Why has my insurance almost doubled because I did not sorn my vehicle?

Benjeh

Long story short - My wife and I recently moved home and had a child, Whilst moving we also got a new car, I insured the new car and my wife was to send her documents off to the insurer, she forgot to send her 2 years NCB and consequently after 2 months of us failing to collect our letters from our old property the insurance cancelled our policy. The car has been taxed off the road until the 31st of March and the insurance has been out since beginning of February.

Finally managed to get the money together to get the car MOT'd and serviced, wife phoned Premium Choice insurance after being quoted £625 on confused.com - She then gets told by one of their advisors that because it wasn't sorn the insurance will now cost her £1150. Is this right? I read somewhere that your car doesn't have to be sorn if you intend on re-taxing your car within 14 days of tax renewal?
Extremely frustrating as we definately cannot afford the £1150 but could the £625 quoted originally.

If you need any other information to figure this query out please let me know

huckster

Sounds a bit odd to me. Yes you have to SORN a vehicle, if you don't have Insurance and it is not on the road. But I just can't see why they would nearly double the premium. Perhaps they are penalising you for the lapse in the Insurance, by not allowing the no claims or applying a loading.

Just phone around and see if you can get an affordable quote elsewhere. Try a local broker.

Quentin

Benjeh wrote: »

.... my wife was to send her documents off to the insurer, she forgot to send her 2 years NCB and consequently after 2 months of us failing to collect our letters from our old property the insurance cancelled our policy.....

This is your biggest problem.

Have you disclosed this cancelled policy when asking for quotes (you should do so now if not already).

All insurers ask if you have previously had a policy cancelled.

You may get a better quote by trying a local broker (not swinton) who will know of "sympathetic" insurers regarding having a cancelled policy on your history.

Benjeh

Thanks for both replies.

Our policy was cancelled because we did not send my wifes NCB fast enough. We paid in full and they refunded us 66% of our policy. Does this actually class as a cancellation? I mean it wasn't cancelled for any reason other than a misunderstanding. Seems extremely silly that insurers would double the cost of a policy because we forgot to send proof of ncb...

Quentin

Yes it is a "cancellation". You can ask the insurer concerned if you need to declare their cancellation to others, and if they say no, ask them to confirm it in writing.

Then you are "covered" should anyone in future accuse you of lying about your history.

vaio

Quentin wrote: »

Yes it is a "cancellation". You can ask the insurer concerned if you need to declare their cancellation to others, and if they say no, ask them to confirm it in writing.

Then you are "covered" should anyone in future accuse you of lying about your history.

I'd be staggered if insurance company A, having cancelled the OP's policy, would then confirm that this cancellation doesn't need declaring to subsequent insurers.

If the question from company B is "have you ever had a policy cancelled" then the answer is YES and company A's opinion about whether it needs disclosing is neither here or there.

If company B is only concerned about certain types of cancellations then they will make that clear in their questions.

Quentin

As you will see in post #4, the OP doesn't agree that his policy has been "cancelled".

Not disclosing a cancelled policy can mean even greater problems in future (especially after any claim, when the insurer could void the policy), so my suggestion is intended for the OP's benefit!

If this cancellation is the "misunderstanding" he believes it to be, then getting a written confirmation to hold on file should any comeback arise in the future should be enough to put him in the clear. And if his insurer refuses to comply, then he will know the worst, and can take the steps he will need to get his current insurance correctly in place.

vaio

From #4..... "Our policy was cancelled because we did not send my wifes NCB fast enough" which is standard practice in the insurance industry and is a cancellation no matter how you spin it..

More generally, I think the meaning of "cancelled" is obvious and applies to any policy that ends before its normal due date.

If the insurer brought the policy to a premature end then that's a cancellation irrespective of why they did so.

On all the proposals I've filled in over the years policies cancelled by the policy holder don't need to be declared, policies cancelled by the insurance company do need to be declared.

I do accept that there are "good" and "bad" cancellations and a decent broker will be able to explain the background and probably get reasonable terms for a "good" cancellation but in the on-line world this doesn't happen. Tick the Yes box to the "cancelled" question and you are either in the long grass with no quotes or in the "double the premium" box.

Quentin

vaio wrote: »

From #4..... "Our policy was cancelled because we did not send my wifes NCB fast enough" which is standard practice in the insurance industry and is a cancellation no matter how you spin it..

More generally, I think the meaning of "cancelled" is obvious and applies to any policy that ends before its normal due date..........

The meaning of "cancelled" is obvious, thank you.

But from #4 as I posted, the OP doesn't see it that way at all!!

Benjeh wrote:

Does this actually class as a cancellation? I mean it wasn't cancelled for any reason other than a misunderstanding. Seems extremely silly that insurers would double the cost of a policy because we forgot to send proof of ncb...

vaio

Quentin wrote: »

The meaning of "cancelled" is obvious, thank you.

But from #4 as I posted, the OP doesn't see it that way at all!!

Yep, seems obvious to me too and really it doesn't matter how the OP sees it, it's still cancellation.

It was more a follow on taking issue with your earlier post

Quentin wrote: »

Yes it is a "cancellation". You can ask the insurer concerned if you need to declare their cancellation to others, and if they say no, ask them to confirm it in writing.

Then you are "covered" should anyone in future accuse you of lying about your history.

where you seem to be suggesting that the opinion of insurance company A will somehow protect the OP is he answers No to the "cancellation" question asked by a different company and gets found out.

Quentin

If he can get a letter stating they cancelled his policy due to a misunderstanding, and that he need not consider it a disclosable matter when getting quotes elsewhere, then he would certainly be protected!