mix, I didn't realise until looking at Bank statements recently that I was still paying Tax monthly on the vehicle (so at least SORN Doesn't come into this I guess) I have a letter from the garage stating that I left the vehicle with them, can also provide proof of insurance on my new vehicle etc too. Just had a letter come through today re: the new hearing date. This letter states all the various legislation etc, and that I can settle this for £100 fixed penalty notice to avoid court. Can I get advice on what to do here please? I am certainly guilty of naivety here in not getting the V5 properly filled in etc. I have been driving for 18 years, never had a time of driving without tax/insurance etc - I drive 700 - 900 miles per week as I have a long commute so rely on my car a great deal. your thoughts are greatly appreciated. Thanks

I took a motor trades policy with Peacock insurance in December 2012, I paid the deposit and the first months payment was paid, I was asked to send paperwork in and the insurance was done, I did this and happily drove round. I then received a letter from the underwriters stating the policy had been cancelled. I phoned my brokers who told me it was cancelled as I had not returned the paperwork, I argued that I had and the lady "found" it, she could not explain why it had been cancelled but told me someone would get back to me, I spent the day phoning and phoning until at 5 pm I got through to someone who had been told to "sort it". He set up a new policy and after asking for MORE money which I explained there would be no more money as this was not my fault, he eventually finalised the policy. Then when the paperwork arrived they "asked" for a full payment which was more than I had agreed, and the paperwork was in the wrong name. Since then I have written to Rachel Gow the director of the company and after a lot of twoing and froing I have received an "offer" of £50, together with an apology for the companies error in not forwarding the paperwork correctly, I have told her I am not accepting this as the FSA have stated a compensation of £750 minimum is due when a case of maladminstration is found. I have written and asked for £524 as this is the total amount due with letters time wasted etc is taken into account. to date I have not received a reply and have waited four weeks. I am wanting to know if I should bother with the FSA as was or should I take Rachel Gow to court? as I need this matter sorting quickly. Any help is much appreciated

Does anyone know offhand what the situation is with insurance if you use house/pet sitters for an extended period away from home? These wouldn't be tenants - no rent but there would be meter readings and they would pay the home owner for utilities.

RAC to apologise to 1 million customers for breaking insurance renewal rules The RAC will be apologising to more than 1 million customers for falling short on rules on insurance renewals. The motoring organisation has become the latest – and one of the largest – businesses to be rapped by the Financial Conduct Authority watchdog. Rules introduced by the FCA a year ago require firms to clearly show the insurance premium a customer paid last year alongside their proposed renewal premium. They also require firms to show a “prominent, clear and straightforward message” to encourage customers to shop around. https://uk.yahoo.com/finance/news/rac-apologise-1-million-customers-breaking-insurance-renewal-rules-121828308.html

Hi We bought a house, last May in Norfolk. We don't live in it. It was bought with our inheritance to retire to one day. In the meantime we rent one 140 miles away that we live in as we can't afford to retire yet. Our house in Norfolk was bought with the intention of renting it out until we can move in about 4 years time. We had some work to do in the house to make it fit for tenants, and we (wrongly as it happens) thought we would be liable for capital gains tax if we rented it in the first 6 months, so knew it wouldn't be tenanted straight away. We have finally got a tenant, with the contracts ready and signed to move in at Easter. When it came to insuring it, it was hard work. Because we didn't live there, but it wasn't a holiday home, and it didn't have a tenant in yet. We went through 'Your Insurance' online and filled in the forms to be given an appropriate policy. They placed our policy with Churchills, who sent us out the paperwork, which we checked through and that was that. The one point that stood out was that the house must NOT be left vacant for more than 14 days. It wasn't an issue though, because of the work and decorating that needed doing we've been there pretty much every other weekend working. Fast forward to the beginning of March and the ball valve in the water tank in the loft snapped. It wasn't the cold weather, it was simply the valve gave up the ghost. My neighbour called me within 2 hours of this happening and I was able to have the water turned off and the rest of the tank drained. Sadly though we lost all the upstairs ceilings, the carpets and the electrics were a mess. We called Your Insurance who had an answer phone message at the time, due to the high level of calls they were receiving because of the cold weather. It instructed people to start interim work and send email copies of bills to them. For us it was simply getting the remains of the wet stuff out to stop any more damage occuring, which we did immediately. A few days later and we finally get though to Your Insurance. Within 3 hours they told us our insurance was invalid because we'd 'told them we had a tenant in place'. Apparently we did this via a phone call. As such, because there was no tenant then our insurance was invalid. Boom. They wouldn't actually go to Churchill with it as they said it wasn't valid. I actually commented on Churchills page about the Brokers they had selling their policies and we were given a number to call them directly, which we did. They went off to investigate, including the phone call and promised to come back to us within 4 days. 4 days later they called, and told us there was no record of this phone call, but we had clicked the wrong button on a drop down menu. They apologise for the mistake and say it may have been date inputted wrongly! Therefore we were still an invalid claim. We have checked and rechecked our policy and there is literally nothing about it being tenanted or us telling them we had a tenant in there. They have now told us they base their policies on 'assumptions' and sent us a list of these 'assumptions'. Again, we've breached none! They claim though that this 'compromises the integrity of the contract of Insurance' and this is sufficient to 'void' the policy. So now it's not 'invalid' it's just 'void' like it never happened! They seem to move the goalposts every time we prove them wrong. I have a £200 electric bill for the last quarter, I have receipts from shops in the immediate vicinity, I have so much evidence that this house was not abandoned, but they don't want to see it. More worrying they have told us have 'voided the policy for both properties from inception' which is odd. We only have one property! The one we live in is rented, however our contents insurance is through them as well on this one. We've always made sure we have insurance and in 20 years we've made 2 claims. 1 in 2005, for a broken front door on the buildings, and 1 this year when our garage was broken into and my partners fishing gear was stolen. Both relatively small claims. It feels now that they're trying to discredit us in anyway possible and I don't quite now when or how to approach the ombudsman or if its worth it?

My mum lives in a retirement village of approx 90 units. Roughly 30% are privately owned, 30% are jointly owner/renter and 30% are local authority. My mum pays for a monthly maintenance contract that covers security, maintenance and common ares (corridors/lounges and tv room etc. My mum has had laminate flooring laid throughout the apartment to allow easier access for wheelchairs. A few months ago, one of the radiators in her apartment leaked and caused damage to the laminate flooring. It was due to poor quality rather than any impact damage. The housing company said the repair should come off her own insurance. Another leak has now occurred, this time from poorly fitted pipes in the bathroom. The leak from this has also caused damage to the laminate flooring. I believe that these leak should be paid for by the housing company insurance rather than my mums since the interface between my mums property and that of the housing company would be the radiator valve or the sink unit. If my mum wanted to change the radiator for a decorative radiator of her choice, i 'm sure she would not be allowed to since it would be interfering with the heating system for the whole building. Please can anyone advise on what course of action to take? Thanks for any help or info provided.

After the bad weather a couple of weeks ago, I noticed a damp patch on the ceiling in one of the bedrooms, and upon further investigation, several smaller patches in the back bedroom. So I went outside with my binoculars and had a good look at the roof front and back... I could see no damage, loose/slipped tiles or anything obvious. I got the step ladder out and pocked my head into the loft, and discovered that a load of the roofing felt has ripped away, exposing the underside of the tiles and batons. Contacted the buildings insurance and they arranged a roofer to come out and inspect things, and give them a report. This report is looking very unfavourable, currently awaiting a copy of it and the pictures he took. From what we've been told so far, he's claiming that there has been water getting into the roof space that has damaged the batons causing them to sag in a few areas. He's claiming that this is because the overlap on the tiles doesn't meet the current 75mm overlap. But refused to answer my question about 'when' those regulations came into effect... and he's also offered the 'theory' that there could be condensation occurring. But is admittedly guessing in that regard. My house was built around 51/52 and the only building regulations I can find are the ones that came into effect in Feb 1966, these were the first ever national building regs according to my 'limited' research abilities. I contacted the national archives to see if they could help, but it's not the kind of info they store and I should try a local archive for my county. It's worth noting that the rest of the roofing material not damaged, looks in near perfect condition. The overlay on the tiles at the bottom of the roof and at the top varies between 70-85mm, but it's the areas were the batons have sagged due to moisture that the overlap is much lower... He told me in person it was as low as 45-50mm, but in the report he's claiming it's now 25mm. We are now faced with the prospect of a 4-5k repair bill if the insurance refuse to cover some or all of the cost. The tiles are reaching the end of their lifespan of 80yrs being around 66yrs old now, and it's in the best interests of the property to replace them with newer ones. So what I need to know... is what to do next if they try to avoid helping with the costs... We're quite prepared to contribute to the cost aside from the excess of about £250 we'd be happy to pay for all of the replacement tiles and even include some roof vents 'just in case' there has been condensation... Er on the side of caution rather than risk the 'theory' being correct. From some rough figures I arrived at (approx meter squared area and tile coverage per mt squared. I estimate this to be in the region of £1000 with between 1000-1200 tiles required at an approx cost of 74p per tile (if ordering more than 500).. I worked this out from the rough footprint and then added 20% to account for roof pitch. Approx footprint is 70-75m/s and around 15 tiles per m/s. Roof vents are around £15-18 each depending on type and I assume I'll need 5, 2 front, 2 back and one for the small porch. What are the procedures I need to be aware, do we have to follow a complaints procedure, should we get independent reports done... If they point blank refuse to pay anything... who do we take it too next, and because of the risk of further damage due to the current state of the roof... should we have the work undertaken to current building standards and then pursue some form of recovery of some of those costs. I'm actually lucky that I had my c/irESA claim sorted out and backdated 3 yrs recently... so I've got a little cushion to cover some of this expense. But I'd need to borrow the rest from family as a loan to be paid back. Right this moment... I'm not panicking... that could change very quickly if things look bleak.

I would appreciate some advice on the insurance that I had while ago. Whilst going through some paper work I came across some insurance policy that I had when I had the mortgage with Abbey. It is a life insurance linked to the mortgage and it is paid off now. But I never claimed anything back as it was part of the mortgage that I had to have this. Is it too late to claim anything back now?