Undeclared Banned Named Driver

bengalknights

Since the law changed insurers can no longer decline payouts based on info that has no relevance to the incident itself

A banner driver has no relevance to a stolen car

sdon25

What date was the ban and what date was your last renewal?

I renewed the insurance in December 2015 and the car was stolen in October 2016. I don't know what date she was banned, but it was before the car was stolen. However, I then renewed the insurance for a temporary car with all the same named drivers etc. in December 2016.
Again, I didn't read through the renewal notice and didn't even think to check if there were any named drivers on there.
I put both of my parents on the insurance in 2013 and I don't think they have driven any car on my insurance since then and it hardly affected the price, so I genuinely forgot they were on there.

What makes you believe the OP is male ?

I am male, if anyone was wondering, but the car cost me £7000 so I cant really afford to 'man up and face the consequences'.

dauphin

But she hadn't been banned at the time of the December 2015 renewal?
Assuming not, this is somewhat helpful. It would mean that, at the time the car was stolen, you were "only" in breach of a requirement in the policy to notify the insurers of a change in the status of your mother's licence. You hadn't gone through a renewal without disclosing this. I'd have thought it was pretty understandable that you might have overlooked the need to do so. As far as the claim is concerned, I suggest you wait and see what Hastings have to say, but I reckon you should get paid, subject perhaps to a premium adjustment to reflect what the cost would have been of taking her off the policy once she lost her licence.

This does still leave an issue with the current policy. Have Hastings now formally removed her as a named driver after discovering the position? If not, I'd be inclined to phone their policy adjustments team and explain that you need to remove your mother as a named driver as you forgot to do so when the policy renewed. Expect a premium adjustment at least. If they start talking about cancellation, which hopefully they will not, I'd take the bull by the horns and initiate cancellation yourself, although you'll take a hit on the return of premium. Might be prudent to make sure you can arrange alternative cover elsewhere if the worst comes to the worst, disclosing the pending theft claim of course.

The alternative would be to wait and see how Hastings propose to resolve the issue in relation to the current policy, but I think it might look better if, having realised your error, you now took pro-active steps to rectify it.

FlameCloud

The dates are likely to be key - especially if the banning occured after the renewal of the policy in December 2015. Note however that the only wording for Hastings Direct online I can find has a continuing duty of disclosure (i.e you need to tell them if one of the named drivers has their license revoked).

bengalknights wrote:

Since the law changed insurers can no longer decline payouts based on info that has no relevance to the incident itself

A banner driver has no relevance to a stolen car

Not really - the outright right of an insurer to avoid a policy has changed, however now with any non disclosure an insurer must first decide whether the breach is deliberate/reckless or innocent/non reckless.

If they consider it to be deliberate or reckless, they are entitled to avoid the policy and retain the premium, even without causal connection to the claim.

If the consider it to be innocent, but they would not have accepted the risk, they are entitled to avoid the policy and return the premiums paid, even without causal connection.

If they consider it to be innocent, but would have accepted the risk on different terms, they are entitled to apply those same terms to the claim presented.

sdon25

Thanks for the replies. I just checked the dates and it turns out she was banned in October 2015, so I renewed the insurance after she was banned.
Hastings should be getting back to me within a few days so I will post an update on here for anyone interested, but I wont be expecting any money back.

dauphin

That's a pity, but I don't think all is lost. Let us know how you get on.

If your mother now has her licence back it's even more important to sort out the current policy if she's still on it as a named driver whilst having an undisclosed conviction for drink driving. And I'm sure it goes without saying that on no account should she get behind the wheel of your replacement car.

FlameCloud

It maybe worth doing a quote online with them to see if they will quote with a dd conviction disclosed.

rs65

sdon25 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. I just checked the dates and it turns out she was banned in October 2015, so I renewed the insurance after she was banned.

Not good. Was she still banned at the date of renewal? Precise dates are important - don't guess. If you renewed in Dec 2015 whilst she was banned then, had you disclosed it, they would probably have removed her and the premium gone up a bit. If she had her licence back at renewal date, they will have been covering a banned driver without disclosure.

The suggestion from insurers that you have committed fraud is a bit extreme. You may have gained a small financial premium advantage - a good outcome would be to collect the amount from you.

dauphin

rs65 wrote: »

The suggestion from insurers that you have committed fraud is a bit extreme.

The insurers haven't suggested fraud as far as we know. It's only certain contributors here who have bandied fraud allegations around.

But I agree with the rest of your comments.

FutureGirl

The insurer would look to see whether the fact you didn't tell them was reckless / deliberate.

If they think it was then, if they wouldn't have accepted the risk, they ill void the policy and keep all monies paid.

If they think it was an oversight on your part, and they would have accepted the risk but would have, for example, increased the premium, then they will keep the policy running, ask you to pay the difference of what you have paid, against what you should have paid, and then will then pay out on your claim (after you've paid the additional premium).

If they say they won't accept the risk, then you could ask them to take her off the insurance now, if they keep your policy running.

I think what goes against you is that you've had 2 renewals since then, not just one, and each renewal you're told to read through the information to ensure A) it's correct, and nothing has changed. Had you read them you would have noticed that you have named drivers on your policy.

Hope you get it sorted.