Difficulty with esure and Local Authority Claim

Convicted Driver Insurance

ddforum89

New Member
Hi All,

I've had a couple of stressful phone calls with my insurer (esure) this morning and after being transferred back to the switchboard several times I am hoping someone can offer advice.

I was involved in a DD RTC in October (I hit a Local Authority owned street post), the police notified esure and the Local Authority at the time of the incident. I declared my car SORN shortly after and I attempted to cancel my insurance policy in November as I pay in monthly instalments (approx £60/month policy ends in July 2021). I sold the car in December. I was advised by esure that the policy could only be suspended and not cancelled from the date that I declared the car SORN, as they had to keep the policy live for 90 days in case the Local Authority made a claim. I was told that anything I paid towards my premium after the date of suspension would be refundable if esure did not deal with a claim arising from the Local Authority.

I was also advised by my insurers that they would notify me if any third party claim was made and that I could deal with any claim directly without involving the insurer, thereby preserving my NCD and effectively cutting out the middleman - I see no point in the insurer being involved if they are only going to chase me for payment afterwards. I specifically requested that esure did not attempt to deal with this claim, and that they instead let me deal with this directly.

I was then convicted of DD by Magistrates in December.

I called esure earlier today and they have advised me that the third party did make a claim at the start of December (first I've heard of it) and this is now with their loss adjusters and 'now the ball is rolling' they have to settle it themselves. Esure are now saying that I cannot deal with this directly. I have been told that as I was convicted of DD I am liable for the third party costs, but will I also be liable for any additional costs (insurers time, loss adjusters etc.)? This is still unclear after several phone calls with esure. The claim for the damage to the post is approx £2.5k. Esure are not letting me cancel the policy, and are still claiming that I must continue to pay the £60/month for a car that I do not even own.

Ideally I would like the Local Authority to not include esure at all in their claim. I have contacted the Local Authority to see if I can deal with this directly, but I have not heard back yet. If the Local Authority is willing to let me deal with this directly is there any need for my insurers to be involved? I feel like involving esure invites the costs to spiral out of control at this point and I am being forced to pay insurers for something that could be resolved more easily and efficiently by myself, at lower cost.

I disappointed that esure continued down this path despite my reassurances in November that this would not happen.

Thanks in reading, please could anyone offer advice?
 
The norm in the insurance industry is that if you make a claim there is no refund on the policy for the year, you have agreed to be covered for 12 months and because there is a claim (where they do not know what the amount will be) it seems reasonable that you pay for that year so as to reduce their loss. I think Esure are being reasonable there.

Where they are not being reasonable is where they are insisting on dealing with a claim, even though you have told them that you do NOT want it to go through them. I cannot see how they justify that, unless they are thinking that you are just saying that, then will refuse to pay up, leaving the local authority to try to chase them in a couple of years.....

I think you should write to the local authority legal department (with a copy to the Highways department as well in case they do not communicate together well) setting out the details of the accident with time/ date / location and informing them that you wish to deal with this matter personally and that you are not disputing that you caused the damage. You understand that the estimated cost is about £2,500 and you are willing, on receipt of an invoice setting out the cost to the local authority, to pay this amount on one go / 5 monthly installments (whichever you can afford) and insist that future correspondence is with you and not Esure.
 
Thanks for the reply. I have contacted the authority and provided most of the information above, I’ll chase them up if I haven’t heard back soon. If I am able to deal with the claim directly and the authority withdraws the claim do you think I will be able to refund the policy?
 
This is what Moneysupermarket.com says about insurance:
Can I cancel my car insurance if I've made a claim?
You should be able to cancel your car insurance even if you've made a claim on the policy, but you will be required to pay the whole policy price in full.

This means you won't get any refund if you've paid up front, and if you pay monthly you'll have to pay for any remaining cover as one lump sum.



But if you have not made a claim then you could say that this doesn’t count. If you tell them you do NOT wish to make a claim, and send them proof that you have paid the local authority bill, then I think they would be hard pressed to justify not refunding you any payments since you told them you wanted to cancel (Less about £40 or so which is a standard cancellation fee) If you do not show that you have paid the LA bill then Esure might think you were trying to get a refund, and then refuse to pay the LA bill, leaving them on the hook again!
 
Thank you, I will endeavour to pay the LA as soon as soon as possible and put this behind me. I’ll post an update when I hear back from the LA. I hope to refund the insurance from the date of the SORN.
 
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