Car insurance renewal after cancellation

bearing

Hi there,

In the middle of last year I had my car insurance cancelled by my insurer due to missed direct debits, I took the vehicle off the road at that time and haven't driven it nor had any insurance since.

I now need to get new insurance and have noticed that because of the cancellation I am now expected to pay almost double the amount as I would without declaring the cancellation. What I'd like to know is there any insurance companies that specialise in situations like mine to find me the cheapest deal available.

I am able to pay the full premium up front now so am surprised that I would still be a risk. Would it be advisable to use the scraper sites to find the best deals and then telephone direct to explain my situation.

Also, as I've had around a six month lay off from driving are my previous NCB still usable?

pendulum

My girlfriend rang Co-Op but they refused to insure her after she explained she'd just found out her policy had been cancelled by another insurer. We went together to a local insurance broker thinking she now needed specialist insurance, and were told he'd never heard of an insurer that treated a policy cancelled for non-payment as cancelled. I know that sounds strange, but he said the question is to determine if you've had the policy voided due to non-disclosure of material facts, fraud and so on (e.g. if they find out you've lied about a serious driving conviction and void your policy).

We rang Co Op to have another try and explain what we'd been told, but got a different staff member who was more than happy to proceed with the insurance after hearing a previous policy was cancelled for non payment... no discussion even needed, and she got covered for the online price (with No checked to Insurance ever cancelled?).

So do ring up and explain to each insurer. I think you'll find a lot of them will be happy to accept No as an answer if it's only been cancelled for non-payment.

Quentin

bearing wrote: »

......I've had around a six month lay off from driving are my previous NCB still usable?

Most insurers take "old" NCD for up to 2 years since it was issued.

Check with any new insurer you decide to go with before buying the policy that your "old" NCD is acceptable.

Although few (if any) online insurers will quote you with a cancelled policy on record, a local broker (not swinton) should be able to help with finding insurers prepared to accept you with the cancelled policy on your "record".

(If you get into a scenario as described above, where a call centre agent says "it's ok to say no", then get that confirmed in writing - as the agent won't be around should the insurer subsequently decide to void your policy on the grounds you answered "no"!)

bearing

Thanks for the help, most appreciated.

I shall give some insurers a call then and see what happens.