Tide insurance to be trusted?

[Fradav]

Can anyone confirm that Tide Forsiking is a legitimate insurance company and not a scam?

I´m a Brit living and working in Norway and insured my new Tesla 70D with Tide last November.  However I got a mail in March from Tide saying the insurance was never paid and thus had been driving without insurance since November.

I was requested to pay immediately with a purregebyr. They also had a third party perform a background check on me.

I sent them a copy of the original payment receipt from November from Sparebank 1 and they (Tide) said I was correct and they´d sort it.

But on Monday I got a mail from Statensvegvesen saying they´d now been informed by Zenith (Tide is apparently the Norwegian agent of Zenith) that I wasn´t insured and that my plates would be removed if I drive. I contacted Statensvegvesen and they told me it was my responsibility, I couldn´t drive until they got a message from the insurance company irrespective of whether I´d paid or not. They said I would effectively be driving without insurance in the eyes of the law.

I´m thus now without a car (using train, bus and friends) and beginning to ask if Tide Forsikring is a legitimate company. I searched these forums and see there are other customers so assume some people are satisfied?

My samboer has tried to phone Tide but nobody picks up and am waiting for a response by mail. Am considering writing the money off as a loss and getting insurance with a legitimate company. I need the car but more importantly it´s better to be ripped off for a insurance premium than financially (and emotionally if there were other victims) ruined.

If Tide Forsikring is a genuine company, their lack of organisation is extremely worrying considering the personal and third party consequences of an accident without insurance.

Any advice much appreciated.

David A. Fraser

[petersv]

Not to worry. They probably just did a mistake when alerting autosys (the register related to anything with cars on the road.)

Give them a call and they should be able to fix it there and then.

The same happened to me with another agency, Codan.

Since you have paid for the insure all this time, they would have covered any accident anyway, it's just a glitch towards the official registers.

PS. I was a bit pissed when it happened to me too.

[Fradav]

Thanks a lot for advice Petersv, reassuring.

I´ll wait until it´s sorted before I start driving again as my understanding from Statensvegvesen is that it´s legally my problem now if I have an accident, even if Tide messed up.

On a positive note best driving experience I´ve ever had

[Sandvika]

Happened to me with komplett forsikring.
I called them, and refuse to hang-up before they confirm they have entered the insurance in to the system (autosys). When they have, call Statens vegvesen to confirm that its correct on their side. 

[Fradav]

Thank you Sandvika, I´ll do that (if they pick up but assume they may be on holiday these days).

For the record I just got another mail from Tide asking for the insurance to be paid immediately (with purregebyr) despite having been through the exact same issue 6 weeks ago.

[als77]

I have no experience with Tide, but I assume they are legitimate. However, they don't have a financial back-bone! According to proff.no they have had a huge deficit every year since they started their business. From what I understand, insurance companies in Norway insure they insurances in other insurance companies - if so, then you might not be taking any risks with having your insurance with Tide. Anyone with more knowledge in this area who wants to elaborate?

[Fradav]

Got an email from Tide saying that I could destroy the letter claiming I´d never paid and that my Tesla is now registered with biltilsynetregister.  Hopefully won´t be invoiced for the fourth time, something way wrong with administrative procedures at Tide.

Als77 I´ve spoken to some friends who´ve told me, as you say, there´s no risk here, just hassle.