Car insurance, like any insurance, is always a pain no matter where you live. Having to pay for a potentiality is to put it mildly: a pain in the but. However, Poland has developed two ways of making this fact of modern life inexplicitly worse.
Firstly, there is a bizarre, but alas still active, law which states that every motor vehicle must be insured at all times. This means that even my 1984 motorbike which has not been outside the garage in over four years must be insured. Ok, fair enough, pointless, but ok!
The second and in my opinion, infinitely worse principle is the automatic roll-over of insurance policies. What? I hear you say. Well in Poland if you do not write a letter to your insurance company cancelling your policy it gets automatically renewed the following year whether you like it or not.
My car insurance run out at the end of March and after receiving a ridiculously high quote from Allianz through in the post I ignored their quote and went with Aviva which was considerably cheaper. At no point did I sign a new policy with Allianz nor agree over the phone to continue my policy.
Today I was thus a little perturbed to discover waiting for me when I got home a bill for 707zł for 3rd party insurance (OC). I instantly rang the company and was told that I must pay for this year. I of course explained that I already have car insurance and that I don't need two policies. The guy on the other end stuck to the company line and told me I must pay it and that if I send a resignation letter I won't have to pay for next year! Hurrah!!!
I confirmed that the conversation was being recorded and told him that I will send the letter but will not pay the bill and that they know where I live if they wish to take me to court.
Perhaps I am optimistic in my ignorance, as I have no legal knowledge per se. However, I feel that firstly, the automatic roll-over is against my human rights as it removes the element of conscious choice; secondly, the policy was for a specific period and was not like a satellite TV contact where the open-ended-ness means you must give notice etc.. Thirdly, insurance is a cover against a hypothetical calamity and thus no actual costs have been incurred.
I would welcome your thoughts (and legal representations pro bono would also be good).
Did you argue about insurance over the phone in Polish or English? I'm so freaking impressed if it was Polish!
ReplyDeleteIt was all in Polish i'm afraid; but arguing the toss over injustices i percieve as having occurred to me is some thing i'm developing a specialitu in :)
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