declaring car insurance cancellation

Joanthebone

I have not had my own insurance for some time now, I have been a named driver on my husbands policy,  but I am looking to get my own car again and filling in forms for insurance.

One of the questions is have you ever had insurance cancelled, and I am not sure what to declare.

About 12 years ago I received a letter from my car insurers telling me my policy had been cancelled.  There was no explanation why.   I had never made a claim.

When I phoned them  they said that they could not contact me (they had my new address and my phone number) so they were cancelling the policy.   I told them that I had informed them of my new address and that the cancellation letter was the only one I had received.  I had done nothing to cause this cancellation,   I believe it was a clerical error on their part.  so do I declare it?

Aretnap

Unfortunately yes. You might well think that it wasn't your fault, but it's still undeniably true that you've had policy cancelled so you do need to tick the box which says so.

Or you could try phoning some insurers so you can speak to a human being, which gives you the opportunity to explain what happened in more detail than the form allows and see if they consider it relevant. Or there are insurers (Direct Line and its other brands like Churchill and Privilige spring to mind) who only ask if you have had a policy cancelled in the last 5 years - you can truthfully reply no to that question.

If you think the cancellaton was due to an error on your insurer's part then the usual advice would be to make a formal complaint to them, however after 12 years you are almost certainly too late to do that I'm afraid.

Joanthebone

Thank you Aretnap.  I was thinking that phoning up would be the best idea, but there are so many insurance companies!  Your advice to try Direct Line etc.. is very helpful.