Refused insurance - very worried!

elmo11

Hi,

Last year my contents insurance renewal letter came and instead of it being a renewal it was a letter saying that "Unfortunately we are unable to insure you again this year". When I rang the company to find out why, it was apparently because they believed I had under insured my contents and because they had sent me a letter to notify me (by second class post that I had never received) they said that they were unwilling to renew this year. When I asked the operator I spoke to if that would have any kind of carry over effect for other policies/future policies he said no it wouldn't. But now I'm really worried that I'm some kind of fraudster because I've not mentioned it to my new contents insurance provider or my car insurance provider. It was completely unintentional, and I have never once meant to ignore any letter from an insurer, and if I had received something so important I would have replied straight away! Can anyone give me any advice or thoughts? I'm really worried!

Quentin

elmo11 wrote: »

.... When I asked the operator I spoke to if that would have any kind of carry over effect for other policies/future policies he said no it wouldn't......

Ask your old insurer to confirm this in writing, and keep it! (Virtually all insurers ask you to declare you have never been refused renewal, and from what you say, you have!)

elmo11

But I don't understand how I can be held liable for something I never received! Surely if it was that important then more than just the one letter would have sufficed? Especially if I never responded to it! I never had any other communication from them (by their own admission) and they still continued to take money every month for the policy.

Quentin

Your OP was asking for advice over whether or not failing to disclose the refusal to renew could cause you problems.

As you did know you had been refused, then you do need to sort this, otherwise you may just be wasting more premiums as your new insurer will have grounds to void any claim due to your false declaration!

elmo11

Ok well I've contacted the previous insurer to ask them. I was told by a friend who had been in a similar position that it wasn't a refusal, but that they were telling me they were unable to quote. I had no idea this was such a big deal, but I've never been in this position before and I'm actually finding it quite scary so any help is good. I suppose I'm just upset because I didn't do anything wrong, I did everything I was meant to do. I didn't realise that I had to because I wasn't told on the phone, and for example when I phoned my car insurance company (who I've been with for a while) they never asked me if I had been refused insurance or anything.

Quentin

From what you say, it wasn't they didn't want to quote you, but they told you they didn't want you as they believed you had deliberately uninsured. (A separate scenario from simply not wanting to quote you).

And as posted, it's no point paying for a worthless policy, as yours could be, come a claim and they decide you deliberately failed to disclose this!

elmo11

Well I've done what you said and contacted them. Should hopefully hear from them soon and have the whole thing resolved because I think given the circumstances I have quite a good case (given the single letter, no phone calls or any other contact, and that they continued to take money for the policy after this letter was sent). I also want to point out although I may have implied that I deliberately underinsured this was not said by either party - the operator on the phone simply said that they believed I had misvalued my contents and because I didn't re-evaluate as this phantom letter asked they wouldn't be able to re-insure me.

I'm sure you can understand that things get worded in a lot of different ways by insurers, each one having it's own subtle nuance - making it all very difficult for me to understand. Thank you for helping though, and for your patience.

*Scarlett

How do they know that you have under valued your contents? The insurer does not know what you have in your house after all.

Where there any claims / attempted claims / enquires in the last 12 months that would lead them to believe that you are under insured?

Could it possibly be that the underwriter that you are with no longer offers the level of contents cover that you have had previously?

elmo11

That's what I said. They said I hadn't considered insurance for washing machine, fridge, TV etc. All of which had policies with them through the people I bought them with (because they were so expensive I wanted to make sure I was covered properly!). So I didn't add them on. There were no claims - I very fortunately have never had to make a claim on my contents insurance so have 8 years no claims now! My current insurance policy covers more as some of the previous single item policies have lapsed.

You last point was what i was wondering about - I don't need an awful lot of cover (even less before) so I was wondering whether my policy simply didn't meet the minimum level, but no-one has contacted me back yet!

elmo11

What is the relevance of being underinsured? Surely they will only pay for the level of cover I have paid for?

Quentin

elmo11 wrote: »

What is the relevance of being underinsured? Surely they will only pay for the level of cover I have paid for?

No, it doesn't work like that.

If you insure your (say) £40,000 contents for (say) £20,000, then have a claim for a fire which damages £10,000 worth of contents, then the most they would pay would be £5000 of the claim, to reflect the 50% underinsurance.