A quarter of French people are ready to stop insuring their vehicle or accommodation to save money. We explain how to avoid getting there.
In which position to cut when the end of the month becomes difficult? Many French people are currently asking this question, as inflation erodes the balance sheets of the most vulnerable households. Food? Clothing? Health? Hobby? According to a recent survey (1)more than a quarter of the respondents would be ready no longer insures their car or home to save money. We are seeing an acceleration in the rejection of insurance, confirms Jean-Louis Kiehl, president of the Crsus federation, which supports families in financial difficulty. People prefer to pay rent, repay loans, and stop paying insurance.
Let’s be honest: it’s a bad idea. Of course, in the short term, this option has the advantage of not affecting your lifestyle. However, it should be remembered: your car and home insurance (if you are a tenant or co-owner) are obligations. Driving without insurance, in particular, is a crime, punished with a fine of € 3,750 and 10 years’ imprisonment. And for good reason: Car insurance covers not only the damage you may suffer, but also the damage you may cause to others with your vehicle. This is called civil liability. Without it, the entire bill will be borne by you and the cost can be prodigiously high.
A 40-day countdown
What actually happens if you stop paying the insurance premium? If, like the vast majority of French people, you have made monthly payments, you usually have a right the error. During a first default, most companies automatically postpone the monthly payment to the next month. This is the case, for example, of the MAIF, which agreed to answer our questions.
But be careful: if your budget situation is not restored the following month, a second payment incident triggers a process, framed by the Insurance Code, which risks leading you, 40 days later, to no longer be covered. We start by sending a letter of formal notice, at the latest 10 days after non-payment. Once you have received this registered letter, you have done so 30 days to pay the premium. After this deadline, the insurer launches a new 10 day countdown, during which your warranties are suspended. After these 10 days, you can simply terminate the contract.
To delay the start of this countdown, some insurers delay the formal notice. This is the case with MAIF, which sends to letter of formal notice at the time of the second non-payment he invoiced 7.10 euros.
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Review your insurance coverage
To avoid getting there, there are 36 solutions: you have to contact your insurer. The suspension of guarantees, in fact, can often be avoided by negotiating a payment contract. This generally begins with a partial payment of the unpaid premiums, therefore with a staggering of the amounts still owed.
Arguing with your advisor may also allow you to do a update us on your guarantees. Check, in particular, that the guarantees you benefit from remain consistent with the reality of your needs, depending on the composition of your family unit or the conditions of your personal belongings …
More generally, if the weight of insurance premiums in your budget is too high, it is advisable to do a overview of your insurance coverage. Boring job, but one that can be a source of big savings. Search, for example, possible duplicates: We receive five times insured people for the same thing and who, at the same time, can no longer put food in the refrigerator, complains Jean-Louis Kiehl. OR go around the marketto verify that you couldn’t find cheaper elsewhere.
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(1) Leocare / Poll & Roll survey, conducted on a sample of 1,000 representative people of the French population aged 18 to 65, from 13 to 20 September 2022.
