Am I in trouble? Car insurance wrong information provided

punk_beatz

Hi all,

Wife had an accident last July reversing into a bollard in a car park. She's a named driver on my policy. I called our insurer and a claim was made. 

In January I did quotes on a car insurance comparison site, stating myself as the policyholder and her as the named driver who had an accident. Tesco came up cheapest and I went through to their site where I confirmed a few details and got insured. 

Yesterday, after making a change to my Tesco insurance about where the car is kept, I noticed the documents had me being the driver when the accident happened, not her, and I'm not sure how this happened - whether it pulled through from the comparison site wrong or if I entered incorrectly (though i think former given it was pre-filled info). I called Tesco today to tell them and they asked me to get proof from my previous insurer she was the driver, which I did and have forwarded onto them as requested.

I re-iterated I'd only just noticed and never meant to deceive. To be honest, I'm not sure what the cost would be much different if I put myself down deliberately.  

They said it was good I noticed the error and came to them first, and that the claims team will contact me tomorrow. I'm an anxious person though and I'm now worried my policy might be voided or cancelled. 

Because I've told them first will I be OK?

I should have checked the details but never meant to mislead. If they want to charge me more that's fine and I accept it.

cw8825

i wouldnt worry too much. the fact you alerted them and they would already know about the accident because you had put it down initially.

there is very very little chance of a policy being voided, i would be surprised if they even charged you being honest

punk_beatz

Thanks @cw8825. I was worried about not telling them in case a claim came up and then it looked bad. I'm hoping it's not voided - my wife and I are the same age and she’s been a named driver on my policies for 12 years, so I don’t think it comes off as fronting and I've tried to fix as quick as I could. 

I've been really upset about it today though, which is a bit pathetic really.

DullGreyGuy

They can only void the policy if they believe if it's intentional or reckless. If they accept it was careless then they could only cancel the policy if they wouldn't have insured you had you mentioned it, which is highly unlikely. 

Its more likely to be seen as a non-issue as had you decided to drop the ND from your policy you'd still have to have declared the claim but now under your name as it was a claim against your policy so the current declaration isn't far from what it would become potentially anyway. 

punk_beatz

Thanks @DullGreyGuy. Really hope so. 

Part of me is now wondering whether I had actually put it down on compare the market as my claim and not hers because it was my policy and me who dealt with it, not thinking during a busy work day. I can’t remember but I hope that doesn’t make a difference. I should have paid more attention. 

punk_beatz

DullGreyGuy said:

They can only void the policy if they believe if it's intentional or reckless. If they accept it was careless then they could only cancel the policy if they wouldn't have insured you had you mentioned it, which is highly unlikely. 

Its more likely to be seen as a non-issue as had you decided to drop the ND from your policy you'd still have to have declared the claim but now under your name as it was a claim against your policy so the current declaration isn't far from what it would become potentially anyway. 

Also, surely it can’t be seen as intentional if I called to fix it as soon as I realised? Surely those that do it intentionally don’t disclose it until they’re caught out?

Martyn_H

I agree with DGG. You made an honest mistake and did the right thing owning up. I very much doubt anything will come of this.

Try not to worry, as most things we worry about in life never happen or are rarely as bad as we think they're going to be.