Spurious reason for cancelling my insurance policy (Sterling/Flux)

JinderSongs

Hi,
    I'd like some advice if at all possible. I recently bought a car, the purchase being partially motivated by the fact that I could insure it for £108 PA as per a quote from Sterling Insurance, an offshoot of Adrian Flux.

I have just received a call from them telling me their underwriters have refused to honour my policy, as I didn't disclose a claim that they have on their records from 2016, when I was previously insured with them. 

This claim was never fulfilled, and stemmed from an incident in May 2016 when a couple in a car in front of me randomly performed an emergency stop at high speed during an argument. I stopped without incident, but VERY lightly tapped their bumper, causing no damage whatsoever. The couple then got out of the car (still rowing loudly!) and both then turned on me and started telling, demanding insurance details etc. Obviously I gave them my details and we went on our way. 

Several months later (August 2016) I had a call from LV stating they were putting a claim forward and saying their car was undriveable etc, and asking me about my part in the incident. I confirmed that I had tapped their car but that it had happened several months previously, and neither car had received any damage. 

The claim was dismissed and never fulfilled, has not affected my NCB (I have 12yrs NCB,in use on another policy) and I have never declared it on any of the several insurance policies I have taken out on different cars in the interim.

Sterling are claiming that because I was insured with them when the claim was put forward, their underwriters are refusing to honour my policy (on the grounds of "an undisclosed claim") and are insisting on cancelling it in a week's time, charging me £50, based on a £20 cancellation fee and £30 for the five days I have had cover with them.

This seems totally ridiculous to me and comes off as a quick way for Sterling to make £50. 

Can anyone advise on this?

Many thanks,
Phil

rudekid48

Why didn't you declare the incident?  You will have been asked the question.

DCFC79

So if the couple of the other party have told LV the car was undriveable in August why was it not undriveable in May when the accident happened.

Jumblebumble

JinderSongs said:

Hi,
    I'd like some advice if at all possible. I recently bought a car, the purchase being partially motivated by the fact that I could insure it for £108 PA as per a quote from Sterling Insurance, an offshoot of Adrian Flux.

I have just received a call from them telling me their underwriters have refused to honour my policy, as I didn't disclose a claim that they have on their records from 2016, when I was previously insured with them. 

This claim was never fulfilled, and stemmed from an incident in May 2016 when a couple in a car in front of me randomly performed an emergency stop at high speed during an argument. I stopped without incident, but VERY lightly tapped their bumper, causing no damage whatsoever. The couple then got out of the car (still rowing loudly!) and both then turned on me and started telling, demanding insurance details etc. Obviously I gave them my details and we went on our way. 

Several months later (August 2016) I had a call from LV stating they were putting a claim forward and saying their car was undriveable etc, and asking me about my part in the incident. I confirmed that I had tapped their car but that it had happened several months previously, and neither car had received any damage. 

The claim was dismissed and never fulfilled, has not affected my NCB (I have 12yrs NCB,in use on another policy) and I have never declared it on any of the several insurance policies I have taken out on different cars in the interim.

Sterling are claiming that because I was insured with them when the claim was put forward, their underwriters are refusing to honour my policy (on the grounds of "an undisclosed claim") and are insisting on cancelling it in a week's time, charging me £50, based on a £20 cancellation fee and £30 for the five days I have had cover with them.

This seems totally ridiculous to me and comes off as a quick way for Sterling to make £50. 

Can anyone advise on this?

Many thanks,
Phil

Why should Stirling not be compensated for their wasted time because you lied on the policy application form
A cancellation for non disclosure  is very bad news and you should resolve  declare this in future too as if you don't you may find £50.00 fee a drop in the ocean

JinderSongs

DCFC79 said:

So if the couple of the other party have told LV the car was undriveable in August why was it not undriveable in May when the accident happened.

This is why it was rejected by LV, as it was a fraudulent attempt to make a claim. I refuted the level of damage alleged, and they dropped the entire thing after investigating further. I asked LV at the time if this would go against me for future insurance quotes, and they told me that as it was rejected, it wouldn't be recorded in the CUE and therefore wouldn't affect future insurance.

JinderSongs

rudekid48 said:

Why didn't you declare the incident?  You will have been asked the question.

I didn't declare the incident because it wasn't a claim, it was a fraudulent attempt to claim which was rejected. I asked LV in 2016 (after I was notified that it had been rejected) if it would go against me for future insurance quotes, and they told me that as it was rejected, it wouldn't be recorded in the CUE and therefore wouldn't affect future insurance. 

The reason why Sterling were aware of the incident is that they were my insurers at the time, and their underwriters had a note on their system (not the CUE) about it.

OnanTheBarbarian

But the question you have most likely been asked when getting the new insurance cover is "have you had any accidents or claims made in the last x years"?

You have said no. This is not true. An "accident" has arisen and a "claim" arose from it. The outcome of the claim is irrelevant. A record exists, hence how this lot have found out after validating the information you have given them when seeking the quote.
Your best bet here is to try and avoid the cancellation of the policy by the insurer as you will be left having to declare a cancelled policy for the rest of your days and punters with cancelled policies are considered high risk and many mainstream insurers will either not quote or you'll be seeing high quotes.
If Sterling won't agree not to cancel, you may be best beating them to it and cancelling the cover yourself and paying the fees, that way you have not had a policy cancelled and would not have to declare cancelled policy status in future.

Your call

JinderSongs

Jumblebumble said:

JinderSongs said:

Hi,
    I'd like some advice if at all possible. I recently bought a car, the purchase being partially motivated by the fact that I could insure it for £108 PA as per a quote from Sterling Insurance, an offshoot of Adrian Flux.

I have just received a call from them telling me their underwriters have refused to honour my policy, as I didn't disclose a claim that they have on their records from 2016, when I was previously insured with them. 

This claim was never fulfilled, and stemmed from an incident in May 2016 when a couple in a car in front of me randomly performed an emergency stop at high speed during an argument. I stopped without incident, but VERY lightly tapped their bumper, causing no damage whatsoever. The couple then got out of the car (still rowing loudly!) and both then turned on me and started telling, demanding insurance details etc. Obviously I gave them my details and we went on our way. 

Several months later (August 2016) I had a call from LV stating they were putting a claim forward and saying their car was undriveable etc, and asking me about my part in the incident. I confirmed that I had tapped their car but that it had happened several months previously, and neither car had received any damage. 

The claim was dismissed and never fulfilled, has not affected my NCB (I have 12yrs NCB,in use on another policy) and I have never declared it on any of the several insurance policies I have taken out on different cars in the interim.

Sterling are claiming that because I was insured with them when the claim was put forward, their underwriters are refusing to honour my policy (on the grounds of "an undisclosed claim") and are insisting on cancelling it in a week's time, charging me £50, based on a £20 cancellation fee and £30 for the five days I have had cover with them.

This seems totally ridiculous to me and comes off as a quick way for Sterling to make £50. 

Can anyone advise on this?

Many thanks,
Phil

Why should Stirling not be compensated for their wasted time because you lied on the policy application form
A cancellation for non disclosure  is very bad news and you should resolve  declare this in future too as if you don't you may find £50.00 fee a drop in the ocean

I didn't "lie on the policy application form". I didn't declare the incident because it wasn't a claim, it was a fraudulent attempt to claim which was rejected. I asked LV in 2016 (after I was notified that it had been rejected) if it would go against me for future insurance quotes, and they told me that as it was rejected, it wouldn't be recorded in the CUE and therefore wouldn't affect future insurance. 

The reason why Sterling were aware of the incident is that they were my insurers at the time, and their underwriters had a note on their system (not the CUE) about it.

I have subsequently spent most of the day on the phone to my current insurers for my other car, making sure that they are aware of the incident (they weren't, as it isn't on the CUE), discussing the cancellation with them and arranging insurance with them for my second car that Sterling declined to cover. They agreed that a rejected attempt at a fraudulent claim against a driver is a very grey area, and they wouldn't consider it something that would affect my cover or premium at all, as I was assured by LV in 2016.

rudekid48

JinderSongs said:

rudekid48 said:

Why didn't you declare the incident?  You will have been asked the question.

I didn't declare the incident because it wasn't a claim, it was a fraudulent attempt to claim which was rejected. I asked LV in 2016 (after I was notified that it had been rejected) if it would go against me for future insurance quotes, and they told me that as it was rejected, it wouldn't be recorded in the CUE and therefore wouldn't affect future insurance. 

The reason why Sterling were aware of the incident is that they were my insurers at the time, and their underwriters had a note on their system (not the CUE) about it.

You had an accident - you said so yourself in your opening post.  You were asked if you had any been involved in any accidents and you answered 'no' knowing that this wasn't true.