Insurance Cancellation Question

CrazyRed

All,

I have a question, and wonder if the collective wisdom in this sub-forum could advise, please?

Without wishing to go into huge detail, 7 years ago, Direct Line decided to cancel my home (contents) insurance on me, but decided to continue insuring me until policy expiry on the car.

(basically a change of risk when a family member joined the household who had a criminal conviction).

Now, under the 'principle of utmost good faith' I have been declaring this cancellation to ALL insurers that I have used since that date - home contents (now through a specialist broker and premiums actually very reasonable), pet, mobile phone and, of course, car - the whole subject of this rambling diatribe.

My car insurance has been increasing substantially year-on-year, with no changes - in fact, when I changed cars a couple of years ago mid-term, the policy refund from going from a 2.5 Mercedes to a 1.3 Skoda, and actually going back a year in registration, was barely enough to buy a round of fish and chips!

Now, actually, I believe I am the 'victim' here. Before any of you jump all over me, listen to my side before judging:

I knew of this potential change in circumstances in the March when I took out the policy and I had a fairly detailed discussion with DL about it, before I took out either the car or home policies with them - I wanted to be absolutely up-front with them, and give them the opportunity to decline to quote, rather than suffer any problems in the future when this family member came home. The call-centre bod I was speaking with actually put me on hold whilst they spoke to the 'Underwriters Department' to check with them before confirming with me that they WOULD be happy with the additional risk (understandably at an increased premium - I recognise and was happy to accept that). On that basis I took out two policies - one home contents and the other car, paying by monthly instalments.

All trundled along happily for 3 months, then the change of risk occurred and DL decided to give me 7 days notice on the home policy, but were happy to keep the car policy running until it expired, but would not like my business going forwards.

Now, let me be clear here - I am not the one with the criminal conviction, yet I am the one who is being utterly hammered for a car insurance premium, in particular and, frankly, it annoys me more and more as each year passes. I actually declined a modest car I was offered FOC as an upgrade to mine because the insurance premium practically doubled for less than another 6 months' cover. My home insurance (again, contents only) is a sensible figure (or, at least one that I consider sensible), there was no effect whatsoever on the pet or mobile phone insurances, but the car is a whole different matter and something I am keen to see if I can do something about.

What can I do about this? Is there somewhere I can go to find out exactly what this has been recorded as (if at all - remember, they were happy to keep me on cover for my car insurance until the policy expired) and some means of challenging it?

Or, am I screwed, through no real fault of my own, and resign myself to paying extortionate premia for the rest of my natural days? All advice welcomed.

dacouch

I assume the criminal conviction is now spent under the rehabilitation of offenders act.

If this is the case, you can probably get Direct Line or Churchill to quote

Quentin

A policy cancellation does stay on your record for ever though not all insurers ask if you 'ever' had a policy cancellation/refusal and instead ask about cancellations in the last x years

A local broker (not Swinton) may be able to help

molerat

CrazyRed wrote: »

All,

I have a question, and wonder if the collective wisdom in this sub-forum could advise, please?

Without wishing to go into huge detail, 7 years ago, Direct Line decided to cancel my home (contents) insurance on me, but decided to continue insuring me until policy expiry on the car.

(basically a change of risk when a family member joined the household who had a criminal conviction).

Now, under the 'principle of utmost good faith' I have been declaring this cancellation to ALL insurers that I have used since that date - home contents (now through a specialist broker and premiums actually very reasonable), pet, mobile phone and, of course, car - the whole subject of this rambling diatribe.

My car insurance has been increasing substantially year-on-year, with no changes - in fact, when I changed cars a couple of years ago mid-term, the policy refund from going from a 2.5 Mercedes to a 1.3 Skoda, and actually going back a year in registration, was barely enough to buy a round of fish and chips!

Now, actually, I believe I am the 'victim' here. Before any of you jump all over me, listen to my side before judging:

I knew of this potential change in circumstances in the March when I took out the policy and I had a fairly detailed discussion with DL about it, before I took out either the car or home policies with them - I wanted to be absolutely up-front with them, and give them the opportunity to decline to quote, rather than suffer any problems in the future when this family member came home. The call-centre bod I was speaking with actually put me on hold whilst they spoke to the 'Underwriters Department' to check with them before confirming with me that they WOULD be happy with the additional risk (understandably at an increased premium - I recognise and was happy to accept that). On that basis I took out two policies - one home contents and the other car, paying by monthly instalments.

All trundled along happily for 3 months, then the change of risk occurred and DL decided to give me 7 days notice on the home policy, but were happy to keep the car policy running until it expired, but would not like my business going forwards.

Now, let me be clear here - I am not the one with the criminal conviction, yet I am the one who is being utterly hammered for a car insurance premium, in particular and, frankly, it annoys me more and more as each year passes. I actually declined a modest car I was offered FOC as an upgrade to mine because the insurance premium practically doubled for less than another 6 months' cover. My home insurance (again, contents only) is a sensible figure (or, at least one that I consider sensible), there was no effect whatsoever on the pet or mobile phone insurances, but the car is a whole different matter and something I am keen to see if I can do something about.

What can I do about this? Is there somewhere I can go to find out exactly what this has been recorded as (if at all - remember, they were happy to keep me on cover for my car insurance until the policy expired) and some means of challenging it?

Or, am I screwed, through no real fault of my own, and resign myself to paying extortionate premia for the rest of my natural days? All advice welcomed.

I believe the highlighted part is the important part and worthy of a complaint to Direct Line and going forward to the ombudsman. They cancelled a policy with no change to the declared risk that they had accepted and priced accordingly at inception and their actions have cost you a substantial amount.

dacouch

molerat wrote: »

I believe the highlighted part is the important part and worthy of a complaint to Direct Line and going forward to the ombudsman. They cancelled a policy with no change to the declared risk that they had accepted and priced accordingly at inception and their actions have cost you a substantial amount.

http://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/faq/businesses/answers/before_we_get_involved_a7.html

molerat

I was going to add that time could be a problem but it may still be worth a complaint to DL to get any marker removed.

GingerBob_3

Honesty is the best policy. This is drummed into us from an early age. I think parents need to have a rethink about this one.


Honesty is the best policy, except when you're liable to be shafted up, down and sideways by the pond life that goes by the name of the insurance industry.


Only problem is, three and four year olds might not quite understand the details.

Quentin

molerat wrote: »

I was going to add that time could be a problem but it may still be worth a complaint to DL to get any marker removed.

You cannot get a policy cancellation "marker" removed after a set period of time.


As previously posted its on your record for life

GingerBob_3

Quentin wrote: »

You cannot get a policy cancellation "marker" removed after a set period of time.


As previously posted its on your record for life

Just out of interest, where is this big brother database? CUE, I assume, or is there some other central repository?

Quentin

Not CUE (which has claims history) - they use a separate database.

GingerBob_3

Quentin wrote: »

Not CUE (which has claims history) - they use a separate database.

Ah yes, CUE, claims. Makes sense. What is the name of this other database, which is presumably cross-company, and who maintains it?