Car insurance & Direct Line - declaring speed awareness course?

JustAnotherSaver

I ended up going on a speed awareness course on my current policy. While at the course they told us that because of being on it we have no 'conviction' and that there is one insurance company/group that do ask if you've also been on a course (in addition to asking about convictions). If we're asked about a speed course we have to say yes, if it's just about convictions we can say no.

They said they couldn't tell us this company/group but when i asked if it was Admiral they said since I was the one to mention it, yes it was.


I've just called up Admiral to cancel my renewal since i can get it cheaper with Direct Line. Much cheaper.

One of the questions from DL, and i quote:

Have you had any motoring offences including convictions, endorsements, fixed penalties, bans or points in the last 5 years

Nothing about speed awareness courses (unless that comes under 'endorsements'?).

Anyway i told Admiral this & they said i would still need to tell them (Direct Line) even though they don't ask about it.

So i went back on to my quote & selected yes.

The convictions drop down consists of 5 options which don't apply and then "other", so i selected that.

The next field is to

Type the first 3 letters or description of the conviction

Well back to what the course said - i have no conviction.

Regardless i started to type in speed and it just lists conviction codes which i don't have.



I'm not wanting to pull a fast one. I want my policy to be legit. So what are you supposed to do?

Aretnap

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

Anyway i told Admiral this & they said i would still need to tell them (Direct Line) even though they don't ask about it.

The bloke on the phone was lying to you in order to discourage you from leaving. Simple as that. (Or maybe he was just clueless, but having had a similar experience while cancelling a policy with Admiral myself, I'm not inclined to assume good faith).

The law is quite clear - as a consumer you only have to take care to ensure that you answer the questions the insurer poses truthfully. You don't have to try to second-guess things that they might want to know but don't ask about.

I'm not wanting to pull a fast one. I want my policy to be legit. So what are you supposed to do?

Answer the questions that Direct Line pose truthfully. A speed awareness course is neither a conviction, an endorsement, a fixed penalty, a ban or points, so the truthful answer to that question is "no".

cajef

From this website

http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/im-caught-speeding-take-speed-13060973

What do the insurers say?

If you’re with Direct Line, Churchill or Privilege, they won’t increase your premiums

A spokesperson said: “When providing a quote for car insurance Direct Line, Churchill and Privilege ask customers if they have driving convictions. We do not ask them if they have attended a speed awareness course, a speed awareness course is not a driving conviction. Even if a customer were to tell us they had attended a speed awareness course, we would not increase the price they pay for car insurance.
“We do not increase the price a customer pays for car insurance, if they have attended a speed awareness course. We do not believe it is appropriate to penalise our customers for attending a course that educates them on road safety.”

Aretnap

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

Nothing about speed awareness courses (unless that comes under 'endorsements'?).

No. An endorsement is a record of a conviction or fixed penalty on your driving licence - in days of yore physically recorded on your paper licence or counterpart; nowadays recorded electronically on your driving record held by the DVLA. Basically, any offence which results in points or a ban will also result in an endorsement. A speed awareness course doesn't - they're administered by private companies contracted to the policy, with no DVLA involvement.

JustAnotherSaver

So i did a quote with Direct Line & saved it, made an account.
Went to buy the insurance last night, logged in & it had gone up £10 :think: Ok it's only £10 but sort of not the point. If you save it at a set price & go back a day later shouldn't it be that price? Or because it's in to a new week & is another week closer to my renewal it goes up a bit? Odd one.

takman

JustAnotherSaver wrote: »

So i did a quote with Direct Line & saved it, made an account.
Went to buy the insurance last night, logged in & it had gone up £10 :think: Ok it's only £10 but sort of not the point. If you save it at a set price & go back a day later shouldn't it be that price? Or because it's in to a new week & is another week closer to my renewal it goes up a bit? Odd one.

The website says that quotes are valid for 30 days, so if you have a reference number for the first quote (check your emails) you should still be able to buy at that price.

f0xh0les

I just rang them about my husband's awareness course he went on about 6 years ago. The man on the phone said they were only interested if it was in the last 5 years, other than that it is no longer relevant.

JustAnotherSaver

Is there an insurer that asks beyond 5 years for anything?