Ruthless Car Insurance BISL Beware!

Pinkpyjama

You must tell us straight away if anything changes to the information you
provided as per the statement of insurance. The changes include the
following and if you do not tell us about these changes, this may result in
increased premiums, refusal of a claim or not being fully paid, your policy
being cancelled or being made null & void and treated as if it never existed.
This list is not exhaustive and if you are unsure about whether to tell us
about something please call us on 0844 209 0444 to check:
You sell the car, change the car or its registration number, or you get
another car.
You change your address.
The car is modified or changed in any way from the manufacturer's
original specification (including but not limited to: optional fit extras, alloy
wheels, suspension, bodywork, engine, audio, video and satellite navigation equipment).
You want to add or remove a driver.
There is a change in the regular driver of the car.
There is a change in the purpose the car is used for.
There is a change in estimated annual mileage.
Anyone who drives the car passes their driving test or has their driving
licence revoked.
Anyone who drives the car gets a motoring conviction or has a
prosecution pending (including fixed penalty offences).
Anyone who drives the car changes occupation, starts a new job
(including any part-time work) or stops work.
Anyone who drives the car develops a health condition, which requires
notification to the DVLA, or an existing condition worsens. You can find
additional information in the motoring section of https://www.direct.gov.uk or pick
up leaflet D100 from the Post Office.
The car is involved in an accident or fire, or someone steals, damages or
tries to break into it.
Anyone who drives the car is involved in any accident or has a vehicle
damaged or stolen.
Anyone who drives the car had insurance refused, cancelled or had
special conditions applied.
The car is taken abroad for more than 60 days or outside the European
Union.
Please note that any amendments to your policy may result in a change to
your premium and policy terms, including your excess.

I am mindful of the words 'May' rather than 'will'

Re telling my wife's company; we already have. I am going to call them again first thing as when I initially called them, I was under the impression that I was still insured and I was going to cancel the policy. Later last night Dial Direct said they had cancelled it already. This was not what they said they would do after listening to my pleas for understanding as my wife wanted to visit her terminally ill Father.
I think there was a £20 difference between the insurer cancelling and myself cancelling. I do hope Privilege sympathise with me tomorrow as again I have not lied - In fact I have tried to be completely honest throughout so far and look where it has got me?

Quentin

That clause does clear up one possible area of complaint which is not now open to you.


Some insurers only require to be informed about certain changes at renewal.


But from the extract you have copied it seems you were bound to tell them "straight away" about your wife's incident/damaged vehicle/claim.


And they do set out what they can do if you fail to notify them in line with the condition.


(Despite this, the way in which they have handled the cancellation still gives grounds for a complaint, and they still have to see if the FOS agrees they have acted fairly)

Pinkpyjama

I know. I just think that when you look at how long the policy had to go, that I gave the info rather than being found out and that they went against what they said they would do (keeping the insurance open until midnight) I hope that it won't have to go to the ombudsman.
All I want is for me to have cancelled the policy and not them.
I should state that on their letter confirming my NCD it just says policy cancelled. There is no mention of how.


But then am I clutching at straws?
I will call the new company tomorrow and hope they don't boot me out too (nothing would surprise me now)
I was after all honest with them as much as I was able to.
BTW this is the same company my wife has been with the last twelve months and they processed her non fault claim. These guys also said they viewed the stance (of my company) as harsh. (whatever that is worth - not a lot I know) They told my wife they would have only wanted to know about a fault claim had it been the other way round.

Iceweasel

BISL - even the name makes me suspicious of what they are all about - that word 'Budget' smacks of cutting corners, nit-picking, and reducing costs - not necessarily for the benefit of the customer.

That is one long list of things that they need to be notified about.

I just checked my policy with Allianz, on which my wife is a named driver, and as I understand it I would not need to tell them about a no-fault incident by a named driver.

One strange thing in your T&Cs concerns them wanting to know if you take your car outside the EU. I wonder why they would want to be notified if you were to take your car on holiday to Switzerland or Norway for example? Those are popular, low-risk, and very safe destinations.

It's interesting too that if you google BISL the top result is for the FCA with regard to BISL unclear terms on cancellation.

Good luck.

Pinkpyjama

Thanks for your support. I won't go quietly indeed maybe that's what they're expecting.
I will keep everyone updated. I just hope some decision maker will look at how rediculous this is becoming and do the decent thing.

Astronaughtwannabe

You might want to look into the fact that they accepted the agreement at inception on an 'as is' basis. Naturally accidents are a known risk and accepted until fulfilment of the contract.

An interesting question is whether they would have increased your premium halfway through the policy term just because you've had an incident? I wouldn't put it past them to try.

It might not be unreasonable to be notified of a loss, however it came about, but to act on that information during the contract term, especially cancellation?

If it was my policy, I think I'd take a risk of making a claim for them breaching the contract.

Pinkpyjama

BTW Privilege are fine with my circumstances. Basically saying they're not interested and again that we've been harshly treated.
No call back as of yet from Dial Direct. They will have my letter by Monday so will call again Tuesday/Wednesday.
Let's hope I speak to someone with an ounce of leniency.

Casey_Ryback

May the force be with you!
Fighting my insurance company since December 2014.
All of these insurers are S.O.B.s...
My advice;save yourself and your heart from calling them. Make every move in writing as they can NOT be trusted!

patman99

OP, was your wife on your policy as a named driver, or, was she covered to drive your car by her policy with Priviledge ?.

If the latter, then no claim was made on your DD policy, so no claim to show. This makes DD's argument and reason to cancel is not valid as the claim was made on your wife's insurance, not yours.

I am glad to see you are not taking this lying down and hope you get to give them a good hammering via the FCA.

Pinkpyjama

She has her own policy which is where the claim went through (she never even paid a penny - all liability admitted from other side)
She is a named driver on my policy too. That is where DD have the issue, that I didn't tell them at the time. It never entered my head to, it was such a minor bump and at the time I was more preoccupied by my wife being heavily pregnant at the time (I took her to A&E to get checked out afterwards) and also her Father was and still is terminally ill.
Sorry to repeat myself but I volunteered the info to them when trying to renew. They didn't find out about it.
Their clause says 'may' cancel, not 'will' and when you see I only had 11 days left to go, surely some common sense should have prevailed. The final straw was their willingness to leave me uninsured without my knowledge. That was disgusting conduct.
So no I'm not giving this up easily.