Learner car insurance cancelled by insurer

Okell

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81868192#Comment_81868192

Perhaps I'm being unduly pedantic on behalf of the OP - but my understanding is that the law and insurance companies can be even more pedantic.

Given that insurance companies have a habit of asking you "Have you ever had an insurance policy cancelled?" I assume that the term "cancelled" has some special significance in the insurance industry.

If that is the case, why would the OP's son's insurer tell him that the policy had been cancelled by them when they presumably actually meant that the policy had simply expired from the point in time when the OP's son passed his driving test and no longer satisfied the condition of being a learner?

You may know that "That is not a cancellation in insurance speak", but how is the uninformed layman meant to know that when the insurer has specifically said the policy has been "cancelled" they meant something else entirely?

For clarification, if my insurer had told me they had cancelled my policy I would - naturally - assume that I had a cancelled policy that needed to be disclosed for ever more.

What a mess

TooManyPoints

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81868192#Comment_81868192

As above - how do you know that? Simply interpreting the plain English used, the insurer has cancelled the policy. If the person subject to that cancellation is asked if an insurer has ever cancelled a policy he holds, the answer must be "yes".

We're back to my question concerning whether insurers have different grades of cancellation.

MyRealNameToo

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81868571#Comment_81868571

It's an insurance thing, not a law thing.

The question is archaic and badly needs updating as both "cancelled" and "declined" have more accurate meanings than the plain English. The later in particular really doesnt apply in this day and age where brokers no longer have to give you a cover note and post off your insurance application to the underwriter.

What insurers are really asking for is if you have ever had a "fault" cancellation, where the insurer themselves have cancelled because of some breach of the terms by you, normally non-payment, false declarations, fraud etc. They arent interested in cases where you chose to cancel the policy because you sold your car, you changed your Nissan Micra for a RR Wraith which they arent willing to cover or you went from being a learner driver to a newly qualified driver and they won't cover such people.