Do I need to declare car theft on insurance renewal?

jledinburgh

Hi moneysavers!

I am in the process of insuring a new car. I previously had a motability car that was stolen and not recovered and the insurers wrote it off.

My question is do I need to declare this when insuring my own vehicle as the claim was made on a 'fleet policy'? As a motability driver I was never entitled to a no claims discount as I was told it wasn't my insurance. Surely this should work both ways and when a claim is made I shouldn't be penalised, especially when it wasn't my fault.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Brenda

dacouch

You need to declare it if asked

jledinburgh

Thanks dacouch,

The question I am asked when applyng for insurance is "Have you made any insurance claims in the past 5 years", which the answer is no as I didn't make a claim against a policy, the lease company made a claim against their policy.

Very confusing!

AdrianC

Not really that confusing. It's very simple.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uberrima_fides

facade

jledinburgh wrote: »

The question I am asked when applyng for insurance is "Have you made any insurance claims in the past 5 years"

Normally it is "Any accidents, claims or losses in the last 5 years" to cover thefts, vandalism and people who didn't make a claim but sucked up the £300 to fix the scratched bumper/knocked off mirror.

atrixblue.-MFR-.

Its just the same if you claimed on a private policy, its all recorded under your name when you make a claim. the claim is then held on the database under your name for all insurers to look up.

RS2000.

atrixblue.-MFR-. wrote: »

Its just the same if you claimed on a private policy, its all recorded under your name when you make a claim. the claim is then held on the database under your name for all insurers to look up.

Is it for theft if mobility make the claim?

There's no need to put the drivers name against anything.

facade

We are into semantics. The point is the OP has suffered a loss that has to be declared, as they had a car stolen that was in their care/keepership. This affects the level of risk as the statistics show that once one is stolen, more will follow, so not declaring it is a breach of the "Utmost good faith" that AdrianC linked to, because the insurer may want to charge more to cover this increased risk.

If it is not declared, and the insurance company discover it, they may cancel the policy, which is something else you have to declare that puts a zero on the end of the price, if you can get insurance again that is.

Robisere

Motability's insurer for all their customers, is RSA (Royal Sun Alliance.) They send every Motability customer a pack with details including Policy, at the start of every Motability Lease.

You do not explain what happened after the theft: did you have a replacement vehicle from Motability? Whether you had a replacement or not, Motability would have had to make a claim in your name (as yours was the name on the Contract) for the theft of what was their vehicle. Therefore a claim was made. I do not understand how you would not have known this. I have been a Motability customer since 1995 and have made just one claim against a person who drove into my car, but I had to complete an RSA claim form, as does every other Motability customer involved in an accident or theft of their vehicle.

Obviously you no longer have a Motability vehicle, but you should try to discover more details about the theft and its impact upon your insurance for the new car. Find any paperwork that you previously had, or look for RSA's number. If you do not declare a claim, you may experience problems in any future dealings. All insurance companies carry details of claims made and yours will certainly appear on the database they share.

For any other Motability customers reading this and contemplating ending the lease to buy their own vehicle: you will have been insured by RSA for at least 3 years (more, if it is not your first lease) and you will have a history with RSA. If there are no claims recorded against you, it is possible that RSA will accept your previous history with them against a new policy. Write to them concerning this.

RS2000.

Robisere wrote: »

Motability's insurer for all their customers, is RSA (Royal Sun Alliance.) They send every Motability customer a pack with details including Policy, at the start of every Motability Lease.

You do not explain what happened after the theft: did you have a replacement vehicle from Motability? Whether you had a replacement or not, Motability would have had to make a claim in your name (as yours was the name on the Contract) for the theft of what was their vehicle. Therefore a claim was made. I do not understand how you would not have known this. I have been a Motability customer since 1995 and have made just one claim against a person who drove into my car, but I had to complete an RSA claim form, as does every other Motability customer involved in an accident or theft of their vehicle.

Obviously you no longer have a Motability vehicle, but you should try to discover more details about the theft and its impact upon your insurance for the new car. Find any paperwork that you previously had, or look for RSA's number. If you do not declare a claim, you may experience problems in any future dealings. All insurance companies carry details of claims made and yours will certainly appear on the database they share.

For any other Motability customers reading this and contemplating ending the lease to buy their own vehicle: you will have been insured by RSA for at least 3 years (more, if it is not your first lease) and you will have a history with RSA. If there are no claims recorded against you, it is possible that RSA will accept your previous history with them against a new policy. Write to them concerning this.

So who claims in the case of theft, mobility or the driver?

Are drivers on a group policy or their own? If it's a group policy theft is unlikely to show against the individual.

AdrianC

facade wrote: »

If it is not declared, and the insurance company discover it, they may cancel the policy, which is something else you have to declare that puts a zero on the end of the price, if you can get insurance again that is.

This is the key.

If you tell them, and they don't care, there's no difference to the premium.
If you don't tell them, and they DO care, you are in deep...