Bought new car... existing insurer won't cover me

__lsx__

In short.. I've just traded my y-reg peugeot 206 1.9 diesel worth ~£2000 in for an 07-plate vw polo 1.2 worth ~£7000. I got free insurance for 7 days from vw with the new car and on Tuesday set about changing the details with my insurer from the old car to the new one.

My existing insurer is Budget and unbelievably they have refused to cover the new car as the underwriter who had no problem covering me on the old car, won't cover me on the new one, for an undetermined/unspecified reason (Budget can't tell me), despite the fact that there has been no change to my circumstances since taking out the policy last July. All the person on the phone said was that I'd have to take out a new insurance policy for the new car (they quoted me £900) and my old policy will be invalidated if I no longer own the 206.

So I bit the bullet and bought a new policy with a different insurance company which was much cheaper than Budget's quote. But because my existing policy on the old car still has 2 months to run, I'm losing out on 1 years no-claims as a result. Budget said it was the insurance underwriter that won't cover me on the new car, despite the fact I've got no points, had only 1 accident in the last 5 years, I'm 31 and a 1.2 vw polo's not exactly the most thievable thing about town.

Can an insurer stitch you up like this with no comeback.. Do you really have to buy a new car at insurance renewal time just to make sure you don't lose out on a years no claims bonus if your existing insurance underwriter won't cover you on your new car?

Any advice appreciated

Quentin

It is you who want to change the deal (not them - they agreed to insure you based on the original proposal form).

It is the same with all insurances - they don't have to accept any changes to the risk if they don't want to.

lisyloo

I'm losing out on 1 years no-claims as a result.

You haven't yet qualified for a year.
You can't expect the ebenefits if you aren't willing to stick to your side of the deal.

Can an insurer stitch you up like this with no comeback..

Yes, is the answer.
They are a private company.
You had a deal with them for 12 months which YOU have decided not to stick to.

Do you really have to buy a new car at insurance renewal time just to make sure you don't lose out on a years no claims bonus if your existing insurance underwriter won't cover you on your new car?

I don't think it's that common that underwritters won't offer insurance at all.
It's certainly common that they aren't the cheapest on the new car.

Any advice appreciated

It won't help you this time, but my advice for the future is to research the insurance situation before making a purchasing decision.

Insurers offer their best deals by offering 12 month contracts which keeps their admin costs down.
If you voluntarilt want to change this schedule then expect to have to pay.

__lsx__

I get your point, but I did check up on the insurance situation for new policies on my new car. Through the comparison sites, budget offered me a quote, just not a competitive quote, so I presumed they'd let me amend my policy for the last 2 months for an admin charge plus the increase in premium.

There is no stipulation on the policy documents that I have to keep the car I get insured with at the start of the policy for the duration of the policy. Surely keeping my side of the deal is continuing to pay them and informing them of changes to my circumstances. Where does keeping the same car come into play??

If my insurance policy is a contract with budget, why can't they move me to a different underwriter?

Quentin

It works both ways - they don't have to keep you on cover, and you don't have to stay with them either.

lisyloo

There is no stipulation on the policy documents that I have to keep the car I'm insured with for the duration of the policy.

No, that true.
But there is no obligation on them to accept any new arrangements you come up with.
In fact they don't have to honour the existing arrangements, they can also give you notice.
This rarely happens in practice.
The only time I've heard of it happening is where premiums have been calculated in error and have been far too low.

Surely keeping my side of the deal is continuing to pay them and informing them of changes to my circumstances. Where does keeping the same car come into play??

You can change whatever you want, but you will only get your no claims BONUS if both sides are able to keep the deal for 12 months.
You have chanegd something which doesn't allow them to continue the exising polict, which is rather unlucky.

If my insurance policy is a contract with budget, why can't they move me to a different underwriter?

They probably could if they wanted to.
But they don't.
They are a private business and they can make their own rules (subject to UK law of course).

I sympathise with your situation as it sounds as though you have been quite unlucky.
You could try a complaint.
Sometimes I find it works to grovel a bit.....e.g.

"As an otherwise delighted customer I was suprised to find on this occassion that your service did not reach it's usual high standards ..........etc.

I know it's sounds corny but you have to give them something to lose i.e. a happy customer. If you go in all guns blazing as an "irretrievable" case then there is no point them bothering (I know that cos I've done it).

You could also try negotiating i.e. I'll take next years policy with you if you honour my almost completed no claims. You might find the sales people will try to help you as they want the sale. Whether they can do this I don't know, but it will only cost a phone call to find out.

mattymoo

_lsx_ - I agree it seems pretty unfair. You could understand it if you had gone from a Y reg Peugeot to a Ferrari or something exotic.

Budget are a broker and so shop around through the insurers for the best price they can get. The insurers will set eligibility criteria usually along the lines of restricted occupations, too many convictions or previous claims history. The type of vehicle usually has little bearing unless we are talking exotic or specialist vehicles.

The certificate and schedule will identify the insurers and the policy booklet will contain the complaints procedure for that insurer. I would be tempted to write formally and enquire why they balked at a 1.2 litre Polo, partly out of curiosity but also to double check Budget were giving you a straight answer.

raskazz

It probably seems obvious in hindsight but you really should have checked the position on covering the new car with Budget before commiting to buy it, then this predicament would have been avoided.

As pointed out elsewhere, Budget is the intermediary not the insurer. The fact that you obtained an online quote for the new vehicle with Budget is irrelevant as (if what Budget are telling you is correct) the quote obtained online would be being offered by a different insurer to the one who was actually insuring you.

No insurer is obliged to cover all potential circumstances, and indeed no insurer would aim to. Each type of policy will have certain criteria that have to be met for cover to be offered or for cover to continue. If a request is made for a change that only marginally falls outside of these criteria, then the matter may be referred to an underwriter who will use his discretion and may offer to continue the cover or may decline it.

The NCD point is unfortunate, however the root cause of the loss of an extra year of NCD will be the fact that you did not make sure that the change was acceptable prior to commiting to buy the new car.

The only thing you can do is ask for the matter to be checked, perhaps by someone more senior, and escalate a complaint if the matter cannot be resolved. But at the end of the day, if it is checked and the insurer's underwriting rules have been applied correctly, then you have no valid complaint.

On the facts presented, the only scenarios that I can think of that could lead to an insurer declining such a change is if the policy was set up on the basis of TPO or TPFT cover, but the new vehicle's value exceeded the limit allowed on the policy for TPFT/TPO cover and the policy was on a specialist 'non-comprehensive' scheme; or that there had been general rating changes since the policy was incepted, for example no longer offering cover in certain geographical areas.

brightonman123

the old ins co mayjust have had a few claims on the new type of car, so could be a general 'no' to everyone!

can you let the old insurance run out (for no claims purposes), rather than cancel?

may be worth asking u/w direct for their reasons..

Badger_Lady

A similar thing happened to me last year - I was 6 months in with Kwik Fit Insurance, scrapped my Fiesta and bought a sports car, and Kwik Fit said they couldn't cover my new car.

I got a good deal elsewhere, and insisited that Kwik Fit cancel my policy without penalty (which they did after an initial argument)... however, I would never have expected to get any No Claims entitlement from them. My new policy started with the same "number of years" bonus as my old one had.

You're doing the best you can, OP.

*MF*

I probably know enough NOT to suggest this - but (apologies) I am going to anyway - ask the old Insurer or Budget to confirm in writing that you have been insured for 10 months without a claim, and submit it to the new insurers, and see if they might just allow an NCD - sadly I suspect they are more than likely not to do so - but personally I would give it a try, and even if unsuccessful - I would want that proof for those 10 months available to me for the future.