I was doing some accounting at the weekend, going through all of my invoices and bank statements when I came across something untoward. Back in August it was time to renew my car insurance. This is normally done automatically unless I ring them up to cancel it. This year however I noticed an increase in the amount they wanted, so I looked elsewhere and found a cheaper deal and phoned up my insurers to cancel my renewal.

After I had cancelled my renewal the guy I was speaking with asked if I had found a cheaper deal, and I said yes. He asked how much it was and when I told him he said that he would try and match it, but he couldn't. It was then that I noticed that the policy I was thinking of taking out had a £300 excess compared to my existing one of £100. I then said to the guy to forget the cancellation and just go ahead and renew it after all, and a few days later I received my new policy for the coming year.

However I just noticed on my bank statement that they never deducted my insurance payment, (perhaps because I got the guy confused at the time). My problem now is, am I actually insured ? I have the policy and everything, but I'm concerned that if I have an accident it could be declared void, so should I ring them up or keep schtum

Dear Mr Morrison

Thanks for admitting fraud in public.
It will save us the expense of a court case

Yours

The Old Bill

It was only because of my dilligent accounting that the error of the Insurers came to light m'lud. Surely they owe me some kind of reward for pointing out this flaw in their system.

"Free insurance for 3 months maybe, but not for 12. As you had plenty of time not to benefit from the company's error, a crime has been committed. The fact that you did not initially set out to cheat is a mitigating factor, and so I will commute the potential prison service to 200 hrs of community service. In addition you will not be allowed to leave Scotland until the current policy expires.".

On a more serious note, I'd be extremely surprised if an insurance company accepted that a policy that had not been paid for was valid several months later.

I come across plenty of uninsured drivers who have had policcies cancelled when they didn't pay and claim not to have known it was cancelled.
You should have recieved some post from the insurers
You really need to phone them asap and clarify your position. Offer to pay what is owed.
The last thing you want is a cancelled policy as you'll never get insurance again!

I received my Insurance Cover Documents in the post a couple of months ago. If I hadn't been going over my accounts for the Tax Man I wouldn't have noticed their mistake. They have all my Bank details from last year and as it was meant to be an automatic renewal I would have had no reason to believe that it wasn't deducted at source.

They will cancel the policy if no payment recieved. They send a couple of letters and that's it, you're uninsured and don't know unless you check your accounts or get your car taken off you by the police. Happens a lot

I just phoned my Insurance Company and asked if my policy was active and they said yes. We chatted about this, that and tother, and just as she was about to say goodbye I quickly asked 'could you tell me which method of payment I used to save me looking it up' and she told me that it had been paid using my credit card. I gave her the last 4 digits and she said, yes, that's the one, but I just double checked my statements and no payment has ever been deducted ? The plot thickens

I think that my phone call must have set alarm bells ringing. I checked my credit card statement this morning and my payment had been deducted at long last.

Just an aside, could it be possible that I have about the cheapest Car Insurance on Fiso ? I drive an 03 Reg, 1.8 Ford Focus 4 door Saloon and my yearly Insurance is only £159 (last year £151). I actually pay more in Road Tax (£210)

It probably has to do with my age. (elderly ) My post code. (the sticks where car crime is non existant) My job (Self employed) and not forgetting around 25 years of no claims.

I hate you ......

The hundreds of FISOers with fully paid company cars smile quietly....

But I have free travel on the bus

I always had you down as a model T Ford.