Car Insurance?... Problems!

[MJAllen88]

Hi there, i'm not sure if i've posted to exactly the right place but I did look first and couldn't find anywhere else relevent to ask, so sorry in advance if its wrong :).

I'm a 21 year old university student living away from home and i'm having big problems with More Than car insurance. I recently moved to More Than, after 3 years with Direct Line, with no claims at all on my insurance.

It 'WAS' all very smooth, a very well priced quote, considerably cheaper than Direct Line, considering my loyalty to the company and More Than even included contents and breakdown cover... I have my fully completed policy at my parents' house, with confirmation from More Than that Direct Line have confirmed and validated my 3 years no-claim bonus.

Smooth sailing? For nearly 4 months. Then my mum phoned me last Thursday night to say I have been sent a letter from More Than, saying 'regarding our previous letter dated '11th March', regarding required information from you, we havn't yet received our information and therefore your policy will automatically become null and void from 6th May 2009'. Strange?

Well my mum is paying my insurance for me for my final year of University to help me out and she is very on top of paperwork and when I go home I check all my mail and I never received anything from More Than, apart from the letter dated well before 11th March, telling me that the policy is fine and that they have all the confirmation they need from Direct Line.

I've been trying to get through to them all weekend. It was too late on Thursday to get through then when I did phone them Friday, they had problems connecting me to the 'relevent department' because apparently the standard customer advisors couldn't access my policy due to it 'pending investigation'. The relevent department was closed all weekend and bank holiday monday, then after University yesterday, I tried, was put on hold for 15minutes, then when I finally got through, 5-mins after the relevent department closed, I was unable to rectify the problem.
I didn't even know what was actually going on!

I tried to give permission for my mum to phone but I could only give that permission to the relevent department, which I could not for the life of me get through to.

Finally got through half an hour ago and have some shocking news.

They said reason why something has flagged up on my policy is because of a 'claim' made in February 2006. This was a month after I purchased my car and the incident involved me standing at my friend's doorstep talking to him and a Littlewoods delivery van pulling up in front of my car, then reversing into it, cracking the bumper. It was not my fault in the slightest and the claim was dealt with by the van driver's insurance company. In my knowledge, Direct Line didn't actually know about this because I didn't make the claim through them.

Anyway, because of this, More Than have said that I didn't tick a box on the appication to say that I have made a claim for an accident, whether or not it was my fault. They seem to think that i'm trying to dodge a higher premium and that because of the 'accident', I hold a higher risk factor. I didn't think this was relevent because it wasn't an 'accident', I wasnt in my car at all. It was more along the lines of vandalism. It was all completely dealt with by the third party's insurance company!

So now, after not being informed in the first place of this, like they said I was and only just being able to get through, they are saying my insurance is now invalid until their underwriters determine whether i'm valid for insurance and decide how much to increase my premium.

I need to go home tonight, to pick up my suit for my University May Ball and to see my parents before they go on holiday but More Than say it will take a few days!!?? This means i'm going to have to purchase a £40 train ticket to get home. I'd like some sort of way around this so I can get some sort of compensation for the inconvinience caused and the terrible customer service.

I'm sorry if it was a bit of a long post but surely they don't have the right to increase my premium when I had no involvement in the incident which was over 3 years ago? Also, how would More Than know about this irrelevent incident? It was never reported to Direct Line because it was nothing to do with Direct Line and i've never been informed by Direct Line of the incident being on their system.

Any ideas?

Thanks for reading

[DCodd]

Unfortunately they are saying that you should have ticked the box because you did claim albeit against Littlewoods Insurance, However with most business vehicle insurance policies there is a large excess so you may well have been paid out by Littlewoods themselves in which case you did not make the claim against insurance but against the company. Littlewoods would have registered the claim with their insurance company in case a further claim was made by you for injury etc.

But if littlewoods paid for the repairs themselves then claimed the money back from the insurance company then Littlewoods made the claim not you.

This is how it happens at my Company.

[MX5huggy]

...and the claim was dealt with by the van driver's insurance company.

That is how they know about it.

Sorry you have been caught out they class it as an accident. You should have declared it. Hopefully they will just increase the premimum and you will continue to be insured.

I hope they know you are linving away from home?

[MJAllen88]

Well i'm not sure it was Littlewoods who dealt with it. It was an unmarked van and the man was of little spoken English to say the least. He was just delivering a Littlewoods package. He was insured through a broker and it did take a long time to be sorted.

Either way, I was insured by Direct Line for nearly 3 years AFTER the incident. It's been done and dusted for a very long time and if i'd remembered it had even happened, or if Direct Line had issues, then I would have delcared it.

As mentioned in the message, Direct Line had already declared my 3 years no-claims and I think its extremely unfair for that to be jeopardised over such a silly incident.

The premium isnt the main issue. The issue is, I NEED to be home tonight and if I get my number plate read by Police checkers, i'm worried it will be flagged up and then i'l be treated like a criminal... again.

I was 17 years old, i'd just got my first car, a week after passing my test, I was showing my car off to my friend, standing in his front garden, when the van pulled up, reversed into my car and damaged the bumper. He was delivering a package, to my friend's mum.

That in no way warrants the investigation which is apparently taken place.

Yes, they know I am a student and that i'm living away from home, that's why I always try to get permission given to my mum to contact them because she pays the premium and she's also with More Than, has my documents at home and doesn't have dissertations to be dealing with :).

[oldagetraveller]

Rather than the "accident" being the problem it will be down to the fact that you didn't declare it during your More Than application. There's usually a question referring to any claims OR accidents/incidents within the past, usually, five years, whether to blame or not. If you didn't declare the incident then More Than have every right to conclude you have made an inaccurate insurance application?
I'm not normally a fan of insurance companys but on this occasion I would tend to side with More Than. Sorry.

[MJAllen88]

I understand your point.

I agree fully.

But... The problem is, in the part where I mentioned them regarding a previous letter.

The only letter I received was More Than telling me that Direct Line had proven my no-claims bonus.

All I received was a warning letter a week ago saying my policy would be void in 7 days if I didnt get through.

I've only just been able to get through to them via. their maze of Bombay call centres. If I HAD actually received the letter asking for the information, I could have had it all sorted months ago!

Instead i'm left pondering whether or not I can drive my car!

Thats where I am extremly upset.

It was a letter apparently dated 11th March! They only just decided to try again after nearly 2 months and i've been struggling to get through just to find out why their was an 'investigation' on my policy.

Thats apalling customer service I think. I dread to think how bad it would be if I actually had to make a claim!

[dacouch]

More Than will want a written explanation from you as to why you did not disclose the incident.

If you explain the full circumstances I don't think it will be a problem with them (Assuming you do not have other claims etc) as it appears you have not intentionly miss lead them