My brother died recently 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 a matter of routine, I phoned my brother’s insurer, Toyota Insurance, to notify it of his death.
I was shocked by its reaction, which was to cancel the insurance instantly — despite my efforts to convince it not to. Since I live in the Scottish Highlands, I am relying on his stepdaughter who lives nearer by for help with organisational matters. She has the keys to the car, but she does not drive.
I feel forced to sell the car at extremely short notice, in case anything were to happen to it while it isn’t insured. What can I do?
J.H., Aberdeenshire
Sally Hamilton replies: When someone passes away there is a plethora of red tape to motor through, with calls to be made and emails and letters written informing officialdom and companies of their death.
This can have unexpected consequences, including with car insurance, as you learnt to your dismay. When people die, their insurance policies effectively die with them.
Be that as it may, you felt Toyota had been unhelpful to you at such a difficult time for you and the family and you couldn’t believe its response. It left you worrying that your brother’s car was at risk by being uninsured on the street.
I agree that its handling of your situation appeared less than sympathetic and feel it could have offered you more support with the next steps when you so needed it.
I asked Toyota to look at your case to see if there was anything it could do. A spokesman said he was sorry to read of your situation, but stated that it was industry standard to cancel a policy on death. He added that if there are no named drivers on the policy — as in your brother’s case — then separate insurance from another provider would need to be arranged to let someone else drive the vehicle. Some insurers will offer temporary cover, but I’m afraid Toyota’s insurance arm isn’t one of them. Had your brother shared the car with a named driver on the policy, then Toyota might have permitted them to drive the vehicle for a fixed period.
I asked the British Insurance Brokers’ Association (Biba) what people can do when someone passes away and there is neither a named driver on the policy nor temporary cover available from the current insurer. It told me buyers will have to shop around, but they must tell prospective providers that they are not the owner of the vehicle.
A spokesman says: ‘Not all insurers will offer to cover a vehicle in such circumstances.’
Biba says it has broker members that can track down suitable cover for people in your situation, and they can be found via its website biba.org.uk/find-insurance or by calling 0370 950 1790.
When we caught up last week you told me you had pursued this route and a broker had organised 14 days of fully comprehensive cover for £159 with insurer Trinity Lane. This was pricey but you were greatly relieved and told me that meanwhile a family member has expressed interest in taking on the car. They will arrange insurance when the temporary cover runs out.
On February 6, 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 arrangements with Via Holiday, she was told the holiday they’d purchased didn’t exist. They were offered alternatives that were more expensive and going from airports other than Bristol. They couldn’t afford these and so tried to get their money back. They were told they couldn’t get a refund as the voucher had been activated. How can this be right? Please help.
P.C., Wiltshire
Sally Hamilton replies: Wowcher is a website where shoppers can purchase experiences, products and holidays at big discounts. Shoppers buy a voucher that once activated can be used with the provider partners that have an agreement with Wowcher. The provider partners then pay Wowcher a fee.
Normally, customers have 14 days to change their mind when making a purchase via Wowcher, but only if a voucher has not been redeemed. Your granddaughter had activated hers in order to make the booking, so was left on the hook for the money — I felt unfairly.
I went first to Wowcher, since it was the firm that had received your granddaughter’s £766 payment, and relayed concerns over the much higher costs of opting for another deal with Via Holiday.
A spokesman says: ‘We are sorry to hear about P.C.’s negative experience with our merchant partner Via Holiday. We receive overwhelmingly positive feedback on our travel deals, so we are concerned about her story and are escalating it with the team at Via Holiday to find why they were unable to fulfil her voucher.’ Wowcher reiterated the fact that the fine print of its deals spells out that once a voucher has been redeemed with its partners, customers are subject to the provider’s terms and conditions. However, a spokesman added that its terms and conditions with merchant partners promise that where a deal is no longer available, alternative breaks of a ‘similar or better standard should be offered’.
He says: ‘We do acknowledge that in this instance Via Holiday failed to meet this standard and we are working with them to ensure that this doesn’t happen again.’ As a gesture of goodwill, Wowcher has refunded your granddaughter in full.
I also spoke to Via Holiday. While it apologised for the inconvenience caused and confirmed it has agreed to Wowcher making the refund, it simply added ‘kindly be informed that these deals are subject to availability, which we have clearly specified on advertised deals’.
Scamwatch
Beware 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 have not used it recently, First Direct warns.
Fraudsters pretend to be from your bank and say that there has been a problem with your digital wallet.
They will then ask you to send your personal details 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 instead.