Car insurance cancelled due to modifications which comparison site never asked about

Naf

cw8825 said:

Before purchasing. Were you not presented with a list of facts that the policy was based on?
which you tick to say are all correct and you agree to

How many different modifications were you adding to the previous quotes?

From what I can see your only argument with Hastings is if they would have insured m you if they knew about the modifications. 

If they would then the cancellation is harsh and can give you reason to complain. 

I

The facts say "the car has these modifications..." which is entirely true. It says nothing about any more than the given list.
I don't know how many discrepancies there are overall - they objected specifically to the bull bars. I wasn't sitting listing what each different list of options had in it to compare one to the other - I just added the ones I was asked about each time.

DullGreyGuy

Naf said:

DullGreyGuy said:

The MoneySavingExpert/MoneySupermarket site does allow the declaration of modifications but only from drop down menus so is limited... what mods does the vehicle have that you didnt include?

In the old days aggregators used to tell you to go through the quote again when you get to the seller's website. Doesn't look like MSE does that so it's certainly worth a complaint to them too. 

Under the CIDRA laws a consumer only has to answer the questions asked, it's not up to them to offer up additional information that the seller hasn't asked about. However, this may not be black and white because of the use of the aggregator and because they did ask about modifications and CIDRA isn't detailed enough to consider circumstances where the insurer only gives a number of set responses and what the consumer should do if none are appropriate (eg choose the best one available or something else)

Their specific objection is the nudge bar/a-frame/bull bars whatever you want to call it. They simply don't offer cover for those. Which I understand and I'm fine with - I just think I should have been asked, or at least told to follow it up somewhere.
The CIDRA reference is a useful one I can throw back at them though, thanks!

I certainly intend to go to MSE and Money Supermarket too - just they aren't the ones who will be labelling me, so trying to avoid the mark in the first place is my priority. Unless maybe they could put weight on Hastings?

Having just checked again... Bull Bars are listed on the MSE website under Accessories, the list unfortunately isn't in alphabetical order and its about in the middle of the list. 

Naturally this isn't going to help you at all

Okell

What stage are you at? 

The thread title suggests Hastings have already cancelled your policy?

Is that the case or have they given you a chance to cancel it yourself before they do?


Some years ago we changed insurer but forgot to tell the new insurer about a windscreen claim.  They wrote to us and asked for an explanation within 14(?) days or they would cancel the insurance.  We resolved it with them before they cancelled

DullGreyGuy

Okell said:

Some years ago we changed insurer but forgot to tell the new insurer about a windscreen claim.  They wrote to us and asked for an explanation within 14(?) days or they would cancel the insurance.  We resolved it with them before they cancelled

The problem in this case is that they've said they won't insure vehicles with bull bars and presumably the OP doesn't want to take them off. 

Mildly_Miffed

Naf said:

I've been back onto the website and checked, and there is simply no option to select the other modifications in the list

I've just gone to get an insurance quote from the MSE comparison engine. Perhaps you could enlighten us as to how you answered the questions asked by it...

There are three parts...

1. Has it been modified? - a simple yes/no. There's obviously the usual information box explaining that it's departures from the manufacturer's original specification.

2a. How has it been modified? There's a droplist of possible headings.

2b. Each of those droplist items has other items underneath it.

To me, it would seem that a bullbar would come under either "Body Modifications - Strengthening Brackets" or "Accessories - Bull Bars"

I assume you did not answer "no" to the first question, because that would clearly be the wrong answer.

Naf

DullGreyGuy said:

Naf said:

DullGreyGuy said:

The MoneySavingExpert/MoneySupermarket site does allow the declaration of modifications but only from drop down menus so is limited... what mods does the vehicle have that you didnt include?

In the old days aggregators used to tell you to go through the quote again when you get to the seller's website. Doesn't look like MSE does that so it's certainly worth a complaint to them too. 

Under the CIDRA laws a consumer only has to answer the questions asked, it's not up to them to offer up additional information that the seller hasn't asked about. However, this may not be black and white because of the use of the aggregator and because they did ask about modifications and CIDRA isn't detailed enough to consider circumstances where the insurer only gives a number of set responses and what the consumer should do if none are appropriate (eg choose the best one available or something else)

Their specific objection is the nudge bar/a-frame/bull bars whatever you want to call it. They simply don't offer cover for those. Which I understand and I'm fine with - I just think I should have been asked, or at least told to follow it up somewhere.
The CIDRA reference is a useful one I can throw back at them though, thanks!

I certainly intend to go to MSE and Money Supermarket too - just they aren't the ones who will be labelling me, so trying to avoid the mark in the first place is my priority. Unless maybe they could put weight on Hastings?

Having just checked again... Bull Bars are listed on the MSE website under Accessories, the list unfortunately isn't in alphabetical order and its about in the middle of the list. 

Naturally this isn't going to help you at all

Oh dear; I see how the tool (rather confusingly) works. Once you select from a category it disappears from the drop down menu unless you remove from the list you've selected. So once I'd selected my lights and probably just missed the bars on the first pass, "Accessories" hasn't even shown up as a category for me to select more from every subsequent time I've gone into the tool. Damn.

Naf

Okell said:

What stage are you at? 

The thread title suggests Hastings have already cancelled your policy?

Is that the case or have they given you a chance to cancel it yourself before they do?


Some years ago we changed insurer but forgot to tell the new insurer about a windscreen claim.  They wrote to us and asked for an explanation within 14(?) days or they would cancel the insurance.  We resolved it with them before they cancelled

Yeah, I waited. They didn't actually cancel it until the day it started; I didn't realise I could have got in first and done it myself. Fool.

Naf

DullGreyGuy said:

Okell said:

Some years ago we changed insurer but forgot to tell the new insurer about a windscreen claim.  They wrote to us and asked for an explanation within 14(?) days or they would cancel the insurance.  We resolved it with them before they cancelled

The problem in this case is that they've said they won't insure vehicles with bull bars and presumably the OP doesn't want to take them off. 

I would have to remove the whole front bumper and source a whole new one. I didn't add them, they were already on when I bought the car. Don't get me wrong I like them too, but it's not as simple as just pulling them off anyway.

Naf

Mildly_Miffed said:

Naf said:

I've been back onto the website and checked, and there is simply no option to select the other modifications in the list

I've just gone to get an insurance quote from the MSE comparison engine. Perhaps you could enlighten us as to how you answered the questions asked by it...

There are three parts...

1. Has it been modified? - a simple yes/no. There's obviously the usual information box explaining that it's departures from the manufacturer's original specification.

2a. How has it been modified? There's a droplist of possible headings.

2b. Each of those droplist items has other items underneath it.

To me, it would seem that a bullbar would come under either "Body Modifications - Strengthening Brackets" or "Accessories - Bull Bars"

I assume you did not answer "no" to the first question, because that would clearly be the wrong answer.

As with my reply to DullGreyGuy, I must have missed the bars in the Accessories category initially (I'd expect them to be in body mods tbh); but once you've selected from a category then it doesn't even show as a category for you to pick from again. So when I've gone back looking through, I couldn't even see those options at all.

Still pretty unhappy, but there's obviously blame in my court, and I'm without a leg to stand on.

Guess it's brokers and eye watering premiums for me for the rest of my life. Galling.

DullGreyGuy

Double check with them that they are counting it as a cancellation you have to declare... it's likely they will as they caught you rather than you calling them to tell them but no harm in asking. Some people think if they change cars and the insurer won't insurer the new one that its an event they have to declare but technically thats an insured decision to cancel rather than insurer as they could not proceed with the purchase so ultimately their choice.