Paying for 2 Insurance Policies for one car!

[surrey_36]

Unable to pay council tax and energy bills I decided to go through my bank accounts to see where and if I can save any money

 

to my horror have found that I have 2 separate insurance policies for my car. 

 

I am in severe hardship and my outgoings are very little but I now do not earn enough to cover my outgoings so im in a state of panic. 

I have paid this year £643 to Swinton and a similar figure to Quoteline. 

 

I know I was speaking to both companies and decided not to go with Swinton as they could not offer the policy to me if the car was not registered in my name. 

 Of course I have nothing in writing as i only spoke to them on the phone

 

Have I got any chance of getting this back?

 

Included in this figure are several £30 from close brothers who finance the policies (in fact I have 3 account with Close and a ton of £30 failed DD fees!)

[dx100uk]

yes go do a claim back of aall the DD's under the DD guarantee to your bank.

 

dx

 

[unclebulgaria67]

So were you with Swinton on an automatic renewal and you did not tell them that you did not want to renew ?

 

If not, how did Swinton have your payment details ?

 

If you cancel the DD and ask for a claim back using the DD guarantee, you may end up getting chased for a debt.

 

Probably best to contact Swinton to advise that you did not request the Insurance and have cover elsewhere for the car. And point out that they said they would not offer you the cover, so you think that one of their agents has acted improperly and you many report this to the FCA.

 

In regard to Council Tax, I hope that you have applied for Council Tax reduction from your Council, based on low income ?  Contact the Council to see if you qualify for help.  Councils have funds available to help people with hardship issues.

[dx100uk]

Are close brothers the funder of the swinton policy you didnt authorise?

Was this a rollover from the previous year??

 

Dx

[surrey_36]

I took the policy out with them in August 2021 and my car died very shortly after taking the policy out,

 

I could not login to the online portal using the details they had given me and so I put it in writing that I needed to cancel the policy as the car was not economically repairable and I was unable to afford a new car. 

 

They continued to charge me and in November I made a formal complaint. 

 

I received a reply in January saying for the various reasons they would not uphold my complaint and I cannot cancel the policy, or something along those lines. 

 

 I then got a new car in January and as I already had this policy that they wouldn't cancel I asked for them to quote for this new car, which they did

 

BUT because the car is registered to my sisters name the insurance would not have been accepted by the lease company and so I told Swinton to not go ahead with the change and asked them again to please cancel the policy.

 

I then went online and found a new insurer that could issue me with cover even though the car isn't registered in my name. 

 

Thinking that the Swinton policy was now cancelled.

 

I have 2 other insurance policies (car & home) both finance my close brothers. 

 

Most these bounce every month and so Ive got so many Close Brothers transactions on my statements or money in and out etc that i didnt pick up on this additional policy stupidly.

 

I struggle to make ends meet so I cannot believe i've been this dumb!!!

[dx100uk]

Go do the DD guarantee against all the payments since the end of the 1st Swinton policy   they should not have rolled it.  The FCA a year or two ago were quite clear in their ruling/guidelines.

 

As for close brothers, write them a complaint letter stating you want all their fixed sum charges back as they are unlawful penalties deemed unfair by the authorities that govern them.

 

Start taking control of YOUR money 

 

Dx

[surrey_36]

The policy started august 2021 and I tried to cancel couple weeks after is started so policy was not rolled on then 

[dx100uk]

so when did you get the new car?

and FIRST register with swinton for the old car?

 

[surrey_36]

First registered with Swinton for the old car in August 2021 (very shortly after that the car completely died beyond eco repair) 

 

Got new car in January 2022

[dx100uk]

Ok so hadn't rolled over 

Sorry that wasn't clear.

 

Simply best idea is to deal with as uncle Bulgaria suggested then?

 

Dx

[surrey_36]

This was the response from Swinton back in January (The complaint was made in November)

- I only read the bit where it said my complaint had been upheld (at which point i gave up)

- further down it tells me they would have considered a refund and I could have sent evidence of the car being off the road.. I need to get my act together!   

 

I also thought they would cancel the policy at this point but they still argue that it needs to be cancelled but in writing is not acceptable!

 

My findings

I have reviewed the information held on our records and can see that your policy was arranged online on 10 August 2021. We emailed you on the same day to tell you the policy documents were available for you to view on your online account. We asked you to read the documents to make sure they were correct, and to call us if something was not quite right or if you had any questions.

 

Unfortunately the letter you sent us has not been attached to your records and I can confirm that regardless of this we do not accept a written request to cancel a policy. The policy documents we sent you explain that you can cancel your policy at any time by calling our Customer Services Team on 0333 035 9100.

 

We have an obligation to explain to customers what happens when a policy is cancelled and the impact this may have on the payments and fees that have been applied. 

 

I am sorry you experienced issues when you tried to access your online account, however, I can confirm there is no option to cancel your policy by this method.

 

Whilst I note your comments about our website, if you refer to the section ‘Contact Us’ and select the option for Car Insurance we confirm that in addition to calling us to cancel your policy you can also use our online Live Chat service to do this. I understand your concern about the questions we ask each customer to enable us to identify them and access their records, however, these checks have been put in place to protect customers.

 

Based on my findings I have found no evidence of an error and your complaint has not been upheld.

 

However, I am sorry we did not contact you sooner to clarify your complaint as you stated you had been left with a car which was not economical to repair. Please note you can still insure a vehicle even if you have taken it off the road.

 

As I have been unable to contact you by phone I can confirm we will continue to provide cover and collect payments until you contact us by phone or our Live Chat service and ask us to cancel your policy if that is still required.

 

Please call us on 0333 035 9368 Monday to Friday, 9am to 6pm and Saturday, 9am to 5pm to discuss your requirements or visit our website Swinton.co.uk and start a Live Chat with our team who are available Monday to Friday 8.30am to 8.30pm and Saturday 9am to 5pm.

 

My decision       

As stated above your complaint has not been upheld.

 

However, if you no longer own the vehicle or it has been registered as off the road (SORN), please provide proof of this to us at complaintteam@swinton.co.uk and we will forward this on to the Insurer on your behalf with a request to consider a refund of the charges they have applied.

 

A copy of the sales invoice, confirmation of the transfer of ownership from the DVLA or confirmation that vehicle is SORN are usually acceptable as long as they confirm the date the vehicle was sold or SORN.

 

Please quote complaint reference 9076420 on your correspondence. 

 

What happens next:

If you are unhappy with our response to your complaint, you can refer your complaint to the Financial Ombudsman Service, free of charge. If you want to refer it, you must do so within six months of the date of this email.

[Ethel Street]

14 hours ago, surrey_36 said:

However, I am sorry we did not contact you sooner to clarify your complaint as you stated you had been left with a car which was not economical to repair. Please note you can still insure a vehicle even if you have taken it off the road.

.

.

However, if you no longer own the vehicle or it has been registered as off the road (SORN), please provide proof of this to us at complaintteam@swinton.co.uk and we will forward this on to the Insurer on your behalf with a request to consider a refund of the charges they have applied.

 

A copy of the sales invoice, confirmation of the transfer of ownership from the DVLA or confirmation that vehicle is SORN are usually acceptable as long as they confirm the date the vehicle was sold or SORN.

 

What happened about this, di you send them that evidence?

 

What did you do with the car that died beyond economical repair?

[surrey_36]

I didn't   i stupidly read as far as 'we are upholding your complaint' and took that that they were not willing to do anything, 

 

Had I have read on I would have acted and sent them what they needed.

 

 Car was beyond repair and sold on for parts in November

[surrey_36]

What’s the best way for me to contact them about this - they will try and take another payment at end of month 

 

can’t believe I’ve paid over £650 - for a policy I already have on the car 

 

last time I complained to them they took 2 months to reply.  Is best to call them?

[dx100uk]

How can they take a payment, you've not cancelled the DD? Why not?

 

Write, tell them to refer to customer notes, you cancelled xxx date, please refund 

 

Dx 

[surrey_36]

I have contact bank through dd guarantee - all funds refunded.  Now they kicking and screaming.  Swinton and close bro. 
 

i cancelled aug 2021 they continue to charge , they wrote to me in nov 21 acknowledgment of cancellation and told me I had to cancel via portal or call.   Why did they not just cancel when they received it in writing- is written cancellation not acceptable anymore ? 

 

Bump 

[dx100uk]

on what?

 

dx

 

[surrey_36]

When I initially took out the policy I couldn't login to the portal (problem with the ID it would not accept it)  I wrote to them to cancel.   It was not cancelled  I wrote and complained. 

 

In their reply to the complaint they still insisted I could only cancel either by phone or by logging into the portal.   

 

Should they not have cancelled the policy on receipt of the complaint?

 

I mean the complaint was about the fact that they had not cancelled it! 

[dx100uk]

P'haps so.

Let's see what they do now you have your money back 

 

IMHO yours is not the next move 

 

Dx

[surrey_36]

Ok thx DX Ill keep this thread posted

[surrey_36]

Received a default notice from close brothers and request to bring account up to date.  Also an email from Swinton.  (Seems unfair that they allow communication to me by email by will not accept written letters or emails from me!)

 

Important : There has been an issue with the Direct Debit payment for your Car insurance. Please contact Close Brothers Premium Finance on 03333218568 to ensure your cover is not affected. If you have made a payment in the last 24 hours please ignore this message. Thanks.

[unclebulgaria67]

Automated letters from both.

 

If you have complained. Just refer them to the complaints made to Swinton about the error made.

[surrey_36]

They acknowledged my complaint last year but in their response said I Still needed to login to the portal or call them to cancel ..   

 

my complaint was that they had not cancelled following my written request 

 

are you not allowed to cancel things in writing anymore? Is that not allowed? 

[AndyOrch]

Topic open

[surrey_36]

Thanks andyorch.  
 

I wrote to close brothers regarding 3 accounts they have financed policies with and they replied with the following ;

 

“Please be advised that we work under the instruction of your insurance broker, so any refund requests will need to be forwarded to them. I can see you have had different agreements open with different brokers. 

Please advise us of the loan reference your queries relate to so that we can refer you on to the correct broker. “ 

 

Is that right do I have to go through the broker rather than close brothers them selves? It is close Brothers that take the late payment fees !