Insurance Probably Voided - What Now?

HKitten

Thank you everyone who responded to my last thread. In brief, I made a stupid mistake when applying for car insurance on behalf of my partner and applied for a quote that didn't disclose an IN10 he gained in 2008. It was a genuine mistake on my part, for not checking with him before I went ahead that I'd picked the right quote. The insurance comapny found out when we rang to tell them someone had hit our car and of course, my partner went through his details and mentioned the conviction since we both thought everything was already declared.

Anyway. I've sent a letter to our insurance company explaining what happened. I've been advised on the phone that they would never normally offer a policy to someone with an IN10, which is bad news as it means they won't just put up the premium and backdate it.

I'm hoping they'll accept it was unintentional non-disclosure and simply cancel the policy and our claim (which they wouldn't have had to pay for anyway as the other guy was liable). I've got two questions:

1. What is the likelihood of them deciding otherwise? I'm seriously upset about this as I would never have intentionally failed to disclose any relevant details, and now it's weighing on my mind that they might not believe us.

2. Whatever their decision, I'm sure they're going to cancel the policy. Can anyone reccomend an insurer that will take someone with an IN10 and a policy cancellation? I understand we'll be paying a lot more, I just want to know what our options are.

I feel terrible about this as my mistake could, if the worst comes to the worst and they feel we were deliberately dishonest, have serious repercussions for my partner

InsideInsurance

I am uncertain what other option you are thinking their may be other than them cancelling the policy given you are hoping that is their answer? If you're fearing they will think it is fraud and report you to the police etc, then that is very rare as if nothing else the police are generally not interested in single people committing fraud with their own policy. As my ex worked in counter fraud for an insurer, they struggled to get the police interested when it was whole groups of people fraudulently buying insurance for others.

Your options are obviously getting smaller now with both a Driving Without Insurance and insurance cancelled. You should have conversations with a local broker and one or two of those that specialise in high risk people such as Adrian Flux.

Quentin

HKitten wrote: »

1. What is the likelihood of them deciding otherwise? I'm seriously upset about this as I would never have intentionally failed to disclose any relevant details, and now it's weighing on my mind that they might not believe us.

2. Whatever their decision, I'm sure they're going to cancel the policy. Can anyone reccomend an insurer that will take someone with an IN10 and a policy cancellation? I understand we'll be paying a lot more, I just want to know what our options are.

I feel terrible about this as my mistake could, if the worst comes to the worst and they feel we were deliberately dishonest, have serious repercussions for my partner

1) No point second guessing on this - but if they cancel your policy, then the claim will be rejected.

2) There are specialist brokers online who can help with a "difficult" insurance history - google motor insurance with in10 - and try a local broker (not swinton).

You/your partner have let yourselves down over this, as one of you (ideally the policyholder) was responsible for checking the insurance documents when you took out the policy - and the matter could have been rectified within the cooling off period with no repercussions.

The silver lining for you (if the policy is cancelled) is that this came to light over an incident where the third party was to blame, and had it been the other way round, ie your partner had caused an expensive accident with maybe personal inlury involved to a third party then you could have been paying back any money your insurer had to pay out for many years to come!

HKitten

InsideInsurance wrote: »

If you're fearing they will think it is fraud and report you to the police etc, then that is very rare as if nothing else the police are generally not interested in single people committing fraud with their own policy..

That is exactly my fear - I have a strong sense of conscience and it makes me feel sick to think about being convicted for fraud over making a stupid error

Thank you for replying though, it's good to know that they likely won't take it that far.

Quentin wrote: »

You/your partner have let yourselves down over this, as one of you (ideally the policyholder) was responsible for checking the insurance documents when you took out the policy - and the matter could have been rectified within the cooling off period with no repercussions.

Trust me, I'll never make that mistake again! I admit, when we received the documents I just filed them away. I'll never be so quick to assume everything must be okay again.

The silver lining for you (if the policy is cancelled) is that this came to light over an incident where the third party was to blame, and had it been the other way round, ie your partner had caused an expensive accident with maybe personal inlury involved to a third party then you could have been paying back any money your insurer had to pay out for many years to come!

This is probably the luckiest thing about all this - the accident was minor and we aren't liable.

Thanks for the advice both of you - I'm going to start making some phone calls this weekend to get quotes. I tried a couple of online companies but it goes straight to 'uh oh, you better give us a call!'

If the worst comes to the worst, he'll have to stop driving until his points are removed and I'll get insured instead - my licence and history are clean. It'll suck, but then it'll teach us both to be more careful in the future. Talk about a learning experience!

Quentin

HKitten wrote: »

....If the worst comes to the worst, he'll have to stop driving until his points are removed and I'll get insured instead - my licence and history are clean. It'll suck, but then it'll teach us both to be more careful in the future. Talk about a learning experience!

If the worst happens, then waiting till the points are no longer an issue won't be the end of it - your partner will always have to declare a cancelled policy

HKitten

Yeah that doesn't give me a warm happy feeling - but at least once his points are off it might be a little more reasonable.

lisyloo

but at least once his points are off

Not sure whether you intentionally mean "off".
But the time limits for declaring them for insurance purposes (5 years) is longer than the tme limit for them coming off his license.
But I'm sure you'll be checking your declarations carefully in future.

HKitten

Thanks lisyloo, I know it's four years for them to come off his license and then another year before you have to stop declaring them