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My brother recently passed away and I am the executor of his will. He owned a Toyota Aygo, which is currently parked on the road outside his house in Wales. As usual, I phoned my brother’s insurer, Toyota Insurance, to notify them of his death.
I was surprised by his reaction, which was to cancel the insurance immediately, despite my efforts to persuade him not to. As I live in the Scottish Highlands, I rely on his stepdaughter, who lives closer, to help me with organisational matters. She has the keys to the car, but does not drive.
I am forced to sell the car at very short notice in case something happens to it while it is uninsured. What can I do?
Justice of the Peace, Aberdeenshire
Sally Hamilton responds: When someone dies, there is a lot of paperwork to complete, calls to make and emails and letters to write to inform authorities and companies of their death.
This can have unexpected consequences, even on car insurance, as you may have learned to your dismay. When people die, their insurance policies die with them.
Either way, you felt like Toyota hadn’t helped you through such a difficult time for you and your family and you couldn’t believe their response. You were worried that your brother’s car was at risk because it wasn’t insured on the road.
I agree that your handling of her situation seemed unsympathetic and I feel like you could have offered her more support with next steps when she needed it so much.
I asked Toyota to look into your case to see if there was anything it could do about it. A spokesperson said he was sorry to read about your situation, but said the industry norm is to cancel a policy in the event of death. He added that if there are no named drivers on the policy (as in your brother’s case), then separate insurance would need to be taken out with another provider to allow someone else to drive the vehicle. Some insurers offer temporary cover, but I’m afraid Toyota’s insurance division isn’t one of them. If your brother had shared the car with a named driver on the policy, Toyota might have allowed him to drive the vehicle for a fixed period.
I asked the British Insurance Brokers Association (Biba) what people can do when someone dies and there is no named driver on the policy and no temporary cover available from the current insurer. I was told that buyers will have to shop around, but they should inform potential providers that they do not own the vehicle.
A spokesman said: “Not all insurers will offer to cover a vehicle in such circumstances.”
Biba says it has broker members who can locate suitable cover for people in your situation, and you can find them through its website biba.org.uk/find-insurance or by calling 0370 950 1790.
When we met last week, you told me that you had gone down that route and that a broker had arranged 14 days of comprehensive cover for £159 with Trinity Lane insurers. It was expensive, but you were very relieved and told me that in the meantime, a member of your family had expressed an interest in taking over the car. They will take over the insurance when the temporary cover runs out.
On 6 February, my granddaughter paid £766 for a four-night trip to Portugal with Via Holiday for herself and three friends, a deal she had found on Wowcher. It was ideal as the flight was from nearby Bristol.
The next day when she went to finalise the details with Via Holiday she was told that the holiday she had purchased did not exist. They were offered more expensive alternatives, departing from airports other than Bristol. They couldn’t afford these, so they tried to get their money back. They were told that they couldn’t get a refund because the voucher had already been activated. How can this be correct? Please help.
PC, Wiltshire
Sally Hamilton responds: Wowcher is a website where shoppers can purchase experiences, products and holidays at deep discounts. Shoppers purchase a voucher which, once activated, can be used with vendor partners who have an agreement with Wowcher. The vendor partners then pay Wowcher a fee.
Normally, customers have 14 days to change their mind when making a purchase through Wowcher, but only if they haven’t redeemed a voucher. Her granddaughter had activated hers to make the booking, so she was left holding the money. I felt unfair.
I first went to Wowcher, as they were the company that had received the £766 payment from her granddaughter, and expressed my concerns about the much higher costs of opting for another deal with Via Holiday.
A spokesperson said: “We are sorry to hear about PC’s negative experience with our retail partner Via Holiday. We receive overwhelmingly positive feedback on our holiday deals so we are concerned about his story and are escalating it with the Via Holiday team to find out why they were unable to honour his voucher.” Wowcher reiterated the fact that the small print of its deals explains that once a voucher has been redeemed with its partners, customers are bound by the supplier’s terms and conditions. However, a spokesperson added that its terms and conditions with retail partners promise that where a deal is no longer available, alternative breaks of a similar or better standard must be offered.
She says: “We recognise that in this case Via Holiday did not meet this standard and we are working with them to ensure this does not happen again.” As a gesture of goodwill, Wowcher has refunded her granddaughter in full.
I also spoke to Via Holiday. While it apologised for the inconvenience and confirmed it had agreed to Wowcher making the refund, it simply added: “Please note that these deals are subject to availability, which we have clearly specified in the advertised deals.”
Scam Watch
Be wary of unexpected text messages from your bank about your “digital wallet” (which stores virtual versions of your debit and credit cards on your phone), especially if you haven’t used it recently, First Direct warns.
Scammers impersonate your bank and say there’s a problem with your digital wallet.
They will then ask you to send your personal information via a link, which they will use to access your account and steal your money.
Do not click on the link, forward suspicious text messages to 7726.
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