Car insurance with a criminal conviction

somewhat_ashamed

Hi guys

In June 2010 I was sentenced to two yrs imprisonment for money laundering. Upon my release 8 months later I bought a used car for approx £3500. Before purchase I did all the usual price comparison checks and quotes were running at approx £450-500 with my conviction declared. I bought the car (had it delivered to my home address) then went about calling up the insurance company i'd decided on - only to be told now they knew the full details of my conviction that they wouldn't consider even insuring me! I tried and tried and tried...finally being accepted by Adrian Flux for just over £1500!!! I explained that I had committed a crime some yrs ago (for which I was never charged) and was later caught spending the proceeds i.e. a money laundering offence under the proceeds of crime act. I was told by them that they likened money laundering to fraud and I would therefore be treated as high risk due to the amount of insurance fraud in this day & age. I was actually led to believe that my premiums were likely to be higher than somebody who'd just served 5+ yrs for death by dangerous driving would you believe...even though I had 5 yrs no claims and a clean licence (30 yrs old in case anyone cares). Anyway, as I had already bought the car and needed transport I had little choice to accept their terms.

So, here we are 12 months on and i've just received their renewal email....£1250! The first year was a necessity I must admit but we simply can't afford these inflated premiums once more...and again the year after I suppose...

So, I really hate to admit it but i'm very tempted to go back to the high street and not bother declaring my conviction. I feel i've more than served my time and am now being penalised for falling into an insurance category that I simply shouldn't be in.

Opinions?

skintandscared_2

My only concern would be that if you don't declare something that is easily checked/discoverable, and you have an accident, your policy would immediately be invalidated anyway.

wacko911

It prob wouldn't have been discovered it not like insurance companies have access to the police national computer and everyones convictions, but now you have declared it there is a very high chance it is on an insurance wide 'fraud' alert database and if you dont declare it and are caught out, they will cancel your insurance and good luck finding someone to insure you after having insurance canelled.

CKhalvashi

My immediate advice would be to speak to the company and see if they’ll bring the quote down.

I’ve got a conviction (from when I was 14), and I have in the past been licensed as a taxi driver, and in fact still am, even though I haven’t driven a taxi since 2005 (except for maintenance when we owned a taxi company), to which by being open actually seemed to reduce the premium. My opinion is that if I’m suitable to work with children (I worked for the company I own for 3 years before buying it), then I’m suitable to be on the road.

We’re paying £600-ish at 29 and 28 for the S-Maxes, and just over £750 for the Lexuses. This is with two non-UK born nationals, which I know can make a hige difference.

I’ve also known of ‘loading' when parents have phoned to quote for their children.

It could also be against the ROA, on condition that these offences weren’t anything to do with driving or the public highway. If there’s a legal bod on here, they may be able to give more advice. Quoting discrimination in the right cases can work. What about those that have had their convictions overturned? It can still count as a conviction as the person was, in fact, convicted at some point.

Best of luck!

CK

mikey72

If you got cheaper quotes with the conviction declared online, and you had entered everything truthfully, why did you need to phone them up to get the insurance?

somewhat_ashamed

Of course my main concern would be it being discovered if I ever had an accident. 6 years protected now and going strong so the odds are in my favour I guess...touch wood!!!

I believe they only want to know about convictions from the past 5 yrs which is why the above probably doesn't have a problem anymore re the taxi's etc.

Saying that, i'm now worried I could be on this 'fraud alert' DB! Nightmare, all for doing the right thing and declaring it in the first place. Any insurance experts out there who can tell me the chances of this being the case?

somewhat_ashamed

mikey72 wrote: »

If you got cheaper quotes with the conviction declared online, and you had entered everything truthfully, why did you need to phone them up to get the insurance?

I cant remember to be honest but I believe when I tried to purchase it may have asked me to call to confirm or something.

mikey72

somewhat_ashamed wrote: »

Of course my main concern would be it being discovered if I ever had an accident. 6 years protected now and going strong so the odds are in my favour I guess...touch wood!!!

If you declare it on the quote, what can they discover?
If they did ask you to phone fair enough.
If they don't, and you have answered the questions asked honestly and in full, they can't come back later.

What happens if you try for an online quote this year?

somewhat_ashamed

Now it's all coming back to me. So, you do the quote via comparethemarket or whatever, then click through onto your chosen company only to find the criminal convictions part shows none! Really naughty in all honesty and i'm sure simply saying 'well, I told comparethemarket I had a conviction' wouldn't stand for anything!

mikey72

No, I do mean declare it.
You said you did initially, then got a reasonable quote.

It was only when you phoned them up that the price went up.

If you do try again, put everything in, and do a print of each screen.
If it does let you complete, you have covered yourself.
If it doesn't, fair enough.

Norman_Castle

http://www.saleinsurance.co.uk/pdfs/criminal-convictions-insurance-offenders-act.pdf