A bit of advice please..
Long story short, my parked car was driven in to and my insurance company wrote the car off. Money was paid out no problem there. As I no longer had a vehicle to insure I cancelled the policy and promptly got charged £37.. I argued that I shouldn’t incur any costs at all as I was not at fault..the fault driver even knocked on the house door and apologised and gave details etc…I argued about paying the money and they sold the debt to a debt collecting firm ARC Europe who try contacting me 10 times a day for me to settle the debt. When I try to explain why I shouldn’t be liable they just tell me it doesn’t interest them and it won’t do me any good to speak to K**k fit insurance as the debt is now with them. I’ve now received letter from their solicitors for the sum of £125.00 to pay immediately and threatening more costs if I don’t comply..
Anything I can do as I still dispute the original sum/ debt?

Citizens Advice? Your MP?

i think you can argue your case in front of a judge as to why you are not personally liable

I suspect the reality was you had to pay then threaten small claims to your insurance for recompense

Now I suspect you have to pay and the costs will only get more

trying haggling them down or offering silly small weekly amounts???

IANAL

Read the terms of your insurance cover to cover to see what you agreed to be liable for.

Contact you local Citizens Advice – also some useful advice about their harrassment of you:

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/debt-and-money/action-your-creditor-can-take/harassment-by-creditors/

+1 CAB, if you can get through!
*ours is a bugger

I would write back saying “the alleged debt that you have purchased is the subject of a bona fide dispute. Any attempt to secure judgment to enforce it will be resisted. I shall not be making any payments in respect of the alleged liability pending judgment. I do not intend to entertain further correspondence.”

But I’d only do that if I was pretty solid on not owing the insurance company the money in the first place. If I hadn’t really read my policy documents but was hoping to bluff them, I would send the debt collector 37 quick-sharp.

And check the “solicitor” who is writing to you actually exists. Monkey-business from debt-collection weasels about this is not unknown, and they should be called out on it.

quite often insurance policies have cancellation fees, usually if you’ve been paying it monthly, to cancel the credit agreement or some such BS.

Your car was written off, and because you were not at fault you presumably got a payout from the other parties insurance for your car which was deemed an insurance write-off.

You then made a lifestyle choice not to replace the car and remain car-less. You naturally decided to cancel your car insurance because you then benefit from not paying the remainder of your (monthly?) insurance fees, your insurance company is asking for the standard cancellation fee as you are cancelling your contract before completing the full term.

I certainly wouldn’t assume that you are not liable for the cancellation cost unless you can find something in the small print of your policy which says this cost is waved in event that you are cancelling due to the loss of your car. From my perspective the insurance claim with the 3rd party and your choice to cancel your policy are not even directly linked events.

It is conceivable that for your particular circumstance insurance codes/regulations oblige the paying out party to cover the cancellation cost or for your insurer to waive the cost but you are probably going to need somebody with in-depth knowledge to point you in the right direction for this.

You could try sending a cheque for £37 directly to the insurance company, if it hasn’t been too long since they first asked you for the money then they might be obliged to call off their hounds.

A cancellation fee is pretty standard for most insurance policies. weirdly the fact that some one else wrote your car off, and you deciding to cancel your insurance aren’t that connected as far as the insurance company are concerned, so unless they’re feeling generous… Read your policy, there’s probably a section in it telling you how they calculate it

I’d be paying the £37.00.

I cancelled the policy and promptly got charged £37.. I argued that I shouldn’t incur any costs at all as I was not at fault..the fault driver even knocked on the house door and apologised and gave details etc.

You seem really confused tbh. Neither you nor the other driver involved in the accident are ‘at fault’ for your decision to cancel your car insurance policy. That’s a decision you made for yourself. If there is an associated cost to that decision, assuming that the terms made this clear when you entered into the contract, I can’t see why you think you shouldn’t just pay it.

1 – speaking to Kwikfit will help, as they can call off the debt collectors
2 – sounds like you owe the money anyway

I think you’re liable also. However. If you take no other advice from here, heed this.

Do not, under any circumstances ever, talk to them on the phone. Do not give them any further information than they already have. If they ring you, tell them you will only communicate with them in writing, and hang up the phone.

My concern at this juncture is that this horse has already bolted. However. If they’re saying that the debt is with them, there’s a chance that they’ve just bought a job lot of bad debts and have no proof that such a debt exists. My opening gambit (in writing) would be to ask them to prove the debt. Pursuing a debt they can’t prove is harassment, and illegal. They should have a deed of assignment giving them authority to chase the debt, and I’ll bet you one of my lesser used organs that they don’t.

Unless you’ve already told them it does, of course. You haven’t done that, have you?

For instance,

http://www.getoutofdebtfree.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=141&t=44540

(And probably many more.)

A good example of why a ‘point of principle’ can be very dangerous for the person deciding it’s a ‘point of principle’…

Just pay the £37, it’s a part of the money you got in settlement – and for next time remember to ask the insurance company how much it’ll be to cancel, and add that onto you’re ‘bill’.

You’re liable for the outstanding amount, following a incident.

The same happend to my wife following her (parked) car being written off. During negotiations for her vehicle payout value, they dropped the bomb shell that she had to re-insure a car on the same policy within X days. If not they would cancel her policy and the FULL amount for her cover (i.e. Remaining monthly payments), would be deducted from the payout. Bearing in mind she’d started her cover around 2 months prior.

So I checked the small print and it clearly states that they can do this, as it covers their losses and expenses. However, it is something we have known them to be flexible in in the past, and waiver the fee. But you may be past that stage!

Pay the 37 quid

But the OP doesn’t owe £37 he owes £125 and I suspect that he will soon owe more if he doesn’t pay that . If you are going to dig your heels in then make sure you are on firm ground first .

That’s what I love about this forum..
So many knowledgeable people on a diverse amount of topics..thanks everyone for the advice. Afaik the £37 is of the table as I now have a letter from their ‘solicitors’ and the debt is now £125…
@ Cougar…I didn’t tell them what?

How about dropping a fiver to each of the contributors to this thread for their excellent advice? That ought to cover a couple of beers, up here in Manchester at least.

Cougar means: “You didn’t acknowledge the original debt to the debt collectors, did you?”

Would willingly buy you all a pint…PayPal gift ok? 😆
No,I told them that as soon as I disputed it with Kwik fit they sold the debt..

Don’t pay the debt collectors, pay the 37 quid to the insurers. If they take it, the collectors will have nothing to go further on.

The problem is that when you take out car insurance, your contract with the insurer is for a year, normally if a vehicle is written off, it is replaced and the new car is swapped on the policy.

Essentially the £37.00 fee is you ending that contract of insurance early.

But, it is your insurers decision to sell the debt to a company that will profit from it. if not litigation has occurred, then strictly they have not incurred any costs. I would pay your insurers the £37.00 fee via the collection company, then if they want more, ask for a breakdown of the £125.00 being charged.

As above you cancelled a policy early, the debt is yours to pay.

Stop burying your head in the sand !

Ring Kwik Fit asap. Eat humble pie and explain the errors of your ways. IF it is not too late you may be able to pay the debt to them and they will call of the debt agency.

If it is too late you will have to pay the debt agency.

Oh and now check your credit file as you will potentially have a bad credit marker against you.

🙄

Did the third party in this parking crash give their details/did your insurer claim back their outlay from the third party?

What is the £37 charge for OP? A cancellation fee? Was this deducted from the money (if any) you received back from cancelling the policy?

Personally, if you want on-line advice I’d try Money Saving Expert, Legal Beagles or Get out of Debt Free – they well used to ‘noobs’ with a OMG!!!!! threads as their first post and will usually offer sound advice based on a track record of helping people with them. They have cut and paste letters you can use, hints and tips and if the best course of action is just to pay, they’ll tell you.

I do have some experience in things like this, some of the advice above is misguided, some plain wrong – but what do you expect? – Ask the good people of MSE what tyres for soft over hard or what wheel size to buy and you’ll get equally misguided advice (well you probably won’t – they say they don’t know unlike some posters above).

I think I will add, if no-one else has – mucking an insurance company around for a few quid isn’t a great idea – any future insurance policies you take out may result in the company finding out about this debt. Once you get a “refused insurance” that you have to declare on every single policy you take out, you will have trouble getting insured for anything! It ain’t a fun place to be.
Obviously you may never get a refusal, but I wouldn’t risk it after I had one following a genuine mistake. Managed to get it written off (emailed the boss of the ins co.), but I wouldn’t have been able to buy a house if I hadn’t!
(And I’m not one for scare-mongering, no siree)

(and what P-Jay said 🙂 )

Most of the advice here is absolutely correct. Simply put, you purchased a year’s insurance and you are opting to cancel that contract early, which incurs the cancellation fee of £37 specified in your Ts and Cs. The claim and vehicle write off doesn’t change that. This is completely standard practise for car insurance.

The insurance company will typically make several attempts to collect the money owed, but after a certain time will sell off the debt to someone else. It’s worth contacting the insurer to see if you can still get away with paying the original debt, but don’t hang about, and don’t count on a positive outcome.

Since debt-collectors typically pay only 5 pence in every pound collected, I reckon the original creditor might be happy to receive the cash.

I’ve phoned Kwikfit and the £37 is a cancellation fee and are happy for me to pay them the amount which I’ll do when I’m home from work. I just hope now that the debt collection agency ARC, don’t bill me for costs..should I notify them?

I just hope now that the debt collection agency ARC, don’t bill me for costs..should I notify them?

Nope, you don’t owe them anything as you have no contract with them.

If they are really calling you 10 times a day you should do them for harrasment.
Think there is cases to support this.

Good result, pay the 37 quid to kwikfit, ignore the debt collectors or wind them up as you please. As already pointed out above, you have no contract with them, and once the debt is cleared they don’t have a leg to stand on.

So, you bought a policy.

You used the policy, presumably accepting 100% of the value of the car and not a % of the value based on the time on cover.

Then you cancelled the policy, having derived the full benefit of the policy, but not presumably having paid in full? So you took all the money from them, but wont pay all the money to them?

Insurance policies are a bit like condoms. They’re “protection”. Once you used them, the shop ain’t going to take them back!

It doesn’t work that you buy a policy for your £100k Rolls Royce on Jan 1st, write it off on Jan 2nd, and bank the cheque for the full value on the 3rd, cancelling the rest of the policy and premiums to be paid on the 4th.

Sorry for the silly example, but it’s to show you the principle.

tymbian – Member
I’ve phoned Kwikfit and the £37 is a cancellation fee and are happy for me to pay them the amount which I’ll do when I’m home from work. I just hope now that the debt collection agency ARC, don’t bill me for costs..should I notify them?

footflaps – Member
I just hope now that the debt collection agency ARC, don’t bill me for costs..should I notify them?
Nope, you don’t owe them anything as you have no contract with them.

But the debt has been sold to the debt collection agency so , as I understand it your debt is no longer with the insurance company so the people you need to be dealing with are the debt collection agency .

But the debt has been sold to the debt collection agency so , as I understand it your debt is no longer with the insurance company so the people you need to be dealing with are the debt collection agency .

Possible it has been passed to the debt collection agency without being sold (yet).

If you pay the original creditor, they will remove your debt from the list of the DCA.

It’s not the OP’s problem if the insurer sells it on. If the insurer takes his 37 quid there is no debt. The collector may have a dispute with the insurer (depending on their contractual arrangement) but that isn’t the op’s problem.

If Kwik Fit have sold the debt on then that is their problem not yours. You have no contract with the 3rd party. Life is to short just pay Kwik Fit the £37 and call it quits.

Kwik fit have sold the debt on so that it is no longer their problem , it is however still yours . The fact that you didn’t pay when asked is your problem and not theirs .

Insurance was due to end 2 months after the right-off. No monies/ monthly payments were owed on the policy. In hindsight I should of let the policy run and said I wasn’t renewing..but then again I wasn’t expecting to pay a cancellation fee in the first place. I phoned them Kwikfit up explains I no longer need the policy as I don’t have the car anymore..Next thing I’m getting charged for cancelling…