insurance

[stupidgirl19]

my husband has been in a accident but we haven't been keeping up on our insurance payments can we pay what we owe and make a claim..the insurance certificate is still valid?

[factor-fiction]

It depends on what the insurance company had done to chase you for the money and what the policy conditions were.
When drivers default on premiums nsurance companies don't like it (neither do those people who pay their insurance premiums). It's quite common for fraudsters to take out instalments, pay a couple of months' premiums, get a certificate and then stop paying knowing they have a certificate. But police are wise to it.
I'm not saying you were intending to defraud- some people genuinely fall behind and try to catch up- but insurance companies may not be sympathetic.

[themas]

I don't think it means you are uninsured, but you will probably find the insurer won't process your claim until you pay the arrears, or else deducts the arrears from any payment due to you as a result of the claim. But read your policy and see whether it says anything about this.

[factor-fiction]

Let us know how you get on. I hope you are right that the insurance certificate is still valid but you may find it isn't if the insurance company have chased you for the unpaid money and if the terms say cover ceases when payments aren't made within a reasonable period. Otherwise everyone would just pay a couple of premiums and then wait to see if they need to claim before paying the overdue premiums!

[themas]

factor30 - I think the flaw in your argument may be that the insurer would refuse to re-insure at the end of the year, & would also put the information on the joint register which insurers use to exchange details. So it would very likely be extremely difficult to get re-insured at all. Also, the insurer would chase the unpaid premium through the Courts and the insured person would then get a poor credit rating.

[stupidgirl19]

My husband changed jobs and has far as we were concerned the direct debit was being taken out.

[factor-fiction]

Sorry, please could you clarify that. I'm not clear of the relevance of changing jobs. Payments are normally paid from your bank account not from your employer- or were you paying by direct deduction from salary because you worked for the insurer?
Did the bank make a mistake or did the insurance company make a mistake and fail to collect the premium? In either case you�d probably still be covered.
On the other hand, did the insurer ever warn you that payments hadn�t been made? If so, you may be in a more difficult position

[stupidgirl19]

it is all sorted
car will be picked up tomarrow and he'll have a courtesy car