car insurance - retrospective increase

Worried_of_wakefield

Hi, all, last year my 21yr old daughter took out car insurance with Diamond. We understood at the time ( but weren't prompted by the insurer) that it would be cheaper by adding me and her mum as named drivers.


After a year without incident she renewed, two months in, she was contacted by Diamond who asked for an additional £340 for last years policy as she hadn't declared my speeding offence.


I would add at this time they have only found this out as my wife recently switched to Diamond with me as a named driver and correctly declared the speeding offence.


Can they do this? my immediate advice is to cancel her DD to stop automatic pilfering of her bank account, then tell them to get stuffed! or would this advice not be helpful?

InsideInsurance

Would you rather they deal with it as fraud?

Its not a retrospective charge really, she made a "mistake" and they are giving her the opportunity for to correct it and pay what she should have if she had correctly declared all the details.

Alternatively they can say she intentionally didnt declare it and thus its fraud. Cancel the policy which causes her to have loaded premiums for life and load her to CIFAS for fraud which all banks, lenders, credit card providers etc would get warned about.

If you are going to add others to your policy you must make sure all of it is 100% correct

chanz4

also they may tell you todo one on the new policy, adding a cancelled policy to your file

forgotmyname

One of the pitfalls of having named drivers. You must keep the insurer informed of any claims or incidents and points.

Quentin

Worried_of_wakefield wrote: »

.....
my immediate advice is to cancel her DD to stop automatic pilfering of her bank account, then tell them to get stuffed! or would this advice not be helpful?

Worst possible advice.

Cancellation of the dd won't cancel the policy.

All that will happen if she does this is them cancel the policy (blighting her for life as far as future cover is concerned), and blacking her credit file as well as chasing her for the money she owes.

Do the dad thing and advise her not to lie when taking out insurance then get your wallet out!

dunstonh

Can they do this? my immediate advice is to cancel her DD to stop automatic pilfering of her bank account, then tell them to get stuffed! or would this advice not be helpful?

Wow. You advice would lead to her destroying her credit record as monthly payments are handled under a credit agreement. Not great to get defaults at 21. That would then also lead to the policy being voided due to non-disclosure as well and her carrying that for much or all of her life.

A responsible parent would face up to their error. An error that is either yours or your daughters but most likely yours.

[Deleted User]

They can't make her pay more retrospectively for last year's policy. That contract is finished, she didn't claim on it anyway so they haven't lost out. Argue it with them and if they persist involve the ombudsman.

Don't screw up her current policy though. If they try to cancel it again you may need to go to the ombudsman.

dacouch

DELETED USER wrote:

They can't make her pay more retrospectively for last year's policy. That contract is finished, she didn't claim on it anyway so they haven't lost out. Argue it with them and if they persist involve the ombudsman.

Don't screw up her current policy though. If they try to cancel it again you may need to go to the ombudsman.

This advice is incorrect.

The Insurer can pursue for the correct premium to be paid whether or not a claim was made.

The Ombudsman will rule in the Insurers favour.

However it is worth trying to negotiate as they may reduce the amount requested

[Deleted User]

You are incorrect, my advice to the OP is to ignore your bad advice. The previous contract is concluded, they can't retroactively change the terms without any agreement from you. Well, they can try, but the law on such things is quite clear.

dacouch

DELETED USER wrote:

You are incorrect, my advice to the OP is to ignore your bad advice. The previous contract is concluded, they can't retroactively change the terms without any agreement from you. Well, they can try, but the law on such things is quite clear.

Lol.

You do not know what your talking about, you advice is incorrect as it normally is when you post about insurance

Aretnap

Ignore [DELETED USER]. He posts a great deal of advice "from the hip", very little of which tends to get much support from people who actually know about insurance, or the law.