Car Insurance want to charge me for not declaring 3 points

aneurin

Can anyone help? Admiral say i owe them £150 for failing to declare 3 points i got in novemeber 2004. I only realised i did not tell them when i was updating my details in December to get a new quote. They reckon that the extra money is to cover the increase in insurance cost if i told them in 2004! I have not claimed during my time with them! Over 4 years. Can they do this? If i dont pay in 10 days they say they are passing the debt over to a debt collecting agency! Would love to know if anyone knows if i def have to pay the money or i have grounds to appeal etc.
Thanks.

I'm_With_Stupid

aneurin wrote:

Can anyone help? Admiral say i owe them £150 for failing to declare 3 points i got in novemeber 2004. I only realised i did not tell them when i was updating my details in December to get a new quote. They reckon that the extra money is to cover the increase in insurance cost if i told them in 2004! I have not claimed during my time with them! Over 4 years. Can they do this? If i dont pay in 10 days they say they are passing the debt over to a debt collecting agency! Would love to know if anyone knows if i def have to pay the money or i have grounds to appeal etc.
Thanks.

I'm pretty sure they're right. If you had told them, you would've had to pay them, so I think you owe them. Just be glad you didn't have an accident in that period, because they wouldn't have paid out.

Incidentally, I could do with some advice on this sort of thing. How does it work when you change your details? Like if you address changes, or your job, or like this situation, the number of points on your licence? I imagine you have to tell them immediately for the first two, but I hear that for points, it's just when you renew? Is that right? Incidentally, let's say that your address changes from a high-risk area to a low-risk, will they give you money back?

Pantera_Fan

aneurin wrote:

Can anyone help? Admiral say i owe them £150 for failing to declare 3 points i got in novemeber 2004. I only realised i did not tell them when i was updating my details in December to get a new quote. They reckon that the extra money is to cover the increase in insurance cost if i told them in 2004! I have not claimed during my time with them! Over 4 years. Can they do this? If i dont pay in 10 days they say they are passing the debt over to a debt collecting agency! Would love to know if anyone knows if i def have to pay the money or i have grounds to appeal etc.
Thanks.

Yes they are allowed to do this. The premium is based on their assesment of the risk you provide to them. By not declaring the points you appeared as a lower risk hence the lower premium. If you had declared it beforehand your premium would of increased. Much the same way that it you didnt declare any accidents and they allowed extra no claims for this and later found out you were entitled to less the insurer would back date the reduction in discount and charge you.

As the other reply said, just be grateful that you didnt have a claim otherwise your policy would not of paid out.

pboae

I'm_With_Stupid wrote:

Incidentally, let's say that your address changes from a high-risk area to a low-risk, will they give you money back?

I moved house twice during one period of insurance, the first time I had to pay an extra £50, the second I got a £30 refund, even though there was only a couple of months left on the policy by then.

in_my_wellies

My DH told his insurer about 3 points and it only went up £12. He tried another company and the quote was about £60 less so he changed.
So as we all know it pays to shop around.

malky39

pboae wrote:

I moved house twice during one period of insurance, the first time I had to pay an extra £50, the second I got a £30 refund, even though there was only a couple of months left on the policy by then.

This will simply be down to the first place you moved to being a higher risk than your original address then the second being a lower risk than than the first place you moved to

reduceditem

Use https://www.confused.com to help give an indication of how any change of details might affect your premium. Generate a new quote using your current details, note down, say, the top 20 offers then go back and open up the same quotation but choose the option for 'ammend quote' and then change the detail (new address, points on licence, even new car if you like). Note down the top offers and compare the difference between insurers that have quoted both times. If you have more than one detail to change do them one at a time so you can clearly assess the impact of each one. Its not a fool-proof method but it should give you a fair idea of what a change of details might mean in terms of your premium.
Good luck

pboae

malky39 wrote:

This will simply be down to the first place you moved to being a higher risk than your original address then the second being a lower risk than than the first place you moved to

Yes, that was my point, 'I'm With Stupid' asked whether insurers give refunds when you move to a lower risk area. They did for me.

iceman_2

Sounds like a rip-off to me. After all if you'd have had a claim in that period and they'd have discovered you had undeclared points on your licence then chances are they would have refused to pay up. So I don't think they should be able to get away with back-charging you because they wouldn't have covered you during that period.

lisyloo

hen chances are they would have refused to pay up

This is pure speculation.
You don't know this for a fact.

The OP has not told them about the risk they have been exposed to.
He should now pay up.

Regardless of whether you think this is wrong of right I think they have a legal right to the money.
They will first of all sell it to a debt collection agency who may well add on their own fees.
If it then goes to court and balliffs come round then there may be further fees.
You possesssion may be taken or your employer could be asked to deduct the amount from your salary (via an attachement or earnings).
I can guarantee that this will make you unpopular with your employer.

If a case is won against you in court it will be on your credit record, possibly for a long time.
If you resist paying them many fees will be added on each occassion.

I'm sorry but I think the sensible thing is to pay up and be glad that nothing that was a lot worse happened.

lisyloo

After all if you'd have had a claim in that period and they'd have discovered you had undeclared points on your licence then chances are they would have refused to pay up.

This is pure speculation (unless you have priviledeged info).

I don't think they should be able to get away with back-charging you because they wouldn't have covered you during that period.

If there is proof that they would not have covered you on any claim then I think you might have a case for not paying it.
Is there such proof?