Car Insurance Problem (shock!)

lorriepetal

I recently took out a new policy with Hastings (having moved from Admiral) and have only myself and my husband as named drivers.

During the last insurance period, my son had a crash and wrote off the car (whilst on my husband's insurance). For this reason we have decided not to have him on the road for now. However, Hastings have found out about this and are now requesting our licences to check against the DVLA's database to ensure we have no convictions (which we don't). In nearly 30 years of driving I have never heard of this happening.

Since the accident occurred on my husband's insurance, Hastings now want to charge extra for the policy to keep him on, or slightly less to take him off of it. I feel that they have acted in bad faith as they waited until 16 days after the policy was taken out to even send the notification letter, presumably so that we could not cancel the policy.

I have tried telling them that there is no case for us to answer, as our no-claims bonuses are still intact and they surely cannot approach the DVLA without our permission first? I have also asked for written confirmation of the charges they are essentially forcing upon us, but this has been refused, and every time I speak to them on the phone the conversation just goes round in circles.

Any help given would be much appreciated.

brightgirl

If you kindly forward them the copies of your driving licenses then it might save you from digging a hole for yourself. I`m with Ecarinsurance and they also requested copies so I scanned then emailed them across.

What are you gonna do if they decide to cancel your insurance then refer you to clause xyz ?

......or you apply for insurance later and they discover you have had a previous insurance cancelled

.... or they charge you a £50+ cancellation fee...

I`m no expert but it could get messy.

bouncydog1

Insurance is based on the principle of utmost good faith, which basically means that you must tell insurers about anything that could affect your policy.

The fact that your son had an accident is disclosable whether or not you think it is, as he was driving under your husbands insurance when he had the accident.

You will also find in the policy terms and conditions that there is an obligation on you to disclose material facts to insurers.

vaio

And the FOS have ruled that rather than the non-insurance expert policy holder having to try and guess what an insurance company might consider to be a "material" fact the sensible way forward is for insurance companies to ask "clear and unambiguous" questions about anything they, who are the experts, consider to be material.

Obviously you have to answer all questions honestly but if they don't ask then they don't care (and will struggle to change their minds later)

foggytown

bouncyd!!! wrote: »

Insurance is based on the principle of utmost good faith . . .

Wouldn't it be a better world if insurers understood that the principle applied to them as well?

lisyloo

However, Hastings have found out about this

You are meant to tell them about this when they ask the questions about claims/accidents/losses. This was a claim on your husbands policy and therefore should have been disclosed.

You are lucky they aren't refusing to insure you on the basis on non-disclosure.

Wouldn't it be a better world if insurers understood that the principle applied to them as well?

What has the insurer done wrong in this situation?
If I have understood correctly they have found out that the correct information was not supplied.
They have acted well in carrying on with the insurance rather than cancelling it and tarring the policyholder with ghaving to declare cancelled/refused insurance for life.

MrRedundant

Why are we debating here.
The OP lied to the insurer and got charged extra as a result. What did they expect. As they have already proven to be liars I am not surprised they are verifying the other factors. I wonder why the OP is so against it.

As for the charges. It was all in the T&C you signed. If you hadn't lied you wouldn't have been in this situation. The wording also makes me think that there was some fronting going on to the previous insurer.

getmore4less

lorriepetal wrote: »

During the last insurance period, my son had a crash and wrote off the car (whilst on my husband's insurance). For this reason we have decided not to have him on the road for now. However, Hastings have found out about this .

Would this incedent not have been on the original proposal.
you have to declare accidents and losses for named drivers
your husband had a notifiable loss on his insurance.

Now if you failed to let them know about this then they will get nosy.