Latest moan from you and me - 2016

Don't worry, @Kandy the bin men are coming back with itchy ears (from the flea I had put in them)

Apparently, their excuse was that the bin wasn't on the footpath but only at the top of the driveway. If I put the bin on the footpath the neighbour can't see if traffic is coming . As it's nasty neighbour I'm now going to put the bins on the footpath - the Council's orders

 

Good afternoon @shiney and all my other friends not so much a moan,more of a plea for your advice and help for an Owl who sometimes gets very frustrated with the system,I shall begin

I have just spent an entire morning trying to arrange Mrs Woos insurance on her new used car,we went to see our insurance brokers(Swintons) where Mrs woo is present car is insured with Aviva,£360 per annum(fully comp).we were quoted for the new car £460 per annum +£82 up front payment only because Mrs Woos present car insurance has only 2 months to run

We cannot say when we are picking the new car up its either Friday/Saturday,Mrs Woo cannot drive the car home without insurance or tax,so we have to drive our old car to the dealers as he is taking it in PX and we cannot insure it until we take possession of the new car.

I have just searched for a quote on line with Aviva and have been quoted £220 per annum

I now have a headache and I am completely confused as the dealer has said that before Mrs Woo can take the car she must be insured

If you cannot understand any of the above ,bear with me as I am going to lay down in a dark room ,and I will be back

 

Hi @wiseowl
It seems to me that I may be misunderstanding what you are asking but shall answer anyway

It appears that your existing insurer (Swinton) want a lot more money than Aviva to cover the new car.

If it were me I would tell Swinton that I want the old car insurance to cease on Saturday as you are selling the car and ask for any unused portion of your original payment.

They may tell you that you don't get it because they will calculate their charges on a monthly or quarterly basis instead of the annual charge they had charged you - which they will say carries a discount that just happens to be the amount of money that the rest of the cover is worth. Unfortunately, they can do this.

So it's possible that you won't get any money back. That shouldn't stop you from pressing them for it.

In the meantime, contact Aviva and tell them that you want the new car to be covered from Saturday. That will cost you £220 and the dealer will be happy that you are covered and the Woo household will be covered. When you arrange the cover with Aviva either get a printout of the screen (if buying online) or ask for a Cover Note from them (if over the phone) or to be handed to you (if through an agent). That's a temporary insurance until the proper one arrives. That may not be necessary if the dealer is able to contact the insurance company to get Proof of Cover. I'd talk to the car dealer about it. He's bound to know.

In summary:-
Speak to the car dealer first and ask his opinion of the best way to go about it.
Insure with Aviva and find out how to get the info to the dealer.
Tell Swinton, politely, (as you always do ) what they can do with their cover.

Expect to lose any balance of the current insurance (quite likely but you can argue about it) and consider that small amount to just be a little bit extra cost on the new car.

You've only lost £60 if you don't get anything back and you've saved £240 which is the difference between the two quotes you've had.

Good luck

Any more questions then just ask. I'm popping in and out of the garden so shouldn't be too long in answering. Mrs Shiney usually limits me to one hour at a time unless I'm mowing - and I did the mowing yesterday.

 

@shiney
Good morning all my friends,its very wet and the slugs are decimating my Dahlias,the snails are having a field day,I can actually hear them laughing at woo as he walks up the garden path

I have had to cancel Mrs Woos car as by checking its history before I handed any big money over,except(£100 deposit which they insisted on) I shall be there at 8.30am this morning.
The car was written off in 2014 Category D,and they didn't inform me at all,and this they must do,now this is perfectly legal to sell me the car as there are thousands of these cars on the road,it is indeed common practice,now I know Category D could mean just a small bump or something more damaging,but I am not taking the chance with Mrs Woo driving the car

I have also discovered that if I hadn't checked the cars history (cost me £20) but its the best £20 I have ever spent and insured the car without informing the insurance company,then they would have refused to pay out if god forbid anything did happen.

I am going to ask for my deposit back,not sure what they will say,as you know once they have your money its difficult to get back,the salesman blatantly lied to woo,which is not illegal,but woo doesn't like it.anyway Mrs Woos not a happy bunny ,and neither will the the salesman be
,but woo will handle this situation with his usual tact and diplomacy

 

Sorry to hear about the car problem . You should be able to get your deposit back from as reputable dealer, although they may try to tell you that you can't have it. I don't think they are compelled to return it but it may depend on what the conversation was when paying the deposit.

I'd be prepared to argue that, as a reputable dealer, they should have told you that it was a Category D car as it may render any car insurance cover you take out null and void.

Was the car a lot cheaper than you would have expected?

If they say that they didn't know it was Category D then you should tell them that as they are in the trade it's the normal procedure to check that sort of thing. So there's no excuse. It's now considered sharp practice to fail to reveal the situation and the Office of Fair Trading is considering bringing in legislation to stop the practice.

If they refuse to return your deposit I would be inclined to report it to Trading Standards and also have a chat with the local papers - and tell the dealer what you intend doing. The papers may want to do a story about this dodgy practice.

It's not illegal, yet, so your usual pleasant approach to them may be the best way. You can thump them later

If you get your deposit back you should then ask for your £20 as well (no harm in trying ). Particularly if they try to argue that they didn't do the check themselves, as you can say that they should have spent that money doing the check in the first place.

They either didn't do the check, when they should have. Or they did the check and deliberately deceived you by not mentioning it.

If they try to argue that you didn't ask, then you can say that a member of the public is not expected to know about Category D but people in the trade are. They may try to argue the old principle of Caveat Emptor (Let The Buyer Beware). This still applies but they may be liable under 'Fit for Purpose' because you may have been declared uninsured after having an accident because of them not telling you a salient fact. So the failure to advise you of it could be considered Not Fit For Purpose. (A bit thin on legal precedent but a good argument none the less - and it may be well worth their while giving you your £100 back and getting rid of you.)

Oh, I do love arguing with salesmen! Pity I don't live near you

If they don't argue with you and give it back without a problem then you may wish to continue dealing with them for another car. You can just ask them to reveal any negatives about another car you may be interested in. Don't let them try and get you to accept the £100 being a deposit on another car from them.