mis-sold vehicle insurance policy.

Nick12345

I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask but I'm in a situation with my insurance company that I don't know what to do. 

Basically they have admitted their mistake and want to know what I want. 

18months ago I took out what I thought was camper in conversion insurance. Somehow I was given a motorhome policy and it renewed again for this year. I only found out the mistake when I tried to add a new van to my camper in conversion insurance. I couldn't add any vehicle that wasn't a motorhome. Which lead me to believe I may not have been covered had anything have happened. 

The company have accepted they made a mistake after reviewing the sales call. 

I hastily cancelled the insurance to buy a car. I've lost out on the years no claims bonus I would have got as I'm half way though the year. Its cost me £13 to cancel on top of a £40 cancellation fee I think has been taken out my latest payment. 

I've asked for a couple to days to have a think and seek advice in case anyone has had a similar experience. 

My new car insurance isn't cheap and I'm within my 14days cooling off period so maybe it's worth pressing them for a cheaper policy. Or should I be asking for a refund for the policy I've just cancelled. 

I really don't know as I wasn't expecting then to admit any wrong doing. 

I'll finish the post here and I'm happy to answer any questions with more information. 

I have now done some reading and it seems the standard for mis-sold insurance is your premiums paid, including any interest plus 8%

They claim in the even of an accident I would have been insured but I somehow doubt it because the post accident claim process would have included a vehicle inspection when they would have clearly seen what the vehicle was. 

[Deleted User]

What are you hoping to achieve? They have said you would be covered, your opinion that you wouldn't is irrelevant and will hold no weight with the ombudsman. I think you'll be lucky to get anything like a full refund let alone interest and 8% on top, more like a token sum of £25-£100. The point of the refund plus interest is to put you back in a position where you were not wronged, but as you were covered anyway, you haven't lost out - you chose to cancel the insurance and they won't give you cheaper insurance just because of a mistake - shop around for cheaper stuff.

If you are unhappy, the process is always to complain and then if they agree, they give you something, if not, or you are unhappy with the offer, you can refer to the ombudsman, be realistic though, the ombudsman will take many months and won't suddenly agree to give you loads of free cash if they agree with the insurer that you were still covered.

Nick12345

It's easy for them to say I'd have been covered if anything had happened. It's not something that can be proven either way.

 But the fact is I was mis-sold a policy that wasn't suitable for the vehicle I was driving or the purpose of my vehicle. Despite me being very clear on the initial call what I was driving and what cover I needed. 

Nowhere on the policy did it stipulate in the terms that the vehicle had to be a motorhome by body type. 

I guess maybe I am bitter that such an error has been made but also I struggle to see how this is different to any other mis-sold policy. 

sparelogin

The fact is that you were covered, despite the error. 

It's different to any other mis sold policy as it wasn't mis sold. Simply an error, but one which has not disadvantaged you 

Nearlyold

Nick12345 said:

It's easy for them to say I'd have been covered if anything had happened. It's not something that can be proven either way.

 But the fact is I was mis-sold a policy that wasn't suitable for the vehicle I was driving or the purpose of my vehicle. Despite me being very clear on the initial call what I was driving and what cover I needed. 

Nowhere on the policy did it stipulate in the terms that the vehicle had to be a motorhome by body type. 

I guess maybe I am bitter that such an error has been made but also I struggle to see how this is different to any other mis-sold policy. 

The insurer does not need to "prove" you would have been covered despite their error, the Ombudsman will accept what the insurer are saying, not least because if there had been a insured loss that is what the Ombudsman would have required them to do anyway in these sort of circumstances, it's clearly not your fault as you were perfectly transparent as to the type of vehicle you owned when you originally took out the cover. Obviously claiming wouldn't have been plain sailing and it's not at all unreasonable for your to expect your cancellation costs to be refunded plus a small amount of compo as a good will gesture.

Nick12345

sparelogin said:

The fact is that you were covered, despite the error. 

It's different to any other mis sold policy as it wasn't mis sold. Simply an error, but one which has not disadvantaged you 

To say it hasn't disadvantaged me isn't correct. Due to the error I couldn't add a replacement vehicle to the policy. Leading me to have to get a different policy all together. I was halfway through this year so it has an effect on my no claims bonus (for what they're actually worth). I would have had 2 more payments and 2 months without having to pay my insurance due to it being paid. Now having stated a new policy I am.out of pocket..

Thrugelmir

The insurance for a bespoke conversion most likely costs more than for a standard motorhome. You got off lightly. Nor would the insurance cover a standard car either as a replacement vehicle. Very specific type of cover.  

How did the insurance company make the error in the first place? 

Nick12345

Camper in conversion insurance is pretty reasonable. Usually half the price of insurance for a standard panel Van. 

I've no idea how the insurance company got it wrong because I was very clear I wanted camper in conversion insurance. They even said after listening to the call I was very clear. 

Some how they put body type down as motorcaravan and it's got through. Despite it never being registered as a finished conversion. When they ran the plates it shouldn't have been accepted on this policy as last week when I tried to get quotes on a number of similar vans as mines too rusted to fix again they wouldn't quote them because they weren't registered as a motor caravan..

This is what got me questioning why my van was even insured on this policy in the first place. As it would have had to go through the same checks. So something has gone wrong on the insurers end. 

I have doubts when they say I would have been covered because insurers find every reason they can not to pay out. If I'd had a serious accident in my van causing hundreds of thousands of pounds plus of damage for loss of property or god forbid life. I don't believe they wouldn't have been arguing that my van wasn't a motor caravan on the v5 therefore I'm not insured. If I'd been pulled by a very keen traffic officer would I have been driving without adequate cover as they'd maybe have seen the discrepancy between the registered body type and the insured body type? 

If the reason I was put on this policy 18months ago is because the quotes where too high as I have told them of a number of claims on my work van that haven't come off my policy but I need to declare them then I would have got rid of the van then. Instead to me it looks like some details have been manually changed to get an affordable policy. I guess I can't prove that and I may be wrong but something has seriously gone wrong. 

[Deleted User]

Look dude, just leave the complaint with them and see what they say. If the insurance says it would have covered you anyway, that's the end of that argument, you will NEVER be able to argue that in your opinion they wouldn't have covered you and have that hold any weight. If the insurer tells the FOS they would (and regardless, as pointed out above, their mistake would not mean they wouldn't pay out, they are required to), then that is fine. 

A policeman would see your van was insured via number plate check and go on their way, they wouldn't query anything nor would they pull you over to check it was the exact insurance, moreover, the insurer would confirm they did insure you so a moot point.

Nick12345

Okay. So the situation is the insurer has asked me what they want me to do. They have accepted the mistake which I never expected. They are clearly expecting to have to do something but have offered nothing leaving me in the position of not knowing what to say to them. 

At the end of the day the policy was mis sold so maybe that's my start point and see what they come back with. 

[Deleted User]

Again, it was not miss-sold, they made a mistake and provided cover for you, you can try a gamble on asking for a refund of the policy but I suspect that won't go anywhere as you were covered if the vehicle had crashed or been stolen. Just provide evidence of any losses you incurred and see what they offer.