Insurance renewal undeclared change in circumstances

Green_thumb

In a couple of weeks my car insurance is up for renewal, except that I have a changed circumstance that I did not declare at the time and now worry about problems with declaring it late.

Last year I forgot to renew my insurance after 9 years of legal and trouble free motoring; I missed the letters and was under the impression I still had a couple of months left. However I did not and so was (rightfuly) picked up on by the police. Within 4hours I had gotten myself insurance again as it was really not a maliciouis act just an administrtive error due to my mind being more full of woes from my fiance leavingme. Anyway that night when I got the insurance, no police charge notification or such had come through, Iand it was almost a month before the paperwork came through, I plead guilty by post and official conviction happened. So when I filled ot the application I selected No Previous convictions, as at that point as far as I could see there hadn't been - I didn't know what the official penalty was and had not been at that point convicted.
However when the 6 weeks of paper being sent back and forth (charge, acceptances and license to beupdated) was finally over I didn't think to inform my insurer - again this was all new and I didn't see the glaring omission - assuming I suppose that all the establishment talked and were one big communicating unit versus us thepublic consumer...

Now I've changed cars (policy was updated to reflect that, no problems), my renewal has come around and I'm desperate to avoid this unpleasent piece of my past tanting my future. After all its not a penalty for bad driving practices or anything practical just for being incompetant and naiieve at admiistraton.

Any suggestions or help would be greatly appreciated; should I renew and update after renewal, contact m insurer and advise thembefore renewal or move to another insurer where I can declare this safely as something that happened prior to joining them?

Regards all

PS when conviction finally came through it was IN10 with 6 points

FlameCloud

You would need to tell them before the renewal. Bear in mind that IN10's are an auto decline for some insurers so if you have a collision and they find out they could simply void the policy.

Dependant on your insurer, you potentially should have told them at the time of the conviction. Also, most disclosure questions ask about prosecutions pending or words to that effect.

Green_thumb

My insurer is aviva. I wish I had thought to tell them at the time, or at least when the conviction eventually came through but with the relief of finally getting the matter sorted, taking my penalty and moving on duly chastised and educated in not making that mistake in future, I neglected to.

vaio

You should have told them of the pending conviction at inception, if you tell them now you run the risk of them cancelling your policy which will blight your insurance record forever, at the very least they will want a significant additional premium

If you don't tell them now and have an accident before renewal the outcome might well be even worse with a cancelled policy and you having to pay any claim.

The strictly honest thing to do is fess up and take the consequences, if I was in your position I think I'd go for the slightly less honest more pragmatic option of cancelling the existing policy immediately and taking out a new policy with some other company.

You'll get hit with a cancellation fee and not get any NCB for this year but they are unlikely to enquire into the licence status of a policyholder cancelling a policy.

Hoof_Hearted

If your insurance is due for renewal use a comparison site, declare the conviction and sign up with a different company.

steve-L

I'd go to a local insurance broker ... see if they can find someone that it doesn't make a huge difference.....

(You are under no obligation to take it)
Then try online, see if you can get the same policy and if its cheaper online....

If its not cheaper then it might be polite to go through the brokers (but no obligation) .....

Personally I have found good brokers often get the best deals when you have unusual circumstances and can get things slightly modified where you'd struggle as a individual customer.

I presently have 2 cars (well my OH has one).... one is through a broker I have used for 20 years, the other is direct with admiral (my OH car) as it was significantly cheaper than my broker could get... the brokers actually asked about previous quotes and advised me they though they would be unable to beat the admiral one.... but tried (and failed) anyway ....

Dukesy

Do not renew with your current insurer - they may cancel your insurance when you tell them/decline you which will be another little blip on your record.

I would actually cancel with them NOW and get online for a few quotes with your points listed. Insurers will probably forgive minor undeclared changes when you have an accident (I forgot to tell mine I was employed part time, and they just let it go), but yours is a major problem and you will find that if you have an accident, you will suddenly be completely uninsured when they check your licence with the DVLA.

zappahey

steve-L wrote: »

I'd go to a local insurance broker ... see if they can find someone that it doesn't make a huge difference.....

(You are under no obligation to take it)
Then try online, see if you can get the same policy and if its cheaper online....

If its not cheaper then it might be polite to go through the brokers (but no obligation) .....

It would be fair to buy through the local broker if they have done the work. Otherwise there's no more local broker.

colino

Did you get done for no insurance and get 6 points? If so, it is very unlikely that once you properly inform your insurers they will do anything less than record the fraud and cancel the insurance. Unfortunatley, for you, this type of info. is what the insurance community like to share and onlne quotes wont be open to you for a very long time. Broker is the only way to go.