Price comparison sites - lack of insurance questions

MrEdinburgh

I recently had a call from my house insurers RAC to renew my policy. He went through all the usual questions, and when when it came to "did I live within X hundred metres of water" I said I did. He said I hadn't declared that originally so I replied that I hadn't been asked. He insisted that all price comparison sites had to ask this. As a result it had to go off to underwriting.

I ran a new quote with moneysupermarket and low and behold, no question about distance from water. What happens instead, is once you have bought the policy, they give you a list of assumptions, rather than asking.

I know legally an insurance policy can be invalid if you don't tell them about something, even if it's unrelated to a claim.

This happened to me years ago. Having used a broker for many years, I had to make a claim for about £5k and that was all fine. However, when I came to move, I was asked about living near water, which I did, and similarly they said they couldn't transfer the policy because the new property was near water (the existing property was even closer).

The same thing happened when I moved last year. Again I had a policy through an online comparison site, which paid out, only to find when I came to move, the water question came up and they added £1000K to the premium.

So to conclude, there are loads of questions which price comparison sites should ask, as they could invalidate the policy but don't, until you have to speak to the insurer directly. However, I've never had a problem claiming on what are potentially voidable policies in the past.

Thoughts?

rs65

MrEdinburgh wrote: »

I know legally an insurance policy can be invalid if you don't tell them about something, even if it's unrelated to a claim.

The law changed a few years ago in that insurers have to ask questions and you have to answer. You no longer have to volunteer info. The law has specific provisions regarding relying on something unrelated. You need to browse the Consumer Insurance Act 2012.


Assumptions should be available to you before purchase.

MrEdinburgh

Thanks for that. It was a few years since I studied insurance law and wasn't aware of the change.

In terms of the presumptions, in seems they only tell you once you've bought the policy, but to let them know if anything is wrong.