Void Car Insurance

Savenvalaja

Hi, not sure if this is the right place to post but I was looking for some advice after having a policy voided.

Last year I was contacted by my insurer, telling me I had modifications to my car that I had not informed them about and they were going to cancel my policy. This was untrue, and I informed them this was the case. The car did have a couple of 'mods' such as a non-factory air filter, but this was noted on my policy.

However, at the time I was struggling with money and I didn't need my car at all. I was considering SORNing it until needed it again or had the money to put it back on the road. So I decided at that time, I might as well cancel my policy and SORN it. I told them I'd rather just cancel my policy altogether.

Since it's time that I need my car again, I was getting quotes and wanted to make sure there wouldn't be any issues, so I contacted them. They told me my previous policy was voided.

I'm hoping that they will just be able to update my records, as I have a record of sending them the information in an email back when I cancelled it, however I'm worried that they won't want anything to do with it since I'm not their customer any more.

So I was hoping for some advice on what I can do here? If I tick the box on the comparison sites about having insurance voided, I don't get any results back at all. If my previous insurance company don't want to help, is that something that the financial ombudsman deals with? Are there any other avenues I can pursue?

I realise I should have made 100% sure at the time, however I didn't realise it could be such serious issue.

Thanks
Paul

magpiecottage

You probably need to make a complaint to the insurance company and, if necessary, to FOS.

Thrugelmir

Savenvalaja wrote: »

Last year I was contacted by my insurer, telling me I had modifications to my car that I had not informed them about and they were going to cancel my policy. This was untrue, and I informed them this was the case. The car did have a couple of 'mods' such as a non-factory air filter, but this was noted on my policy.

There was obviously discrepancies between what you declared and the information that the insurance company obtained regarding the vehicle. Insurance companies don't take such action lightly.

Quentin

If your Insurer won't remove this from your record immediately, then although your next step is to escalate to the FOS, (add to your complaint that their poor administration has meant you paying more for your cover because this is on your record)


Your problem is that it will be months before the complaint is concluded if you have to escalate to FOS.


During this time you will still have to disclose this to other insurers (a void policy stays on your record for ever, so until you get it successfully removed other insurers will be able to see this via a shared database)


You should still be able to get cover now, (though not usually the off the peg policies you can get online), and although this could be more expensive, if you are successful in your complaint you can ask for this extra cost to be refunded to you by your previous insurer.


See if a local broker (not Swinton) can help

Savenvalaja

Thrugelmir wrote: »

There was obviously discrepancies between what you declared and the information that the insurance company obtained regarding the vehicle. Insurance companies don't take such action lightly.

They believed the car had an engine chip that increased bhp by 26% or more. This wasn't the case.

Quentin wrote: »

If your Insurer won't remove this from your record immediately, then although your next step is to escalate to the FOS, (add to your complaint that their poor administration has meant you paying more for your cover because this is on your record)

Your problem is that it will be months before the complaint is concluded if you have to escalate to FOS.

During this time you will still have to disclose this to other insurers (a void policy stays on your record for ever, so until you get it successfully removed other insurers will be able to see this via a shared database)

You should still be able to get cover now, (though not usually the off the peg policies you can get online), and although this could be more expensive, if you are successful in your complaint you can ask for this extra cost to be refunded to you by your previous insurer.

See if a local broker (not Swinton) can help

Thanks for your help. Do you know if it tends to be a significant price increase in this kind of situation? Though I can imagine it's mostly dependant on individual cases and insurers.

Thrugelmir

Savenvalaja wrote: »

They believed the car had an engine chip that increased bhp by 26% or more. This wasn't the case.

What was the source of this information?

DUTR

Thrugelmir wrote: »

What was the source of this information?

Indeed, what difference is an air filter alone going to make?
Perhaps it's the underwriters way of saying 'we don't want to take the risk of insuring boy racer cruiser types'. .

dacouch

I'm guessing the source of the information was the OP via either messing around with quotes or seeing how much it would be to declare an engine modification and then changing his mind.

People assume Insurers do not make a note of the quote information and cross refer it.

OP is your Insurer Admiral and have you posted about this situation on MSE before?

Savenvalaja

I have no idea of the source of the information. It was my 3rd year insuring the same car with the same policy/insurers, so it pretty much out of the blue.

Yes it was Admiral, but no I haven't posted about it on here before. I didn't mention it earlier as it isn't really relevant, but the car is imported, so I did perhaps think the underwriters took a second look and decided it was too much of a risk at the price they'd given me. It was significantly cheaper than any other insurer at the time.

I don't think I ever did mess around with adding that particular mod on my quotes, I didn't really have any intention of modifying it further. To get that sort of power increase it would be more than an 'engine chip', that's for sure.

Thanks for the replies everyone.