My insurance cancelled before my policy starts and now I don't know whether to go elsewhere.

differentiate1

I'm with Hasting's Direct and I had a policy due in a couple of weeks and I woke up to an email today saying my policy is canceled because of my online activity - namely getting quotes with different details.

While it is true, I had gotten quotes with different job titles that could all describe my job and also some dummy quotes with different ages to see what would've happened if I got my insurance policy after my birthday. However, the final quote I went with had my correct and verifiable details. I rung up and they explained that their underwriters made the decision and there would be no reinstatement (even though I've seen other posts on this forum with cancellations for the same reason with reinstatements) and they're not interested in verifying the information I'd given them. They'd also told me that I don't need to disclose it on the "Have you had insurance cancelled?" question in future quotes because it was cancelled before the policy kicked in rather than during.

I have made a formal complaint and will be escalating it if it doesn't get resolved but as of right now, I do need insurance on my original start date. My worry is now, what if the next insurer also cancels my policy for the same reason but this time during the policy period itself? Looking on this forum, Hastings Direct is the one that came up most often with issues of policies getting canceled based on comparison sites but I'm not sure if that's just biased based on my searches when looking for other people's experiences.

What should I do and would there be any risk?

csgohan4

Did you use your correct name when you were changing your job? If you did, you didn't do dummy quoting right.

Clearly quote manipulating to see which variation brought you a cheaper premium.

They can also check your IP/Mac address too even if you used dummy quotes unless you used a VPN

In any case if you have in writing you do not need to declare as cancelled insurance then should be fine

For future readers, either do dummy quotes properly or put in your real details. I do the latter as it doesn't make a difference as your going to need to put it in anyways

Quentin

Did you play with quotes just at the one insurer or via price comparison sites?

If the latter then consider using a local broker to buy your new policy from instead of doing it online where you got caught manipulating,

differentiate1

Is using a comparison site gonna get the same result with another insurer even if I’m able to prove everything in my policy details is valid and correct? (I.e. no fraud)

I thought there was no issue in doing it as Confused.com have even encouraged you do so with job titles.

anniecave

differentiate1 wrote: »

Is using a comparison site gonna get the same result with another insurer even if I’m able to prove everything in my policy details is valid and correct? (I.e. no fraud)

I thought there was no issue in doing it as Confused.com have even encouraged you do so with job titles.

Job titles aren't so much of an issue. Likewise amending the policy excess or what extras you are adding on shouldn't be an issue as they are genuine decisions you need to make and those latter two aren't actually your details you're amending.


Giving an incorrect date of birth is definatly not a good idea, and multiple quotes with different dates of birth is even worse. I would only be doing these with dummy details, not my car registration or my exact address etc.


I would go with a different provider (it may well be more than Hastings, but lesson learned) and double check all details are correct.