Imogen Calderwood
THOUSANDS of expats have unknowingly been left without insurance as one of the coast’s biggest insurance brokers has apparently gone bankrupt without telling them.
Knight Insurance SA, based in Fuengirola and Nerja, has applied for voluntary bankruptcy, but failed to alert any of its thousands of policyholders.
It has left clients fuming, particularly as Knight failed to pass payments they had made on to the insurance companies.
They were, of course, also unprotected against incidents. For insured trading in the financial markets trade online with Alvexo.
Staff at two big insurance companies on the coast Ibex and Liberty have confirmed that they are still handling the fallout, with panicked expats calling them on a daily basis.
Even though Knight apparently filed for bankruptcy in October, a large number of their policyholders could still have no idea that they are no longer covered.
Guy and Rosemary Dearden, who have lived in Fuengirola for 10 years, only realised they were not protected when they tried to add their son to the family policy in April.
“It was a horrible shock,” Mr Dearden told the Olive Press.
“As I could only get through to their telephone answering machine, I called the insurance company concerned directly.
“It turned out my policy was not in effect as the payment had not been forwarded from Knight Insurance.
“I had been driving my car without cover for 10 months. We were very lucky not to have been involved in an accident.”
Unbelievably, Knight’s website is still up and running, with no mention of the company’s crushing financial difficulties.
Clients can apparently even fill out forms to request new policies.
However, its offices are closed and attempts to phone go straight to voicemail.
It comes as no surprise to me….My account was transferred to them after they had bought out another business in Fuengirola but I ceased to be a client a couple of years ago as I felt their attitude towards customers was dreadful.
If you give someone the chance to rip you off – they probably will.
Why do so many not take care of all their own finances, are they brain dead.
As I recall, a couple of years ago, the Media published description of the legal suite that IBEX filed against Knight Insurance because Knight had not paid the Premiums they received to IBEX. A MAJOR problem in the offing – Don’t folks / Policyholders READ the papers?!
This is ridiculous to say the least. This is not about the bankruptcy, it is fraud and should be dealt with as such. Why is there no mention of police involvement?
Similarly, I don’t understand Stuart’s comment. When one uses an insurance broker, you are dealing with a matter which you expect to be dealt with in a professional manner. You can hardly blame the client!
This does not apply to the Nerja branch…. Knights ceased trading there August 2012. Upon reading this today, I contacted the branch – as my car is insured through them and this is their reply….
You are so right, we are since the 1st of August 2012, Liberty Seguros. Your insurance is fully in force, no problem and was paid on the 20th of of November 2013.
Don’t know about the other side of Malaga though…
The last comment is so fake. You can just tell the company themselfs are writting this.
Today, Monday 1st September I contacted Knight Insurance Brokers in Los Boliches by phone and they assured me they were still in business and there was no problem . Are they, and is there a problem?
I have today received an email from “Maria” claiming to be from Knight Insurance although her email address is a hotmail address. She’s advising me to change my car insurance from one company to another cheaper company – with her help of course. She telephoned me to follow up the email and actually said she was from KnIght Insurance. She has my telephone number and email address and policy details. I smelled a rat so google her email address which is associated with a new brokerage with a different name dealing exclusively with Caser. She said I had to cancel with my bank the direct debit for the old insurance company (which I would expect her to have arranged for me). BUT I believe I am too late to cancel the former policy as renewal is almost upon us so if I had fallen for her ruse I would have ended up paying the original company and the new one (or her – depending how unscrupulous she is). Be warned!!!
Years ago I paid Knight insurance a premium for public liability insurance for a business we had in Los boliches only to find they took the money and kept it. After a lot of fuss I did get the money back but seems like they have had tendencies for a long time