Car Insurance Nightmare

Clarkey_1986

Hi All,

Im having a nightmare with my car insurance.
So a couple of weeks ago I went down from my flat to run some errands in my car. I noticed that someone had driven into the rear wheel arch, leaving a few dents and red paint transfer.
There was no note, or CCTV so I decided to get a quote from the local garage to get the car repaired. Its a Leased vehicle so I wanted to get it sorted ASAP.

The quote came back and I decided that the cheaper option would be to claim through my insurance. I called my insurance broker who took all the details of the incident and asked a load of questions, as you would expect.
The issue arose when they mentioned that I was the registered keeper of the vehicle - which I immediately told them was incorrect as the registered keeper and owner of the vehicle was the leasing company.
They called the underwriter who had me submit a letter of explanation to defend the reason for the error. I explained that I had been very careful to list the registered keeper as the leasing company whilst on the comparison sites and the error may have been caused by the information being transferred incorrectly from the comparison site or at the very most a simple mistake as I was filling in my details over and over again.

The underwriter came back a few days later and explained that they would honour the claim and were giving me the benefit of the doubt. Great, I thought, £100 excess and its all sorted. Will be getting a company car soon anyway so I won't notice the insurance price increase next year and the lease car will be going back.
How wrong I was. I then get a call from the broker who tells me that the policy will be cancelled in 9 days due to the underwriter not insuring people who aren't the registered keeper, and the remaining 8 months of the premium will need to be paid in full as I am making a claim.
I disputed this with them, but after reading the T&C's I can see that it is covered there.
So now the claim is costing me more than it would have to just repair my car in the first place, as I have to pay for the rest of the premium, my minimal excess, and new cover for the year with a claim and cancellation on my record.

Now even if I cancel the claim, the broker are claiming that I will need to pay the rest of the premium in full in case a third party claims against me, and after 6 months if no claim is made they will refund the money. So I still need to declare the claim on the new policy, incur the price rise, and pay the broker for 8 months worth of cover I won't be receiving.

Does anyone have any advice on the matter? I feel that I am being shafted whichever way I turn, all because someone else hit my car whilst it was parked.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

Quentin

You do have to disclose the loss you experienced to other insurers you go to for quotes (irrespective of whether or not you proceed with the claim)


So that is indisputable.


You won't have to pay the full year if you don't claim and neither does a third party (which is unikely from your story)


But the loss you experienced is now a matter of record and will have to be disclosed over the next 3/5 years when applying for insurance (depending on the length of history you are asked for)


And the cancellation will have to be disclosed too (most insurers ask if you have "ever" had a policy cancelled)

Clarkey_1986

Hi Quentin,

Thanks for your reply.

The broker was quite insistent that even if i cancel the claim, I would still need to pay the remainder of the year upfront in case a third party claims against me. If there is no claim against me after 6 months I will get the money back.

Is it common for information to not transfer correctly to a broker from comparison sites?

Im extremely annoyed that the combination of someone else hitting my parked car, and a small error are costing me £2k +

Quentin

Having this cancellation on your record will add to the £2k costs you mention, as it will mean getting cover elsewhere will be difficult and expensive.


SO do everything you can to get it reversed. (Explain fully how this happened to the insurer in a complaint that you are being treated unfairly)

Clarkey_1986

Thanks again for your reply Quentin

Do you think its possible to get the cancellation reversed if the underwriter doesn't insure people who aren't the registered keeper?

Quentin

Probably not - but worth trying anything/everything to get the cancellation by the insurer removed from your record!

Brooker_Dave

Another unlawful cancellation?

Clarkey_1986

Hi Brooker Dave

Is it unlawful though?

The underwriter doesn't accept people who aren't the registered keeper, so wouldn't have agreed to cover me in the first place had the correct information been transferred to them from the comparison website.

Brooker_Dave

Clarkey_1986 wrote: »

Hi Brooker Dave

Is it unlawful though?

The underwriter doesn't accept people who aren't the registered keeper, so wouldn't have agreed to cover me in the first place had the correct information been transferred to them from the comparison website.

"Did you know that it is unlawful for an insurance company to cancel a policy or too refuse to pay out on a claim simply because of some technical reason.

This applies to all insurances.

Technical reasons include any failure to provide some document such as a CBT if you're a driver, or some certificate relating to your health if you are dealing with health or personal injury insurance.

Technical reasons include failure to inform your insurer within a set amount of time – 24 hours, 48 hours, 28 days et cetera.

None of these technical reasons can be used by an insurer to invalidate a policy because none of those technical reasons affect the risk in any way. They didn't cause the accident, they didn't cause the ill-health, they didn't cause the loss or the theft of your mobile phone et cetera."
http://www.consumeractiongroup.co.uk/forum/announcement.php?f=352&a=292