Will I ever be able to get car insurance again?

napoleon1821

olly300 wrote: »

You haven't had insurance refused.

If your current insurer had refused to insure you they would have cancelled your insurance there and then, and asked you to send back your certificate of motor insurance.

What the insurer is doing is telling you is that they don't want any new business from you.

That is completely different.

It's like if my current car insurer decides they won't offer me a renewal because the area I live is now somewhere they don't offer to insure people in.

That is absolutely perfect, thank you. I didn't know quite how to word it when obtaining a quote, but I shall be sure to use the above if my response is ever questioned.

It did seem quite odd that I wouldn't be able to get car insurance ever again because my current insurance company didn't want to offer me a renewal. I could completely understand it if I had made fraudulent claims or such like, but I have simply made a complaint due to their poor customer service.

Do you think it would be a good idea to write to my insurance company to request written confirmation that they have only refused new business from me and that they haven't cancelled my current insurance policy?

dacouch

The best advice you have received on this thread is from Quentin

olly300

napoleon1821 wrote: »

Do you think it would be a good idea to write to my insurance company to request written confirmation that they have only refused new business from me and that they haven't cancelled my current insurance policy?

If you have enough time before you need to renew i.e. more than 8 weeks then yes send a letter to them stating that you want them to confirm that.

However if you are insured with one of the companies I think you are insured with you are going to have to write your letter as a formal complaint and when they don't answer you take them to the FOS to get the insurer to give you that letter.

In the mean time you will be out of pocket due to having a higher renewal. Just make sure you put that on your FOS complaint form that you are out of pocket due to them not clarifying the issue.

I suggest you send any letter to the insurer by special delivery.

chanz4

You dont need a letter as they have not refused you, it also wont be on the database as a refusal. No company must take a customer, and to be honest I wouldnt stay anyway with a company I didnt like.

napoleon1821

Many thanks once again for all of the responses. Unfortunately, there seems to be a difference of opinion here.

Regardless of whether or not I have had insurance refused by my current insurance company, I have now been refused by a dozen or so different insurance companies this morning based upon this information. Could I telephone these companies back for another quotation and explain that there was a misunderstanding with my current insurance company and clarify that I have never actually been refused insurance? Would their original refusal be recorded on a central database and shared with other insurance companies?

MarkyMarkD

Yes. You've messed up by disclosing something which never needed to be disclosed, and is now recorded in multiple quotation systems. That data is shared between some - but not all - insurers, so many insurers that you ask for a quote in future will also decline you because of the perceived difference in information.

But forget that. Go ahead and get some more quotes - or use a comparison engine or two - stating NO to the question that has given all the difficulty, and you should get some valid quotes which you can then take up.

You can't blame the current insurer for your incorrect answer to the question asked by other insurers; even though I have a lot of sympathy for your attempt to be ultra-honest, the quotation systems only have "yes" and "no" options, not "it's complicated!".

napoleon1821

MarkyMarkD wrote: »

Yes. You've messed up by disclosing something which never needed to be disclosed, and is now recorded in multiple quotation systems. That data is shared between some - but not all - insurers, so many insurers that you ask for a quote in future will also decline you because of the perceived difference in information.

But forget that. Go ahead and get some more quotes - or use a comparison engine or two - stating NO to the question that has given all the difficulty, and you should get some valid quotes which you can then take up.

Good idea! I'll spam car insurance websites with a 'no' answer this evening and hopefully it'll wipe a few of the 'yes' answers out somehow

Strange question, but how do the insurance companies who I telephoned this morning actually know that it was me on the telephone and not somebody impersonating me? What about if somebody got dozens of quotations with my details answering 'yes' to the question?

olly300

napoleon1821 wrote: »

Good idea! I'll spam car insurance websites with a 'no' answer this evening and hopefully it'll wipe a few of the 'yes' answers out somehow

Strange question, but how do the insurance companies who I telephoned this morning actually know that it was me on the telephone and not somebody impersonating me? What about if somebody got dozens of quotations with my details answering 'yes' to the question?

They record your phone call (and actually keep it if they think it may be fraudulent) and also use fraud detection technology if you need to make a claim.

I suggest you just get your old insurer to admit they don't want your new business in writing and carry on from there.

andrewburfort

I beleive you have to be honest with your insurer. If anything goes wrong just complain to the FSA

olly300

andrewburfort wrote: »

I beleive you have to be honest with your insurer. If anything goes wrong just complain to the FSA

Not necessarily true.

If you have lost money you need to complain to the FOS.