Hello, I am a member of another forum, and was referred here with my problem by another member, who suggested I could get some advice.
Short version:
I had a accident in my car, which appears not to be my fault. however, my insurance company are saying my insurance was cancelled a few weeks before the accident took place 1 week before it was due to expire ,(when i cancelled my insurance RENEWAL), so obviously an error has occurred and my whole policy was cancelled. Thus, when i had the accident, i was not insured! Now i have the police on my case for not having insurance, and my claim is on hold as i was not insured. The car is on finance and im very worried incase i do not get a payout, as the car is almost certainly going to be written off!
Insurance policy was from 22nd oct 07 to 21st oct 08
cancelled RENEWAL, or thats what i asked to be cancelled, on the 2nd of oct 08
insurance company say my whole policy was cancelled on the 2nd, thus i was not insured from that date.
accident occurred on the 17th of oct 08
long version, with all the details:
My original post is as follows:
" Had a crash
This happened on friday, 4.10pm, turning off a roundabout, had just exited the roundabout onto a duel carriageway, as soon as I had exited the roundabout, felt a large bang and my car went veering off into the central reservation, up the curb, and up onto the crash barrier (the start of the barrier is a ramp type shape.. I went up that part), and as it acted as a ramp it sent my car over the barrier, onto its side, which slided across the wrong side of the duel carriageway for about 20yards before stopping.
I was in the correct lane on the roundabout, indicated to come off, and exited again in the correct lane. It appears the woman who hit me (just in front of the passenger side rear wheel arch, where the door meets the back panel) was in the wrong lane and swapped lanes without looking or something, hitting me. The impact sent me straight up onto the curb and over the crash barrier. Not alot I could do, didnt see it coming at all. One minute your on the road as normal, next your being pushed into the crash barrier and on your side. Im extremely lucky there was no oncoming traffic at the moment I flipped over onto the wrong side of the road.. or it could have been very ugly! I had to climb out of my car as it lay on its side, exiting through the passenger door :/ and then jumping out. quite a scary experience with the car rocking about under you.
Im ok, just some cuts on my hand from the shattered glass, and was extremely shocked at the time. Later on my neck is killing me, and my right wrist, the hand which hit the window as it smashed, is also hurting quite a bit. At the time though, my adrenaline/shock meant i didnt feel a thing. Damage to the car... drivers side door/front wing/rear panels etc are all scratched to buggery, drivers window smashed, wing mirror sheered off, rear window cracked/smashed. Passenger side has a massive dint where she hit me, damaging both the passenger door and the panel behind that. My alloys are all scratched, rear passenger one has been damaged where she hit it, and both drivers side are scratched etc due to sliding along on its side. As the car went up the crash barrier, the barrier scraped along the bottom of the car, doing unknown damage at present. At least the oil sump has been smashed, as there was an immediate oil leak, and the car had to be removed on a flatbed truck rather than be towed due to oil pissing about everywhere. Front bumper etc is smashed (the bottom plastic part taking most of the damage it appears) as that was the first point of contact with the crash barrier.
situation so far: the women was taking to hospital complaining of neck and back injuries, her husband drove her car away (it had minimal damage to the front wing I think, didnt get a good look). haven't spoke to either of them, as at the time i was in alot of shock and people had stopped to see if I was ok, the woman/husband stayed well away (she was crying), then the police and ambulance turned up so i was talking/dealing with them.
Firstly i was told by the police my car had no MOT and insurance (it does). but as ive bought the car less than a month ago (first payment came out today.. its on finance ) i guess the details hadnt got into the police computer yet. I had switched over my insurance details from my old car to my new astra before i picked up the car, and have the insurance documents etc to prove it. This insurance policy runs out this wednesday. So eventually they were satisified, i passed the breathaliser test etc, and gave the polieman my statement of what i thought had happened. I had a witness who said he had "seen everything, she was in the wrong lane" so passed this on to the police. He said from my statement, it would be very hard for the woman to deny responsibility if thats what actually happened.
I called my insurance when i got home, but they could not find my policy?? when i gave them my policy number. nothing came up. I dont know if this was due to changing my details or something, but when they put in my reg everything came up as normal. I know 100% i changed my insurance correctly as i have the written documentation/certificate to prove it. However, the not-very-helpful foreigner on the phone said they could not process a claim without a valid policy number, and i have to wait til monday for this to be "authorised". I asked if they would be claiming on my insurance or the other drivers, and was told "we cannot contact the other drivers insurance because you do not have legal cover". at this stage i thought, what the ****? and decided they didn't know what they were talking about. I called again on saturday to clarify what was going on, and was told that yes, since i had not accepted liability they would be claiming from the 3rd party's insurance, and again told i would be contacted on monday to hear more.
My car was recovered by someone the police arranged to pick it up, and told any charges would be deferred to my insurance. I found out where it was, but it is shut all weekend. I had a look, and can see my car in the compound, but its surrounded by locked metal gates. The drivers window is smashed, and its outside in the pissing raid all weekend. Im not happy about this!
So now its sunday night, i have a week off work, will be visiting the doctors to have them check me out as i intend to put in a claim. Im shitting myself because the cars on finance, if its written off i believe the money from the insurance settlement goes to the finance company, which would leave me with a large gap to pay (as i believe you must also pay them any interest they would have received), which is 4 years worth on a pretty high interest rate with me being young (21). I dont know what the result of the police report will be, if my witness will give enough information to prove the woman was at fault/if it corresponds to what i think happened, and what the woman said herself! A million things are running through my head at the moment Im just hoping it works out in my favour and i can claim off her insurance to fix my car, which hopefully isn't written off, but most people i talk to seem to think it is! I also bloody hope my insurance company pulls their finger out and gets my car into a proper garage soon, indoors! If it is repairable, surely it has sustained more damage now being left outside in the rain with broken windows??"
2nd post
"Update: been to the yard where my car is being held again today, its still outside in the pissing rain with the windows out :/ They said I could not touch it yet as the police "have not released it" yet, so I couldn't even get my stuff out of the glove box/boot etc :/ I only realised it was still outside when I was leaving, so haven't had a chance to confront them about it yet, but it makes no difference, the water damage will already have been done..
Rang my finance company to inform them its been damaged, as it says I must do that in my agreement small print, and they just said if its written off I need to give the insurance company their details to agree a settlement figure.
Now just waiting for the insurance/police to get in touch with me
"
and final post, where the main problem arises:
" **** has hit the fan now.
Called my insurance up to see what was going on, and why my claim was on hold... and surprise, I have no car insurance! apparently.
According to more than, I cancelled my insurance with them on the 2nd of october. My policy was due to run out on the 22nd of october. I have no idea why my policy was cancelled on the 2nd. Infact i have a good idea, I received my RENEWAL policy on this date, and rang up my insurers to cancel it. Obviously, they not only cancelled my renewal policy but also my CURRENT policy! i still have my certificate of insurance however, as all i said on the phone was "i do not wish to renew my insurance with you" and they said no problem, send us your renewal certificate of insurance, which i did. Somehow they have taken this as me asking to cancel my entire policy? and cancelled it? Which makes no sense, cancelling my policy 20days before its due to end anyway, after a year, and after paying my final monthly instalment a week earlier! Why would I cancel insurance id just arranged (onto my new car) and paid for?
So my claim is on hold, as technically i had no insurance the day i was hit. Thats why the police said i had no insurance, but they thought this was coming up because it was a new policy/recently changed policy and not on their system yet.
So im well and truely in the ****. Obviously its been escalated beyond the indian call centre who ****** it all up in the first place, so im waiting to hear from someone else. Going to be worrying massively now - what happens if i have no insurance, i have to pay all my finance off myself?! and i get prosecuted for having no insurance? and what about this woman who hit me, she could claim off me too?
im totally lost and worried now
"
any advice on where i stand? thanks alot in advance
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help! Insurance problem
