No lnsurance

[ellen14]

On 5th Jan 2007, I got an internet insurance quote for my 18-year-old Son, I accepted the quote and posted the deposit cheque and Direct Debit form on the 9th Jan. On the 1st Feb, my Son was involved in an accident, which was not his fault. When I contacted my Son's insurance company to inform them of the accident they told me that my Son was not insured, as they had not received my cheque. I tried to argue the point with them and said surely they should have informed us, they said they tried calling the phone number they had on file a number of times, which I know they did not, as it's my husband's phone and in his job he must answer all calls even with held numbers. They also said they sent a letter, which we never received. I was shocked to discover my son was not insured and immediately did a new quote with them as at the time of the call my son was out in his car, as we believed he was insured, and would never knowingly let him drive uninsured. This time we have sent the deposit cheque by registered post. However even though the other driver admitted fault at the accident she is now claiming it was my sons fault and her solicitor wants my sons insurance details. Please help I do not know what to do.

[Man in Black]

For what it`s worth, in my opinion you have no claim at all - and furthermore will have to accept any penalty for driving uninsured. It really is up to you (AND your son) to double check that insurance is in force BEFORE driving. Quite honestly, if your son is old enough to drive, then he is surely old enough to check that everything is legal.

[NORMANTHEDOG]

yes,you will have to pay up,you should have checked with the insurance company,why dident you pay online when you took out the policy,if you dont pay for the other damage they could well report your son to the police,i know its hard,but we all learn from our mistakes

[ellen14]

In reply to man in black, as far as we were concerned he was insured, i had done everything as i was told to by the company, how was we supposed to know it the cheque had not arrived. The Company does not take deposit payment on line it has to sent by cheque

[funkymoped]

ellen, have you checked with your bank to see if the cheque has been cashed ???
if it has, there would be an exact time and date that the cheque was paid in !
if your son had his accident after the cheque was paid in, he is covered !!!!
other than that, you have no case...
your son wasnt covered...

[Gef]

funky sums it up exactly.

[ellen14]

Thanks for your reply Funkymoped, I just wish it was that simple. The problem with that is the deposit cheque had to be from the insured person�s bank account and as my son does not have a chequebook, he had to raise a Bankers draft, which means the money is taken from the account the day the draft is raised, hence why we did not know they had not cashed it. We have proof that the funds were transferred from our account to my sons account on the 6th and also that my son raised the cheque on the 9th, but that doesn�t really help. The Building Society my son banks with have told him that the draft has not been presented yet, so he has now put a stop on that one. My argument is surely the insurance company should have informed us they didn�t receive the deposit and not just cancel the insurance, because if they had we would of rectified the situation straight away ( As we did as soon as we realised he wasn�t insured)

[Brickbat]

Sorry for your experience but I think you have behaved in a most irresponsible way throughout. I wholeheartedly agree with Man in Black, you should have made quite sure that your insurance was effective before driving. At a guess, I would say that your sone was speeding away the moment you got the quote, let alone waiting for the cheque being written.

There simply is no doubt at all, you MUST have the insurance cover IN YOUR HANDS before you can consider that you are covered.

We can only thank god the he did not kill someone.