The complaint

Miss R complains that esure Insurance Limited (esure) failed to update her email address,

which resulted in her receiving no notification of a failed payment and the subsequent

cancellation of her motor insurance policy.

What happened

Miss R says she changed her email address using esure’s online portal in 2020. She has no

access to her old email address. Miss R was involved in a car accident on 28 July 2023. She

part of its system but not both. This resulted in emails being sent to the old address. Miss R

says this situation became more stressful when her daughter became ill. She had to rely on

friends or use taxis to get her to the hospital. This impacted on her job as well as she needs

to travel around the UK.

In its complaint response esure says Miss R received a poor standard of service when she

called its contact centre. It also failed to respond to a request for a manager to call her. It

offered her £100 compensation for these failings.

In its response esure says Miss R called on 5 June 2023 prior to her policy renewal. A

reduced premium was agreed during this call for the renewal due on 18 June. esure says it

informed Miss R that the money would be taken three days prior to the renewal date. On 16

process. Its policy terms require it to inform Miss R of a missed payment and to request

payment by a specific date. If no payment is received its terms require it to write to her again

notifying her that no payment has been made. It must then give a final seven days’ notice

prior to cancellation.

Our investigator says esure sent a letter on 16 June 2023 giving Miss R until 26 June to

make a payment. It then wrote again on 28 June to say the policy was cancelled. As it didn’t

follow its process he didn’t think it had done enough prior to cancelling the policy. He says

esure should reinstate the policy, consider Miss R’s claim in line with her policy terms and

conditions, and pay her £250 compensation for the distress and inconvenience it had

Having done so I’m upholding Miss R’s complaint. Let me explain.

I’ve read Miss R’s policy terms and conditions regarding cancellation. The terms say:

“Our right to cancel your policy

We have the right to cancel your policy at any time by giving you seven days’ notice in

writing where there is a valid reason for doing so. We will send our cancellation notice to the

latest contact details we have for you and will set out the reason for cancellation. Valid

reasons may include but are not limited to:

• Where we have been unable to collect a payment (premium or credit installment [sic]) we

I’ve seen the letter esure wrote to Miss R dated 16 June 2023. This says she hasn’t paid her

renewal premium. If she wants the policy to remain in force it says she must contact esure

before 26 June to arrange payment. The letter says the policy will cancel from 26 June if it

doesn’t hear from her. esure then wrote to Miss R again on 28 June to say her policy had

been cancelled from the renewal date, which was 18 June.

I can see from the system records esure supplied that these letters were posted as well as

emailed. esure explains when an email address is changed via its portal this doesn’t change

the email used to send correspondence. It says Miss R should’ve contacted it to update her

policy details.

I’ve seen an email Miss R received from esure dated 9 May 2020. This says it has changed

requirement more clearly. If it had I’ve no doubt Miss R would have contacted esure to

change the email address used for correspondence.

Based on this evidence the correspondence sent by email wasn’t received. It was sent to an

address Miss R had no access to. Miss R also says the letters sent by post weren’t received.

I have no reason to doubt what she says. But regardless of this, I agree with our investigator

that esure failed to follow its process. More specifically, it should’ve written to Miss R again

cover. It wasn’t.

Given the impact cancelling an insurance policy can have, I think esure’s process requiring

two contacts sent by two different methods is fair. But it didn’t apply its process fully here. It

reasonably follows that this resulted in Miss R having no cover at the time of her accident.

2023 says:

“It may be that you did not wish to renew the above insurance policy but as stated on your

renewal documents your policy has been automatically renewed, as you did not contact us

to advise renewal was not required.”

Miss R’s policy schedule confirms the policy will automatically renew. This is what happened

here. I’m satisfied that there was a contract and cover was in place. I don’t agree with

esure’s view that it needn’t follow its policy terms and conditions in these circumstances. The

terms are clear that seven days’ notice will be given after the initial correspondence

confirming the missed payment. It didn’t follow its process, which has resulted in no cover

being in place at the time of Miss R’s accident.

the £100 it already paid.

My final decision

My final decision is that esure Insurance Limited should:

 reinstate Miss R’s policy on payment of the outstanding premium;

 consider Miss R’s claim under her policy terms and conditions, including the loss of

use of her car; and

 pay Miss R £250 compensation for the distress and inconvenience it caused her.

Under the rules of the Financial Ombudsman Service, I’m required to ask Miss R to accept

or reject my decision before 22 April 2024.