check your insurance disc folks

pred racer

Yesterday while I was washing my car I happened to look at my insurance disc to find it had expired on march 10:eek::eek:
I nearly fell over, borrowed my dads van and straight into the broker I deal with to find that my insurance company had not sent a renewal for me, (we called them and naturally enough they say they sent it, **** wouldnt even renew the policy as it was out more than a month)
Its sorted now, but I dodged a serious bullet there, could have easily ruined somebodies life (or my own). One week of that time was spent up the north with my kids, could you imagine me ringing my ex-wife to tell her to come pick up the kids because Ive been in an accident and been arrested for having no insurance:o
so for anyone else out there who never thinks of these things till the renewal notice comes in have a quick look at your discs tomorrow;)

Random

Most insurance companys auto-renew if you don't cancel, strange that they didn't. Is that because it's a broker?

Guy:Incognito

Do you not know to within the month at the most when your insurance was out? How long would you have gone without becomign suspicious and checking?

Maybe I'm different but I know that my insurace is up in the middle of March (15th or 16th can't remember which but will have sorted it well before) my tax is out the end of June and my DOE runs out the 8th April.

Random wrote: »

Most insurance companys auto-renew if you don't cancel, strange that they didn't. Is that because it's a broker?

How can they auto renew without taking money?

My last policy was paid by DD on an account that doesnt exist anymore. I doubt they can just take money off a credit card without asking, plus there'd be huge amounts of people who's cards would expire in the year between the old and new policy. Then theres the peopel that pay by cash/cheque etc.

Random

Stekelly wrote: »

Do you not know to within the month at the most when your insurance was out? How long would you have gone without becomign suspicious and checking?

Maybe I'm different but I know that my insurace is up in the middle of March (15th or 16th can't remember which but will have sorted it well before) my tax is out the end of June and my DOE runs out the 8th April.

I couldn't tell you when my tax is due and I know I've about a year on the NCT. Wouldn't have exact dates really!

Guy:Incognito

Random wrote: »

I couldn't tell you when my tax is due and I know I've about a year on the NCT. Wouldn't have exact dates really!

I hav'nt used my car in over a year but know the NCT is up in the first week in Sept, tax expire last April and Insurance in March.

jaffa20

Yeah, i wouldn't forget when the insurance is up on my car. Would be checking round for quotes a month or so in advance to get the best price:o

pred racer

pred racer wrote: »

Yesterday while I was washing my car I happened to look at my insurance disc to find it had expired on march 10:eek::eek:
I nearly fell over, borrowed my dads van and straight into the broker I deal with to find that my insurance company had not sent a renewal for me, (we called them and naturally enough they say they sent it, **** wouldnt even renew the policy as it was out more than a month)
Its sorted now, but I dodged a serious bullet there, could have easily ruined somebodies life (or my own). One week of that time was spent up the north with my kids, could you imagine me ringing my ex-wife to tell her to come pick up the kids because Ive been in an accident and been arrested for having no insurance:o
so for anyone else out there who never thinks of these things till the renewal notice comes in have a quick look at your discs tomorrow;)

Same thing happened my Dad, he spotted it two weeks after expiry :eek:
Got is sorted though and the paperwork they gave him was dated from the original renewal date.

Sticky Fingers

Years ago,I had something even more scary, I drove for a YEAR with no insurance !!! We were dealing with a broker who just took my name off a company car policy. When I found out, he could not tell me why I was taken off. We certainly did not instruct him to do it. I still have nightmares about it. I probably drove at least 30,000 miles...........

unkel

Thanks for bringing up this issue, pred racer. I think I was always sent a reminder letter about insurance renewal. Can anyone out there name the companies / brokers that have not sent a reminder?

unkel

unkel wrote: »

Thanks for bringing up this issue, pred racer. I think I was always sent a reminder letter about insurance renewal. Can anyone out there name the companies / brokers that have not sent a reminder?

Ole lad is just gone to the land of nod, will find out tomorrow and update. Of course the broker claimed renewal was sent out.

Vertakill

They'll only auto-renew your policy if you had a direct debit set up with your bank and the insurance company.

If you paid them all in one, or you staggered payments via a different method, they're not capable of auto-renewing you.

They usually send out a renewal in either case though. Maybe it's because it was through a broker that there was a break down in communication between the insurance company > broker > OP.

Pretty sure if you were insured directly with an insurance company, it'd be somewhat automated.


Good call though nonetheless, pred. I'll bet there's a few people scampering out to their cars after reading this.

Btw, rofl Sticky Fingers. That's incredible. Hope you weren't paying for that year.. !

1916

Random wrote: »

Most insurance companys auto-renew if you don't cancel, strange that they didn't. Is that because it's a broker?

Most say 'no grace periods' which means if you have a smash and haven't renewed your not covered. I would say Ins Co's don't auto renew by default

rebel.ranter

My advice is to put the expiry dates of the following into your phone calendare
- Driving License
- Passport
- NCT Expiry
- Motor Tax
- Insurance

Heading off to France later today & my driving licenc. Would have expired while I was away. About 18 months ago I had put it into the phone & set a reminder to renew a month before expiry, forgot about having entered it but was glad I did. Luckily in Cork it is a walk-in job to renew.
Aviva sent mr out an auto renew 2 weeks ago, policy is up in May. I pay by DD.

Cabaal

I'm well aware of when my NCT, Tax and Insurance are up and about 4 weeks before insurance is up I automatically start looking for new quotes, don't even have to look at the discs.

Cabaal

Cabaal wrote: »

I'm well aware of when my NCT, Tax and Insurance are up and about 4 weeks before insurance is up I automatically start looking for new quotes, don't even have to look at the discs.

We'd expect nothing less from a mod of gardening and windows :P

tomcollins97

pred racer wrote: »

Its sorted now, but I dodged a serious bullet there, could have easily ruined somebodies life

Ah, how??

Guy:Incognito

rebel.ranter wrote: »

- Driving License
- Passport
- NCT Expiry
- Motor Tax
- Insurance
.

Driving licence is 10 Aug 2019 and Passport is July 2019. I did'nt cheat either.:)

pred racer

I did have a feeling that it should have been due soon, but hey, normally when someone wants my money they write to me and ask for it.

I never bother searching around for quotes anymore as Ive never been able to get within 150 euro of the brokers quotes (this year 420) and the broker is excellent, they send the renewal and if i leave it till the last minute they ring to remind me, but this time they never received the renewal from the insurance co, so the whole system never swung into action.

As for how I could have ruined someones life, Imagine being left a quadraplegic(sp?) by an uninsured driver?

for the record my tax is due in Jan
about a year left on the nct

anything else ill have to go look(including the car reg no btw:))

Cabaal

RoverJames wrote: »

We'd expect nothing less from a mod of gardening and windows :P

lol, don't forget Broadband,

Nah seriously I would have thought the vast majority of people keep an eye on such things especially given the amount of hassel it could cause if your stopped at a checkpoint and one of them is out of date

Cabaal

Cabaal wrote: »

Nah seriously I would have thought the vast majority of people keep an eye on such things especially given the amount of hassel it could cause if your stopped at a checkpoint and one of them is out of date

I agree, when Dad said to me his insurance was up a few weeks previous I was like WTF, how come you didn't ring them when the renewal didn't arrive.

The Recliner

Not insurance related but the tax office didn't send me out a renewal form last November when it was due

I was waiting for it as I was going to renew online but a couple of weeks after it was due I had to ring them up about it, they claim it was sent out, anyway 3 days later a renewal form arrived

Have never had that happen before

CoDy1

unkel wrote: »

Thanks for bringing up this issue, pred racer. I think I was always sent a reminder letter about insurance renewal. Can anyone out there name the companies / brokers that have not sent a reminder?

Every insurance company/broker must have renewal notices sent out to their clients 21 days in advance of their renewal date by Law. No excuses.

pred racer

CoDy1 wrote: »

Every insurance company/broker must have renewal notices sent out to their clients 21 days in advance of their renewal date by Law. No excuses.

Would that have helped me If I got stopped with no insurance?

seamus

Random wrote: »

Most insurance companys auto-renew if you don't cancel, strange that they didn't. Is that because it's a broker?

Most insurance companies won't ever auto-renew car insurance policies for the same reason that you don't get any grace on car insurance policies.
There are too many legal tangles to undo in the case that you're providing insurance for someone who hasn't paid you a premium.

It's extremely rare for your car insurance policy to be automatically renewed, even if you have a DD set up.

unkel wrote: »

Thanks for bringing up this issue, pred racer. I think I was always sent a reminder letter about insurance renewal. Can anyone out there name the companies / brokers that have not sent a reminder?

Tesco are a disaster with correspondence. Great insurance, never had a problem with it. But in four years I think I received the reminder once, and another time I never received my insurance cert.

I don't think this is any effort on their part to avoid sending out reminders, I just reckon their automated systems are a big buggy pile of ****. Every time I rang up, their system told the agent that a letter had been sent out, but obviously I hadn't received it. When I last renewed, I received two letters from them - both dated on the same day and received on the same day. One was telling me that my premium was outstanding and my policy would be cancelled if it wasn't received in ten days. The second was thanking me for paying my premium.

seamus

pred racer wrote: »

Would that have helped me If I got stopped with no insurance?

It would be a defence of sorts, but it would only serve to perhaps give you some leniency. It wouldn't be a defence against the charge of driving without insurance because it's always the driver's responsibility to ensure that they are insured.

You could however, sue your insurance company for some degree of shared liability. I doubt it would be worth your while though.

CoDy1

pred racer wrote: »

Would that have helped me If I got stopped with no insurance?

Probably not, at the end of the day it is your responsibility to have a valid insurance disc on your car. I was just pointing out that your beef is with your insurance provider if they don't send it out to you in time.

MetzgerMeister

tomcollins97 wrote: »

Ah, how??

If he had no insurance on his car, the person involved in an accident with him wouldn't be able to claim. Nor would he be able to claim off his own insurance if there was a need

tomcollins97

einheisserschre wrote: »

If he had no insurance on his car, the person involved in an accident with him wouldn't be able to claim. Nor would he be able to claim off his own insurance if there was a need

motor insurers bureau would cover a claim in this instance and the victim would be compensated. A portion of everyones premium pays towards this funds which is used to cover uninsured drivers.

Guy:Incognito

tomcollins97 wrote: »

motor insurers bureau would cover a claim in this instance and the victim would be compensated. A portion of everyones premium pays towards this funds which is used to cover uninsured drivers.

AFAIK it only covers injury etc. If the person that was hit had just forked out €20k on a new car it would be their own problem to sort it.