'Have you ever been refused insurance' Q - how to answer??

This is a hypothetical question that I'm hoping the insurance experts on here will be able to answer.

If you apply for car insurance on a monthly basis, with a severely impaired credit history, and are declined purely due to the credit history would you have to declare that as 'having been refused insurance'?

Obviously if you were refused a monthly payment option they would probably offer you the option to pay in a lump sum but if you were not able to do that does that count as the insurer refusing to cover you?

Thanks for any input....