I recently received an ASKMID letter informing me that my van was uninsured.

It was news to me as I thought the conversation I had with the insurance company last year had resulted in it being renewed.

Looking for a certificate and ringing them to confirm means that I have not been insured from September to January.

I do not believe in being uninsured and had not intended to be uninsured so remedied straight away.

When I sent proof of no claims into the new insurance company they have picked up the fact that i was not insured from September to January and want to know the reason why.

I have ignored their previous requests as I did not see it as relevant.

They have now sent me a notice of cancellation if I don't give them the information.

Can they just cancel my policy for this? Under what grounds?

What would be the best way to respond to them?

What is the implication of having the gap,

are they likely to see me as more of a liability as someone who hasn't had insurance for a while.

Does it mean my no claims is not valid and starts from scratch?

The van that is insured with them is actually broken now so I can

1) cancel the policy and then take out a new one when I need one.

2) give them the information, keep the policy and transfer it when I get a new van

Any help gratefully received

Thanks

If you believed you had renewed, was the original insurer in error?. If so, ask for the recording of the conversation (by means of an SAR, asking for all information, so they don;t accidentally 'lose' that specific call).

If it is their error, the original insurer should provide insurance for that period (for its premium).

That then removes any difficulty with the new insurer.

Of course the new insurer can ask for details of previous insurance held. It is a relevant question to ask (in terms of determining your risk, and thus your premium), and if you " have ignored their previous requests as I did not see it as relevant. They have now sent me a notice of cancellation"

They can cancel your policy for that.

"best way to respond to them?: ; Well, you could always tell them the truth!.

If you believe the original insurer was at fault - you could explain you have asked for the recording, and will be asking that insurer to retrospectively provide cover to protect your current position.

"What is the implication of having the gap, are they likely to see me as more of a liability" ; yes, in terms of risk, and thus baseline premium.

Others may be better able to advise regarding NCD (unclebulgaria, or dacouc perhaps?)

It is quite simple if you want a simple way of resolving.

When you take out new insurance and want to use no claims discount proof from previous policy, then the Insurers expect to see no gap in cover or minimal gap in cover. If there is a gap of many months, the insurers then think you might have had another policy in the months between or there had been a problem.

All your Insurers want to know is why this gap happened. They are not judging you in any way. Your new Insurers just want a letter stating that between September and January, you have not had or applied for another policy and the no claims proof you are using is from the last live policy you had. You could say that you were not using the vehicle during this period and had not picked up the previous policy not having renewed properly. It was only January that you had found about there being a problem.

If you can resolve this quickly then it will be much less hassle for you. Give the Insurers a phone call to chat about this and follow up the call in writing.

The above two replies answer the question very well.

I would add that the gap in cover is a concern for the Insurer made into a much bgger concern by you ignoring their correspomndence.

One of the reasons it concerns them is that people sometimes have a gap in cover as they had taken a policy out with a different insurer to run concurrently with the past policy but then had a claim or multiple claims. They then take out a new policy and use the proof of maximum no claims bonus from the previous policy to try and preseve their no claims bonus.

So when you send the letter of explanation in confirm that there were "No claims, incidents or losses" in the period between the last policy expiring and ther new policy starting.

Thanks all for the advice. I will ring them today and send confirmation of the situation.