What a 'Claim'?

Gadge2012

Hi,

A few years ago the missus's car had an attempted break in, they bent the door but couldn't get in so left it. She reported this to the police which advised her she needs to report this to her insurance company by law. No claim was made, no money changed hands, nor did the insurance company have any further involvement then being notified that this event occurred (in fact I bent the door back and that was the end of it).

Roll on two years and I have her as a 'named driver' on my policy (which she has been for the past year all with the same insurance company).

She has a company car with full social use so no longer needs her own policy.

Yesterday the insurance company sent me a letter telling me I had incorrectly input details onto my renewal (which was automated and rolled over) and that I was due to give them an extra £200 which they would take as and when they were ready.

I phone up the insurance company which agreed that the insurance company had no involvement however a claim was logged on their system and that’s the end of it according to the girl on the phone, she pretty much told me they would do what they pleased and the payment in full would be due at an unknown date.

I ended up having the money I paid for the policy put back into my account (or hope to see it within the next 5 days) minus the amount of days I have used the policy (16 days ).

The letter they had sent me was dated the 9th August which conveniently was received on the 16th of August, 2 days after the cooling off period. I asked for proof from the post office that this was sent on the date it was printed which she couldn’t provide, I was immediately offered a refund.


I’m going to be looking to sort out another insurance policy for the both of us, however I have no idea if I need to declare this ‘Claim’ on a new policy? What is everyone else’s experience of this sort of thing?


I have a feeling I am just going to have to take this one on the head as a hard lesson learnt in regards to insurance companies and when to keep our mouths shut, i.e. do the repair and get on with it.

Quentin

Gadge2012 wrote: »

I’m going to be looking to sort out another insurance policy for the both of us, however I have no idea if I need to declare this ‘Claim’ on a new policy? What is everyone else’s experience of this sort of thing?....

Although no payout was involved, you experienced a loss, and after you got in touch with your insurer to report the incident it has been added to your history, and loaded on to the database shared by the insurers.

You will need to always disclose it when applying for quotes (insurers want to know your history of claims and losses for up to the previous 5 years).

As you have learnt, failure to disclose it will lead to all sorts of problems - not just demands for more premium, but should an insurer take the view you didn't disclose it deliberately to keep your premium down they could void your policy and reject any claim from you (or worse, if a third party needs compensating due to your fault in a crash, they could come after you to reimburse them).

forgotmyname

Lucky they asked for the money and didnt just cancel the policy.

Potentially you would have to declare that forever.... Having a policy cancelled for non disclosure will also go on the file and insurers may think your not trustworthy.

Gadge2012

Thanks for taking the time to reply. It really does make you wonder how many people are unknowingly driving around on void insurance.