I’m Australian and have one of these policies too. They don’t cost a large amount and certainly didn’t cost much in 1997 compared to now.
It was for the car SL had, if SL had the car with the intention to keep it or sell it (she sold it), she would’ve had the rego papers. You can’t really sell a car without rego papers (at least without a great deal of difficulty dealing with government agencies which has never been discussed by SL so to me suggests she had the papers). My family is currently going through the process of transferring a deceased persons car into another family members name and it's a lot of rigmarole.
The internet was available but as was discussed at inquest this likely had to be cancelled in branch (from my recollection). When I get a chance I will confirm this. It was 7 August 97. Privacy laws for places like RACQ are tight and always have been, it's unlikely that they would be able to cancel a policy for someone unless proper ID or verification had been given (whether in person or via telephone). The most someone can do on behalf of someone else is call up and pay realistically. AC said at inquest that the policy was cancelled, to me this suggested that it did not lapse. IMO this will be another of the reasons cited as to why the court finds Marion returned to Aus (along with the incoming passenger card and other evidence).
Here’s what we DO know re the car;
- Marion gave SL the car to be sold or for SL to put money in Marion’s account.
- RACQ policy cancelled on 7 Aug 97
- Withdrawals happen over a period between Aug-Sep
- $80k withdrawal made on 5 oct 97
It’s unknown when SL sold the car. She previously said she wasn’t sure of the exact date however I'm sure police now have this info.
There is a lot of contention as to this next part but it was reported on the podcast that someone told the Salvation Army Family Tracing Unit who then told Marion's father that Marion said to "tell Sally I'm angry about the car" (assuming this to mean that the money had not been put into Marion's account).
IMO its possible that someone else knew about the car arrangements with Sally and invented that Marion was angry about the car when contacted to throw the family and the Salvation Army off the scent. It's also possible that nobody actually said this and maybe it was just speculation made by Marion's father and its just been misinterpreted over the years.
All that said, I can see a conman knowing about the car and the proceeds she was supposed to receive, however it seems really unlikely anyone other than Marion would go to the effort of cancelling a roadside assistance policy. If it did happen to be a comprehensive or similar type of insurance policy then perhaps there would be some type of refund, however insurance companies do usually take a fee at cancellation and it realistically wouldn't be worth a conman's while to risk being caught over a petty refund like that. IMO IMO IMO.
