had car insurance cancelled because of too many quotes

stevethescrooge

I have just had a strange phonecall off my new car insurance co. (Performance direct) The wanted to confirm a few details before posting my documents out. after a few minutes discussing the policy they tell me they want to cancel the policy with no refunds. The reason they gave was because apparently I had, had too many quotes over the last 18 months all showing different cars (ranging from beetles and alfas to transit vans and flat bed trucks) I haven't been quoting on any of these vehicles. And they say I have been quoting on too many different jobs from plumber, telesales and receptionists and courier. I don't do any of these I drive a forklift in a warehouse. I was only getting a quote over the last week or so as I was coming off a drive ban and was looking at getting a new car. So I hadn't been getting loads of random quotes. But to make it weird the quotes had been done to my old address I moved out of start of last year. And the ins company said I had been quoting with and without claims and convictions. I did do a comparison last week or so and put in truthfully the one claim in 5 years and the points for my ban.
I do remember a long-time ago allowing "viewsbank" the survey people to anonymously use my postcode to do market research under the agreement i would not be affected in getting my own insurance in the future. I hope this makes sense and I really need some advice. I have been in touch with "viewsbank" and they are yet to get back to me. and I have explained this to the ins company . they seemed to take that into consideration.
what can i do???:(

Quentin

You need to ask them to confirm the reason for the cancellation.


Then if you disagree with any of their reasons submit a formal complaint in line with their complaints procedure which will be set out in the policy docs.


Then if you are unhappy with their reply you can escalate to the FOS for their adjudication.


In the meantime don't take your car on the road until you have got it covered elsewhere.


Until this is resolved in your favour you will need to tell other insurers that you have had this policy cancelled which will make your insurance harder to get (and more expensive).


if your complaint is upheld ask for all your extra expense to be reimbursed.

stevethescrooge

Thankyou for the response. What is the FOS?
Has anybody else ever had any dealings with this rather dubious
company?

Quentin

Financial Ombudsman Service

stevethescrooge

Thankyou.
Im starting the official complaints procedure . will take ages i reckon and the FOS will only jump in after 8 weeks and no reply.
lots of hoops to jump through

dunstonh

The reason they have given is an anti-fraud measure that is in place to capture people manipulating the quotes system to give false answers to get insurance (at all or cheaper).

Ultimately, the company is within its rights to refuse to cover you. Even if your reason is valid and correct. The FOS cannot force a company to accept business unless there is discrimination. However, the company really ought to be cancelling the policy with a full refund as they are rejecting you for not meeting their criteria. Not because of non-disclosure. That is where the FOS may help if the company still refuse to refund.

It is also possible that if you can evidence of a third party using your address that way, that the company may make an exception and cover you.

For the future though, never allow third parties to use your address that way.

stevethescrooge

Update. Viewsbank consumer intelligence have provided the insurance company , performance direct with all the times they used the details on friday. there was 250-300 searches. So now PD are cross checking their information with the viewsbank searches and wiping the ones they did leaving the ones i did which will total about 9 or 10 different ones as i was looking at different cars and comparing the quotes to see which car was best to insure.
5 days though and they are still messing me about. I just want this policy voided not cancelled so I can get over to another insurer and start again without all these false searches i never did.
This cancellation of insurance needs to be wiped off the record.
is there any insurance experts around here to be able to advise.
this situation is making me ill.
:mad:

rs65

stevethescrooge wrote: »

5 days though and they are still messing me about.

I think you need to be fair here. This wasn't the insurers doing - it was yours. They've only had the info for 2 working days and have 250-300 quotes to go through. Frankly, this won't be a priority as it isn't earning them anything. Give them a chance.

dunstonh

5 days though and they are still messing me about.

To be honest, 5 days is not long and you are creating a lot of manual admin. So, the fact they are doing it is pretty good.