car written off by insurance, what now

jackiegibbo

Hi msns a friend of mine has had his car written off by his insurance company, because it would cost too much to repair i think.He very stupidly didnt mention 3 points hes had on his liscence for the last nearly 5 yrs and has given a non disclosure letter to the company saying that hed paid the fine and thought no more of it . Now belatedly he obviosly regrets his stupidity as hes worried that the company wont give him any money and land him with the bill for towing it to a bodyshop dealer. Does anyone know of a friend whose been in a similar situation mand did the insurance company refuse to pay any money. Of course ive told him hes a fool for not saying at the time but hes so upset(silly fool) that i said id seek your help
many thanks

Bossyboots

It is often posted on here that insurers will not pay out if you fail to disclose driving offences but I don't recall anyone stating that they knew of someone it had actually happened to.

Hopefully now you have asked the question outright we might get a definitive answer although I suspect it will vary from insurer to insurer and depend on the exact personal circumstances of the insured.

It may be dealt with simply by withholding some of the money against the increase in premiums that may have been applied had he declared the conviction.

jackiegibbo

just thought id move this up a bit

gazza975526570

Hi

I can only speak from experience of working with a variety of insurers.

In my experience they will generally backdate any additional premium from when the incident occured for just 3 points. They may however cancel the claim from inception (ie not pay out on this claim and deem your policy was never in force) for more points than this.

It will vary depending upon which inurer you are with.

have you called and asked them?

gazza975526570

But presumably they/you would have been sent confirmation of the telephone call and asked to check it was accurate

scheming_gypsy

if it was due to an accident then it'll be the third party paying out rather than his insurance company so it may not get checked. If it was his insurance company paying out then they'd probably try and find a reason not to put their hand in their pocket.

sarah_elton

If they do end up paying out, remember that the amount the insurance company offers for the car is negotiable - don't ever accept their first offer! Have some reasons ready why the car was better than the average on the market (good condition, low mileage, anything you can use) and try and get them up.

(I know this doesn't help with the initial issue re the points, but just a tip if it gets this far )

jackiegibbo

hi thanks for the replies no he hasnt called yet, he had to send of a letter of non disclosure but he only joined this insurance company in july and apparantly the points colud have been taken off his licsence nearly 2 years ago although i suppose it will make no difference to the insurance company

Bossyboots

jackiegibbo wrote:

hi thanks for the replies no he hasnt called yet, he had to send of a letter of non disclosure but he only joined this insurance company in july and apparantly the points colud have been taken off his licsence nearly 2 years ago although i suppose it will make no difference to the insurance company

Most insurers seem to ask you for driving convictions in the previous five years even though many points come off the licence before that time. As it sounds like a spent conviction, they may be more kindly disposed towards him. Hopefully they will just deduct the additional premium he would have had to pay had it declared it at the proper time.

DavidHM

Ordinary driving convictions are not spent under the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 for five years from the date of conviction (even though they will have come off the licence before then) and so the insurer is entitled to ask. In fact failure to do so would be a material non-disclosure.

What the insurer will do with this is another question which no one outside the insurer can answer with certainty.

Emmzi

I didn't decalre 3 points and spent a very tense panicked weekend after I had a bump. the insurance compnay weren't that bothered.. I was very lucky!