How to handle this insurance situation? 14 February at 8:35PM in Motoring 10 replies 429 views

B0bbyEwing

Not one I'm in, thankfully, but am being asked by the person that is.

Their insurance is with an online broker & they've taken a scrape to their car.

They call to claim off their own insurance and somewhere along the line it becomes clear that the job information is incorrect (clearly linked to auto-renewal, not having job info on renewals & not going online to check info held beyond the basic renewal info). They've given either 'the' date or an approx. date of the accident at this point. The person on the phone tells them they need to change their job info as it "could" cause issues.

So today they try to update the policy. 

Turns out that whoever they're actually insured with wont then insure them as their status is unemployed which also changes class away from commuting.

They say that a number needs to be called, the existing policy needs to be cancelled and a new one is taken out with someone else. There was no mention of the accident/potential claim during this exchange.


And here's the issue. The incident happened on the current policy, but it's not totally accurate. It didn't happen on any new policy so any new insurer wont be interested in helping out.

Having never been in such a situation, I'm not sure. The only thing I could think of was do as they say - cancel the policy, take out the new one, give it a bit of time like a week or whatever & then try claim on that policy and hope for the best. I'd imagine the response here would be old policy is wrong therefore the driver is going to have to cough up the full whack.

But I could be wrong & perhaps there's an alternative suggestion?

Dave_5150

It may worth calling the insurer rather than the broker to see what they have to say. However, there are many articles online that state failing to declare a change of job can invalidate the policy.

Taking out a new policy and trying to claim would be fraud. 

daveyjp

They need to speak to someone. 

 If an issue is found with accuracy of info at quote time, but the insurance company would still have provided a policy there is an option of the insurance company asking for the difference in premium cost and covering the claim.

Herzlos

Definitely call the number and ask. If they won't cover you with the current job details, then you can't wait and claim from a new insurer so will need to just cover it. If it's just a scrape it won't be too expensive to deal with anyway.

You also need to get it sorted ASAP as you'd now be technically driving uninsured - ANPR won't catch it but the insurer will refuse any cover until it's sorted.

B0bbyEwing

Here's a question - 

You have a great gash in the side of your door. 

Expect it to be cheaper to replace door or leave to bodyshop? 

There's also then the question of whether a new door lines up with a damaged sill as well as what a new door would mean for any central locking.

DullGreyGuy

No one here is (or at least should) going to recommend that you commit fraud by changing the date of loss so that it fits within the new policy's validity period. 

What you need to be much clearer on is what happened regarding their job and what the effective date of the cancellation (or voiding) of the old policy was. 

So were they unemployed and lied when they bought the policy? Were they employed at the time and then changed to unemployed and forgot to inform them? Did they declare they were "independently wealthy" or some other non-working class which is now being argued that unemployed is more appropriate? Why?

Timeline is also useful inc date of the accident and the effective date of a cancellation (a void would be back to inception)

Nobbie1967

B0bbyEwing said:

Here's a question - 

You have a great gash in the side of your door. 

Expect it to be cheaper to replace door or leave to bodyshop? 

There's also then the question of whether a new door lines up with a damaged sill as well as what a new door would mean for any central locking.

Post a picture if you want detailed advice and the age and model of car. I just replaced a door on a 10 year old Fabia. It cost £50 from breakers and took a couple of hours to fit, including swapping over the trim. Paint match is perfect. Central locking is fine as they are not coded to the car in any way. On a newer car, the door will be more expensive.

Herzlos

B0bbyEwing said:

Here's a question - 

You have a great gash in the side of your door. 

Expect it to be cheaper to replace door or leave to bodyshop? 

There's also then the question of whether a new door lines up with a damaged sill as well as what a new door would mean for any central locking.

If it's a gash in the door it'll probably be easier to replace the door. If you're lucky it'll be the same colour and has a similar amount of fading so won't even need repainted.  A body shop would be able to give you a quote for either.

B0bbyEwing

Bodyshop quote just in for the whole repair - just under £2k.

Am wondering if it'd be a better job to try source a same colour door & have them fit it while sorting out the sill. 

MK2 Focus. Car cost about £3k not that long ago IIRC.

Edit to add: just learned that price is with a replacement door. 

Herzlos

Is that a new door or a scrap yard door?

B0bbyEwing

Herzlos said:

Is that a new door or a scrap yard door?

Sourcing off ebay. 

Whether that makes the price high or not I'm not sure.

The guys work though I am sure - he was very good when he worked on mine.