Insurance cancelled legitimately?

Charmwah

Hi, i'm wondering if anybody can help me...

...a couple of years ago I had a multi-car insurance policy with my then partner, but with everything in my name, however the payments came out of her account. After we split up, she cancelled the direct debit so the payments for the insurance never came out and the policy was cancelled. She didnt care to tell me any of this, so when I phoned the insurance company to tell them of a change in circumstances they informed me what had happened. I immediately explained the situation to the insurance company, but they were unwilling to sort out the policy so I had to go elsewhere.

I have since had insurance, but have been told I now have to declare this in perpetuity as a cancellation against my name. This has driven my premiums up. I have 6 years NCB which seems to not count for much.

Is there anything I can do about it to improve my situation?

Quentin

If you have proof of the NCD you can still use it (assuming it's still "alive" - most companies won't accept NCD more than 2 years after it was issued)


As far as the cancellation on your record goes, most companies do ask if you ever had a policy cancelled, so it would have to be disclosed. A local broker (not Swinton) may be able to help get you covered with a sympathetic insurer.


If the insurer never informed you about the cancellation (you say that you discovered this from your ex, who was not the policyholder), then you do have grounds to complain about this.


(If they were at fault, insist they remove the cancellation from your record.)

Charmwah

Hi Quentin, thanks for the response.

I got insurance straight away afterwards, but had to use a local insurer, my local branch of NFU. Whilst they were very helpful and understanding, my premium fully comp for a year is £670, with 6 years NCB for an 18yr old BMW saloon, basic spec. I'm 32 and have a clean licence so I believe my premium should be lower.

David_InsDef

Quentin wrote: »

If you have proof of the NCD you can still use it (assuming it's still "alive" - most companies won't accept NCD more than 2 years after it was issued)


As far as the cancellation on your record goes, most companies do ask if you ever had a policy cancelled, so it would have to be disclosed. A local broker (not Swinton) may be able to help get you covered with a sympathetic insurer.


If the insurer never informed you about the cancellation (you say that you discovered this from your ex, who was not the policyholder), then you do have grounds to complain about this.


(If they were at fault, insist they remove the cancellation from your record.)

On what grounds is there a valid complaint?

The insurers just have to send the cancellation to the last recorded address for the policyholder. There's no suggestion they didn't do that, it's just the OP wasn't there to receive them.

InsideInsurance

Normally an insurer must give you notice of cancellation and if you claim you never received it then a complaint should be made against the insurer that cancelled your policy.

Of cause they may simply turn round and say a letter was sent to you on X date and the fact you didnt receive it/ received it but binned it thinking it was marketing etc isnt their responsibility - the law assumes that something thats posted is received.

Outside of that its easy to judge what your premiums would be without the cancellation by doing a dummy quote online with a fictitious name, neighbouring address etc. Certainly insurers will load premiums of those with prior cancellations. As you're a bad debtor you may find some that will insurer you but only if you pay in full up front rather than installments as this was the cause of the last issue.

Charmwah

Its a shame that i'm being classed as a 'bad debtor' when my credit history is exemplary. I'm being punished because of a vindictive ex, there seems to be no recourse for me, except to accept the unfairly high premiums for the ever after...

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Normally an insurer must give you notice of cancellation and if you claim you never received it then a complaint should be made against the insurer that cancelled your policy.

Of cause they may simply turn round and say a letter was sent to you on X date and the fact you didnt receive it/ received it but binned it thinking it was marketing etc isnt their responsibility - the law assumes that something thats posted is received.

Outside of that its easy to judge what your premiums would be without the cancellation by doing a dummy quote online with a fictitious name, neighbouring address etc. Certainly insurers will load premiums of those with prior cancellations. As you're a bad debtor you may find some that will insurer you but only if you pay in full up front rather than installments as this was the cause of the last issue.

Quentin

Did they only communicate with your ex? If so were you left driving uninsured? All grounds for complaint about this.

Charmwah

I was left uninsured for just under a month. In all fairness, my mail hadnt been redirected by that point, so they probably did send correspondence, but to the old address, which my ex didnt care to pass on.

Quentin wrote: »

Did they only communicate with your ex? If so were you left driving uninsured? All grounds for complaint about this.

InsideInsurance

Charmwah wrote: »

I was left uninsured for just under a month. In all fairness, my mail hadnt been redirected by that point, so they probably did send correspondence, but to the old address, which my ex didnt care to pass on.

Then the obvious question is why didnt you inform your insurers of your change of address as soon as you knew you'd be moving as you are required to do? If you had done this then you would have received the non-payment letters and been able to resolve it before the cancellation.

Even on an amicable split I wouldnt expect forwarding my mail to me to be at the top of my ex's priority list and even lower if it wasnt amicable, which would be suggested by your comments that they are vindictive.

Charmwah

You're making the assumption that I hadnt given my insurer the instruction to redirect my mail directly after the move, which I had.

InsideInsurance wrote: »

Then the obvious question is why didnt you inform your insurers of your change of address as soon as you knew you'd be moving as you are required to do? If you had done this then you would have received the non-payment letters and been able to resolve it before the cancellation.

Even on an amicable split I wouldnt expect forwarding my mail to me to be at the top of my ex's priority list and even lower if it wasnt amicable, which would be suggested by your comments that they are vindictive.

InsideInsurance

Charmwah wrote: »

You're making the assumption that I hadnt given my insurer the instruction to redirect my mail directly after the move, which I had.

You wouldnt give them the instruction to "redirect your mail", you would inform them that you have changed address and update the records. You'd also have to deal with if your vehicle was being kept at your new address or being left behind at your old address going forward.

If you had done this then all letters would have gone to the new address for you and not the old one. Again if you did this before/ when you moved as you are now saying then again there is grounds for complaint because they didnt send you the notices. Your prior comment that they probably did send them but sent them to the old address doesnt tie up with this statement that you did inform them when you moved address.