Car insurance cancelled - Please check

kazzybee

Purchased a new vehicle and had hoist fitted. I rang insurance company to inform them of this fact. Hastings Direct Premium cover is the company, Person on end of phone states I need to check if any additional payment is needed, I assumed this maybe the case so was armed with card, he then said we may have to change your policy so I will put you on to another department.
Finally spoke to another person who informed me no your policy won't change It will be cancelled forthwith as our underwriters won't insure a vehicle WITH A HOIST!!!!!!!! obviously I thought it was a joke but no, they said it's a modification to the vehicle. I negotiated to be covered till Monday.
So my warning is, if you have a hoist fitted in a private vehicle ASK YOUR INSURANCE COMPANY IF YOU WILL BE COVERED? and if you are with HASTINGS DIRECT YOU WONT BE. :mad:
Anyone else ever heard of this?

I have today insured everything through Churchill and the person I spoke to had never heard of an insurance been cancelled because of a hoist :mad:

paddyandstumpy

Can an insurer decline cover for a disability modification?
Or would this be disability discrimination?
Genuine question for the knowledgable ones on here!

Carrot007

paddyandstumpy wrote: »

Can an insurer decline cover for a disability modification?
Or would this be disability discrimination?
Genuine question for the knowledgable ones on here!

I did not go down the thought of disability mod for hoist utill you mentioned it. Maybe hastings got the wrong end of the stick too?

Nearlyold

I think Hastings may have got the idea you've stuck some sort of crane on the car like a breakdown truck, just to be clear do you mean a hoist to move someone from a wheelchair and swivel them to the seat in the car or do you mean a winch to help pull a wheelchair up a rear ramp?

forgotmyname

The person you spoke to probably didnt know what a hoist was and may have assumed a large crane for picking cars up.

One insurer i phoned couldnt understand that when my HGV category expired it did not mean my licence was no longer valid.

I had to ask her when her HGV licence is valid for, she didnt respond and carried on with the quote.

mattk_180

Go back and make it 100% clear that it is modified for disability purposes (they should have a specific box to tick regarding this).


Some insurers won't insurer a car unless it is 100% standard. In some cases I've dealt with an insurer that declined a risk based on the fact alloy wheels were fitted to replace the hubcaps (yes they were serious!).


It would be very harsh though to decline on something like a hoist or a ramp.