I would hugely welcome any advice on the following as an urgent issue. While I appreciate it is a little bit of a read, I am truly helpless in the matter at current and would be very grateful for your insights.

I am insured through Marketstudy as a company, however Adrian Flux is the insurance broker. I have recently paid for insurance on a motorbike and additionally a car; these insurance costs have been paid in full annual amounts on separate policies. The car has been insured for three months of an annual policy, the motorbike policy starts in three weeks time but the amount has been paid in full.

Yesterday (02-Apr) I was contacted by an individual from Adrian Flux. I have at no point indicated to any insurance company (I have been with Adrian Flux for three years) that I perform recreationally within a local band, and I can honestly confirm to you all I do so on a strictly none-profit basis. Their representative explained to me they have identified I perform in a band whose records are sold digitally via iTunes; this, in their eyes, is classed as an undisclosed secondary occupation, and as result they must class both this and “ticket sales” as supplementary income. Furthermore, they have advised me there will be an additional £92.13 charge for the insurance of my motorbike,and they have now refused to insure my car on this principal alone. They have issued me with a “Road Traffic Act Cancellation Letter” which stipulates “This cancellation letter has been issued as we are not in receipt of;”, however it is simply blank from that point. It has been made clear, however, if I do not cancel my car policy within 7 days I will be uninsured, blacklisted as having been refused insurance and not financially remunerated in any form.

The effects of this for me are as follows; I must either pay an additional £92.13 to continue insurance on the motorbike, or pay a £30 cancellation fee (purely because I am within a 14 day grace period of taking the policy out). With regards to the car, I have no choice but to cancel the policy and will lose half of the value of the policy total (£265) and have to pay an additional £100 cancellation fee. This is apparently because half of any cancellation goes directly to the underwriter outside of the grace period. I have been quoted by two different company representatives I will be refunded £154.50/£237.33 as a result of mandatory policy closure on a £530 policy, whichhas been active for 3 months.

Firstly, I am outraged to say I have effectively been “checked up on” by my insurance company as I have no convictions, points or anything else to hide for that matter. My band is purely recreational and any money passing through the band is both pitiful in amount and directed to my guitarists Paypal account; however we have not even received any income at all as of yet, regardless of how negligible it would be. I can prove I have no secondary income as no money has entered my bank account outside of my salary figure as a heating engineer; my only income source. It is additionally worth noting I have only been part of this band for 11 weeks, a five track EP has been live 2 weeks and no monies generated.

I now have six days to act on the matter, and would greatly appreciate any advice that could be offered, as I am a naive individual when dealing with UK laws and entirely confused as to what action I can take. Is it worth contacting the financial ombudsman service? All I know, is I am both appalled as a loyal, honest and law-abiding customer, and suffering from what appears to be akin to a case of victimisation and exploitation.

Thank-you all kindly for your advice in advance,

Mike

This is all very harsh and unnecessary. Many people enjoy hobbies where they make a little money to cover some expenses. By the sounds of it, unless you become really successful, the amount of money you will make, may not even cover your expenses.

If I were you, I would suggest that you speak to the manager at the Adrian Flux branch you are dealing with and ask for their help. Perhaps you can put it in writing what the current score is with this hobby and they can ask the underwriters to review this urgently.

I can see that they may consider this a secondary job from a risk point of view, as the vehicles may be in use to take you to gigs, but perhaps they can rate the risk accordingly, if you give them details of how the vehicles will be used, if at all.

Speak to a manager at the brokers first and see what they say. If they do not appear helpful, then advise them you will be asking the FOS for their assistance. If you give the FOS, they will clarify the points about charges. I think as brokers they can make the charges, as these are presumably covered in the terms of business advised to you,

Thank you for responding so quickly. I will put your advice to good use and tomorrow ask to speak to one of Adrian Flux's manager's, hopefully resolving the case. I will update the post with any feedback coming from the conversation. Thanks again Mike

its not a business nothing to do with them.

dx

its not a business nothing to do with them.

 

dx

Any secondary work that you do, does have to be advised to motor insurers. If the vehicles will never be used for commuting to playing these gigs or have anything to do with any secondary employment, then this will be noted. If you were going to play gigs travelling using an insured vehicle, it can be attractive to thiefs, particularly if there is expensive equipment on board. There is also the risk of the vehicles being in town centres/cities late at night.

Advice is to always declare and Insurers will decide whether it is a risk they need to factor in or not.