Car insurance cancelled following accident

jeffrey61

Can anyone advise me please? I took out car insurance with One Call Insurance last September and paid for the full year upfront. I had had one accident in the previous 5 years at the time of the application and declared it.

I had another accident a couple of weeks ago which they dealt with quickly and repaired the other persons car very quickly. anyway now the other person has put in a claim for whiplash and I sent the solicitors letter on to my insurance company who have sent me a letter to say my insurance is void from inception due to an undisclosed claim. It is the accident I declared but i noticed (now) that the date of that accident on my policy is different. It is obviously an error and dont know if mine or theirs as I completed it online.

They are saying that if they had known about the accident it would have affected their decision to accept me - but it is the only accident I have had in the previous 5 years, I havent even ever had a speeding fine or parking ticket!

I only received this letter this evening and tried ringing them and they were transferring me to another department and cut me off. I tried to ring again but got a voicemail to say they were closed until Monday.

The letter says I am without insurance and I have learned that I will be recorded as being fraudulent in any other insurance policy I try to take out in the future. I havent done anything wrong. Can they do this to me?

dacouch

What date did you put down and what date should it have been

adamc260

Yeh how far out is it... If its days etc I can't see how that would change their decision.

jeffrey61

The date on the policy states 01/06/07 and the actual date of the accident was 20/07/06.

I really dont think it was my mistake. As I said earlier I completed details online and it wasnt straight forward to complete. Also my policy was emailed to me and I didnt print it off so didnt notice the wrong date.

It is the same incident just different date the total of the claim was £318 pounds.

Surely there should be a record somewhere that I have only had one claim in 5 years and it should be plain to see that it is the date that is wrong and not the incident? There is an error either theirs or mine but I dont know where stand. I need my car for work tomorrow but cant use it because I am not covered.

dacouch

What date did you take your policy out ?

Do you have any convictions or other claims ?

jeffrey61

Hi thanks for replying.

The policy was taken out on 1st September 2010 to start from 14 September 2010.

I have no other convictions or claims apart from the recent accident i have just put in a claim for.

adamc260

Your insurers aren't happy because they reckon you had an accident in 2007 when it was 2006 ... Surely the fact its actually a year earlier means your less of a risk? =/ One Call are idiots mind

jeffrey61

Hi thanks for that.

Good point! I will mention that when I ring them on Monday morning. It still leaves me unable to use my car this weekend as they have cancelled my policy.

Surely if I was withholding an incident more than one would have shown up in a database?

adamc260

Seems to me they're just trying to wriggle out of things.. If they're prepared to underwrite a risk based on a claim you've had MORE recently... why should they reject the risk knowing its OLDER? If it was the other way around, perhaps...

jeffrey61

Yes. I agree they are definately trying to wriggle out of it. The accident was the 15 Jan they repaired her car within a week it was when she put in a whiplash claim that this has now come about. their letter is dated 3 Feb.

Also there no damage to my car apart from a dented number plate. So didnt put a claim in for me.

The thing is can they use the fact that the date is incorrect to void my insurance whoever is to blame for the error (date previous accident on policy) its my word against theirs

dacouch

It sounds like your mistake will be classed as "Inadvertent" (See link), this basically means the Insurer should rewrite the policy on the basis of had you declared the correct information initially.

As the accident was actually older, the chances are it would have made no difference or possibly made the premium cheaper, thus they should deal with the claim.

They may suspect you have had accidents on both dates which could be causing the problem.

Give them a call on Monday, ask for a superviser, remain calm and be polite, refer them to the link and the Ombudsmans guidelines which they are obliged to follow. Make it clear there was only one accident, hopefully they will see sense, if they don't advise them you will initiate an "Official Complaint" which they will lose.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/publications/ombudsman-news/27/27-ins-nondisclosure.htm