Car insurance cancellation. Help needed please!

siemens

Hi everyone,

Got myself into a sticky situation so was wondering if you could offer some advice!
Been with priviliege insurance on the car for a good few years now. I have a policy in my name, with my son and husband as additional drivers.
I was wanting to replace the car in this policy with a new car, so phoned priviliege to obtain the quote.
I passed the phone to my son to talk about the particulars of the car and they were reluctant to speak to him and when asked if he drived the car every day..he answered Yes. Now they said you would need a new policy in my sons name if this was the case, but then transferred us to the relevant department regarding the new quotation. My son does drive the car every day but only for 3 minutes max...to pick up my daughter from the train station which is down the road! He has only been doing this in the winter months.

A few days later we phone them regarding another quote for a different car and they gave us a quote. The next day we phoned them to go ahead with that quote...but they then told us that our policy had been cancelled and they were unable to insure us. They told us it was cancelled because "your son" told us he drove the car every day. They never ever told us at the time that they would be proceeding to cancelling the policy?! If they had even mentioned the word "cancel" i would have acted upon it immediately. I did not even know my policy was cancelled, and am very glad the car was not driven for the next few days!

It is evident they believe that my son is the main driver and have cancelled the policy on that basis. He is not the main driver. The car is driven every day for most of the day by myself, but at evenings he uses it to pick up his sister from the station.

I need help as i believe it would be difficult to get insurance in future if it is on the record that my policy was cancelled. I believe it has been wrongfully cancelled and i need to rectify this with priviliege. How should i proceed?

Replies would be heavily appreciated.

Regards!

RobEssex

I work in Car Insurance, and that sounds like a ludicrous excuse to cancel the policy, the only thing I would do is lodge a official complaint, via letter if you're not getting anywhere via telephone.

siemens

RobEssex wrote: »

I work in Car Insurance, and that sounds like a ludicrous excuse to cancel the policy, the only thing I would do is lodge a official complaint, via letter if you're not getting anywhere via telephone.

Thanks for your reply Rob. Yeah i quite agree! They didnt even let me know they had cancelled it?! If i had not phoned regarding a new quote...then i would not have known i was uninsured! I am glad my insurance policy only had a few days left on it so now i can move on to a more professional firm!

The best thing to do is to write to them, explaining what i explained to you initially?


Regards,

RobEssex

I think that's the best approach yeah, as they're run under the FSA they can't just ignore complaints, so theyll have to do something about it! - goodluck!

mikey72

siemens wrote: »

Hi everyone,

Got myself into a sticky situation so was wondering if you could offer some advice!
Been with priviliege insurance on the car for a good few years now. I have a policy in my name, with my son and husband as additional drivers.
I was wanting to replace the car in this policy with a new car, so phoned priviliege to obtain the quote.
I passed the phone to my son to talk about the particulars of the car and they were reluctant to speak to him and when asked if he drived the car every day..he answered Yes. Now they said you would need a new policy in my sons name if this was the case, but then transferred us to the relevant department regarding the new quotation. My son does drive the car every day but only for 3 minutes max...to pick up my daughter from the train station which is down the road! He has only been doing this in the winter months.

A few days later we phone them regarding another quote for a different car and they gave us a quote. The next day we phoned them to go ahead with that quote...but they then told us that our policy had been cancelled and they were unable to insure us. They told us it was cancelled because "your son" told us he drove the car every day. They never ever told us at the time that they would be proceeding to cancelling the policy?! If they had even mentioned the word "cancel" i would have acted upon it immediately. I did not even know my policy was cancelled, and am very glad the car was not driven for the next few days!

It is evident they believe that my son is the main driver and have cancelled the policy on that basis. He is not the main driver. The car is driven every day for most of the day by myself, but at evenings he uses it to pick up his sister from the station.

I need help as i believe it would be difficult to get insurance in future if it is on the record that my policy was cancelled. I believe it has been wrongfully cancelled and i need to rectify this with priviliege. How should i proceed?

Replies would be heavily appreciated.

Regards!

They have broken their t&c's by not notifying you or the cancellation, but that doesn't help at the moment

It's a difficult one because your son knew the details of your new car, but you didn't. They may have been ok if you asked your husband about it, but asking them to speak to your son would ring alarm bells.
What is the old car and the new car?

You stated your son only uses it every day to pick your daughter up, and you use it every day for most of the day yourself, but then stated the car was not driven by anyone for the next few days.
They would certainly ask why you didn't need it for that period.

Is it your only car, or are you a named driver, or have insurance on any other car, or even access to any other car. If you don't this will certainly help your case.

BoGoF

They obviously suspect fronting and it's not difficult to see why....."can you tell us about the new car?"....not really but hold on my son can.....see what I mean?

siemens

mikey72 wrote: »

They have broken their t&c's by not notifying you or the cancellation, but that doesn't help at the moment

It's a difficult one because your son knew the details of your new car, but you didn't. They may have been ok if you asked your husband about it, but asking them to speak to your son would ring alarm bells.
What is the old car and the new car?

You stated your son only uses it every day to pick your daughter up, and you use it every day for most of the day yourself, but then stated the car was not driven by anyone for the next few days.
They would certainly ask why you didn't need it for that period.

Is it your only car, or are you a named driver, or have insurance on any other car, or even access to any other car. If you don't this will certainly help your case.

My husband was out of the country at the time and he was liaising with my son via email about the car i should purchase. My husband deals with the insurance and was instructing my son via email, hence why i simply passed the phone onto my son who had the internet links to the car.
The old car was a Honda Accord and the new car is an Audi A1.
It wasn't driven for the next few days because of a fault in the car! There was a water leak discovered so we didn't drive it!

siemens

BoGoF wrote: »

They obviously suspect fronting and it's not difficult to see why....."can you tell us about the new car?"....not really but hold on my son can.....see what I mean?

Annoying because we genuinely are not fronting! I am the main driver and drive the car much much more than my son who is an additional driver on the policy. He actually has a Zonecard for public transport for 10 weeks to commute to University.
What are your thoughts?
Appreciated.

BoGoF

Your husband deals with the insurance?? You said earlier it was your policy....in all honesty it's not difficult to see why they think something's amiss.

siemens

BoGoF wrote: »

Your husband deals with the insurance?? You said earlier it was your policy....in all honesty it's not difficult to see why they think something's amiss.

Yes. The paperwork regarding the insurance. Doesnt take away the fact it is my policy.

mikey72

I think you need to speak to them.
They should notify them that they are cancelling. Insist they re-instate the policy, or you will complain to the FOS, and also report them to the FSA.
They need to realise that you drive the car for work, and that your son does not commute in it, the zonecard will help.
As to your husband sorting out the insurance, I do all ours, my wife just passes them to me as well.
I don't think she would pass them to our kids though.