car insurance - backdated car insurance

oolongtea

I had a minor motor conviction (3 penalty points) about 3yrs ago but I stupidly failed to inform my car insurance company. I only told them about it recently and they say that I have to pay the difference between what I paid and what I should have paid with the conviction (about 300pounds in total). I am no longer with this company, I wonder if they can really charge me for that when I never made any claim? And if I don't pay them, will I risk having an adverse credit history in the future?

I have read the policy details, it says that failing to inform them of any convictions may result in the policy being void or the policy holder having to pay the shorted amount before they will offer a cover. However, it doesn't say that they can backdate and charge the difference if no claim is ever made, or if the claim had already been made.

iamana1ias

oolongtea wrote: »

I had a minor motor conviction (3 penalty points) about 3yrs ago but I stupidly failed to inform my car insurance company. I only told them about it recently and they say that I have to pay the difference between what I paid and what I should have paid with the conviction (about 300pounds in total). I am no longer with this company, I wonder if they can really charge me for that when I never made any claim? And if I don't pay them, will I risk having an adverse credit history in the future?

I have read the policy details, it says that failing to inform them of any convictions may result in the policy being void or the policy holder having to pay the shorted amount before they will offer a cover. However, it doesn't say that they can backdate and charge the difference if no claim is ever made, or if the claim had already been made.

The short answer is yes they can.

The long answer involves the words "fraud", "obtaining insurance by deception", "credit reference agency", "ccj" and "bu99ered credit rating for 6 years".

You owe the money you should have paid (regardless of whether you claimed or not) so just pay the bill. :rolleyes:

pastra

I cant see a 3 year old sp30 having a £300 increase on the premium.

I wouldn't pay that, seems very high. Do you have other convictions?

dacouch

pastra wrote: »

I cant see a 3 year old sp30 having a £300 increase on the premium.

I wouldn't pay that, seems very high. Do you have other convictions?

It would not have been three years old when he failed to disclose it though!

Depending on the size of the premium and how many years the OP was covered with the company can have a big impact on the matter. The original premium could have been £1000 and the OP might not have declared the conviction for two or three years of cover with the same company...

oolongtea

thx for the replies.
I had been with this company ever since I got my car until several days ago when I started with a new company (which of course I declared the offence from the start this time). (and by the way, I genuinely didn't mean to hide the sp30, but it got renewed automatically and it just never occured to me!) So for about 2.5yr I was with this company without them knowing about this conviction..........

oh well, I suppose they will send me some kind of official warning before they will actually report me to a credit ref agent?..
what is ccj?

Quentin

A county court judgement. You don't want one of those on your credit record! (Lasts 6 years and virtually means no-one will want you as a credit customer)

(They don't have to warn you about reporting you as a bad payer)