Cancelled Car Insurance Help Please!

Beepers

Hello

I am in a desperate situation and I really need help.

In a nutshell:

In 2010 I bought car 1 and took out insurance as the policyholder and main driver. My partner was a named driver. It was our only car.

In April 2011 I bought car 2 and took out insurance as the policyholder and main driver. My partner is a named driver. We are now a 2 car family.

As I am the owner and registered keeper of both cars (simply because I paid for them both) I insured them in my name. I didn't even consider putting my partner as the main insured party as I thought it was a legal requirement that the owner was the policyholder.

Both policies renewed automatically. Now I have had a letter stating that the Car2 insurance policy has been cancelled. The insurance company cannot give me a reason other than that the underwriters have stated that "the named driver should in fact be the main driver". They told me to speak directly to the underwriters. The underwriters are confused and cannot see a reason why the insurance broker has cancelled.

It gets complicated now: my partner had an accident in November last year and so there is now a fault claim on Car1. Apparently this has affected my own no claims discount as I am the policyholder and main driver. My hunch is that the Car2 nsurance has been cancelled due to me not notifying of the claim. I didn't even think to do that since it was not me that had the accident. Apparently the underwriters that have told the broker to cancel are the underwriters of Car1.

I am so confused. I have tried to get insured elsewhere and the quotes coming back are for £1300 to £1600 - I didn't even have the accident. My Partner has had quotes for £300 - this is with full disclosure of all claims history and no no claims bonus.


At the moment I am waiting for the insurance company for Car2 to call me back after speaking directly with the underwriters, but the lady I spoke to, although sympathetic, said that it is likely to be non-disclosure and that this will not be overturned in her experience.

I know this is complicated, but can anyone offer me any hope? I am absolutely beside myself.

Thanks

InsideInsurance

Firstly, is it a traditional local broker or the mass market types like the AA or Swinton?

Secondly, are both vehicles via the same broker?

Ultimately you need to find out the cause of the cancellation, it does sound like non-disclosure, and then deal with it directly. It is your responsibility for ensuring you disclose the information correctly but if you are going through the same broker for both vehicles, have a relationship with them etc then it is probably best going via them for them to present a case for clemency rather than direct yourself. If it is the likes of the AA you have little chance of getting this but if its the local broker who knows you all and your kids by first name you have a much better chance of them fighting for you.

Beepers

Thank you for coming back so quickly. It is a very big but traditional national broker. Since I posted, they came back to me and confirmed that I had nothing to worry about and that I do not need to declare any cancellations. They have put a note on the claim file to this effect and told me that I should not worry about it any more.

I have to say that I am astonished that they have come back so positively on this - I was practically hysterical this morning as you could probably see from my first message, and the turn around on their behalf has taken me by surprise, especially since they are a mass broker.

Still, it is really good news. It took a huge amount of telephone time and heaps of negative emotional energy, but I have learned a really huge lesson in what needs to be insured and declared, and by whom, and hope that this might help someone else.

InsideInsurance

I certainly would get them to give it to you in writing that you need not declare the cancellation so if this proves wrong in the future you will have comeback on them for giving wrong advice