Car Insurance lapsed

prc6

Hey all, wonder if you might be able to give me some advise, realised this morning that my car insurance has lapsed since January. Assumed that the renew letter i got was an auto renew and unfortunately it was not.

Anyway contact insurance company this morning asking if they can start the policy and they could but the price went up by £275, on the original renewal price. When I questioned this it was explained that it was due to the car being uninsured for the last 3 month and that many insurance company would not even insure me and that if it was not declared at the time of getting insurance I could have my insurance declined?

So am i stuck at having to pay this crazy price or is the person on the phone trying his luck on the basis that i need to get the car insured asap?

thanks for your help and advice.

Retrogamer

I think the person on the phone is trying their luck on.
Unless the insurance companies ask you if there has been a period where the car was uninsured, then there is no need to declare that information.

I bought a car a while ago. Sat on my mum's drive for months uninsured before i sold the one i was using. When i eventually got it on the road, i just insured it as you normally would.

Checked some car insurance websites and look for a better quote.

Faith177

Rates are often only guaranteed for 30 days and they do change month on month so this could be another reason why it has gone up.

As long as you haven't been stopped and the car impounded nothing stopping you from shopping around your NCB will still be valid so no issue there either

jobdone1

So you drove uninsured?

Apodemus

You are lucky to not also be fined by DVLA. I let my father's car insurance lapse, since he was no longer driving. Car was still taxed and parked in his private driveway, but it turns out it is illegal to hold an uninsured car unless it is on a SORN notice. Resulted in a £100 fine.

Retrogamer

jobdone1 wrote: »

So you drove uninsured?

What if they did?

lisyloo

They are having you on and I wouldn't go with them out of principle.
For all they know your car could have been legally sorted during that time.
Shop around, however be aware that cars do need to be either insured or sorned and it's all on computer so easy to trace so you still might be fined Personally I'd be quite grateful for a £100 fine because whilst it was an innocent mistake it could have been a lot worse e.g, if you'd had an accident and been pursued for a lot of money.

jobdone1

:beer:what an intellectual comment. What if they had an accident ? The innocent victim has to fight to recover loss because they choose to drive illegally.

Faith177

jobdone1 wrote: »

:beer:what an intellectual comment. What if they had an accident ? The innocent victim has to fight to recover loss because they choose to drive illegally.

They didn't choose to they thought they were insured.

Yes maybe OP should have read his renewal documents but most co's are auto renew now so easily done.

jobdone1

Not an argument at all. You the driver is responsible to ensure you are taxed mot,ed and insured before putting the keys in the ignition. Right let's look at this from another angle. You state she thought she was insured. Right five months on and no money taken from my bank account for car insurance come on alarm bells would ring no argument.

Aretnap

It's always good to know that there are perfect people out there to remind the rest of us how terrible we are.

At the risk of actually adding something useful to this thread - OP the only things you have to declare to your insurance company are things which they actually ask about. If your new insurer asks whether the car has been insured for the last 6 months (I've never come across one that does routinely) then you'll have to tell them that it hasn't. If they don't, you're under no obligation to volunteer the fact that it hasn't. The guy you spoke to on the phone was either repeating a half truth that he heard in the pub, or else he was telling you an outright porkie in order to pressure you into accepting his price.

Your NCD from the old policy will be valid for two years (three years for a handful of insurers) from the date the policy expired. If you use it on your new policy the new insurer might ask for an explanation of the gap, if only to check that you're not trying to use the same NCD on two policies at once, or that you're not using an old form to try to resurrect an old NCD that you've lost in the meantime due to an accident. Again you shouldn't tell any untruths if they do ask, but you're not under an obligation to volunteer any more information than they actually ask for.