Car insurance policy void because learner passed

ke1009

I had a policy with the RAC and my partner was an additional driver on this. He recently passed his test and I phoned the RAC after he passed to update this info. They told me that the underwriter Aviva was no longer willing to insure him and this policy was now void. The reason was that Aviva saw him as a greater risk because he could now drive on his own. I had to take out another policy. We only took the original policy out a month before-very bad timing-and we have had to pay all the penalties of a cancellation. Only half the premium was refunded. Are they right to treat this void policy as a cancellation? It does seem a bit unfair because the learner was obviously working towards passing his test.

InsideInsurance

I would avoid the word "void". You will have to cancel the policy because Aviva will not cover you going forward, it is certainly preferable for you to cancel it and pay the admin fee for doing so (you may be able to convince the RAC to waive the fee but its unlikely) than have them void the policy and double all your insurance premiums for life afterwards

forgotmyname

You could have removed him from the policy until renewal time.

vaio

as you say it does seem unfair because implicit in issuing a policy to a learner is that the learner is going to try and pass their test and any policy issued, particularly by a broker, should take this into account or at the very least be explicit in what happens when the test is passed.

It might well be an issue of terminology but in your shoes I'd be looking to get confirmation from RAC that you cancelled (rather than they cancelled) to avoid having to declare an insurer cancelled policy for the rest of time.

Once you have that in your hand I'd then move on to getting the cancellation costs looked at, the FOS view is that you should pay pro rata for time on cover plus maybe a £50 cancellation fee. Pro rata for a month on cover means you should be paying about 8% of premium plus the £50. If they are charging significantly more than this and won't reconsider then you can refer to the FOS.

As RAC are a broker you can also expect a cancellation fee from them but that should also be reasonable and if it's not then refer that to the FOS too.