keeper/owner query

[dolaphonic]

Hi and greetings to one and all. this is my first ever post on the site so all help is valued.

Recently my car caught on fire. the insurance deemed it a total loss. they asked me for the paper work which i provided. once they received the paper work i received a call informing me that a cheque should be dispatched within 7-10 working days. this time passed as of yesterday so i called them this morning. the gentleman i spoke to said there was a problem with my log book and they are waiting to hear from head office with a decision. He said the problem was that the log book was in my sisters name. i've read elsewhere about 'fronting' but this isnt the case. i was the sole driver and insurer of the car so its not like i was trying to get a cheaper premium. should this be a problem?

thanks in advance.

 

ps . i apologise for the bad spelling and capitalisation

[Mossycat]

Insurers get a bit suspicious when the registered keeper is not the policyholder.

 

Having said that, in law, the registered keeper is NOT always the legal owner, BUT usually when a proposal is taken they ask 'are you the registered keeper and owner of the vehicle' , so if you answered yes to that question and they now find out that you are not the registered keeper it could cause you a problem.

 

From a legal point of view, for someone other than the registered keeper/owner to insure a vehicle they have to have 'insurable interest' in that which is being insured, in your case you would need to show that you needed insurance because if anything happened to it then you would be liable for replacement costs etc.

 

The obvious question is why was the car registered in your sisters name, please give me honest answers and then I can help you better.

 

Who really bought/owned the car? If your sister has no licence and nothing to do with the car then why was it registered in her name?

 

There are a few possible outcomes, the most serious is that the insurers declare the policy void because they were misled regarding registered keeper, that's not something they would do lightly and once you answer the questions above I'll be better placed to advise if that's a possibility.

 

If it's an innocent mistake they may decide to deal with the claim (or they may impose a slight charge and then deal with the claim).

 

I agree it's not a case of fronting from what you have said.

 

Mossy

[dolaphonic]

I have just spoken to my insurance company. During the conversation the gentleman i spoke to said they because of the unusual circumstances i.e finance in the mrs' name and log book in my sisters name that they will be appointing an independent body to ask me a few more questions in order to clarify the claim details. the company is called quest partnership. i've googled them but they have very little if any details about themselves on the site.

my question to you is have you ever had any dealings or do you have any knowledge of this particular company or any of its type. If so what can i expect? What do they do? why has the insurance company really appointed them?

 

any help appreciated

[stugib]

Answer Mossycat's questions and you'll get better advice and be better prepared for any questions.

[kwaks]

If you want help then you need to answer the questions Mossycat put to you!!

 

Mossy really is the best one to give you an insight in to how the insurance works, but at the end of the day we need to know why the car was registered as your sisters.

[dolaphonic]

ive answered mossycat's questions via PM. he advised me to post in the main forum to get the advice of other insurance experts.

[Mossycat]

I wouldn't normally post PM's up here, but it will help to make this thread more understandable and possibly help others with a similar problem

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by dolaphonic

THanks for the reply.

its a tad confusing or not dependent upon your view.

my girlfriend got the car for me on finance so obviously the first name on the log book was my girlfriends. shortly after i bought the car i moved to my sisters but had no intention of driving the car for a bit. a friend told me that i had to change the keepers details in case i needed to declare it SORN. once i started driving the car again i intended to change the log book back into my name but bad luck got to me before i remembered. i know my sister would be classed as keeper but i can prove i owned and maintained the vehicle by service and repair records from bmw.

what are the odds of them not paying out? as i said there was no fronting involved so i cant form a laymens view see the problem.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mossycat

It sounds like an honest mistake, you were given wrong advice RE the SORN declaration, but that's of little consequence.

It is clearly not a case of fronting or any other attempt to get a reduced premium, so I'd explain this to your insurers and I'd expect them to deal with your claim, if they don't then PM me and let me know what they say.

 

Originally Posted by dolaphonic

Hi once again,

I have just spoken to my insurance company. During the conversation the gentleman i spoke to said they because of the unusual circumstances i.e finance in the mrs' name and log book in my sisters name that they will be appointing an independent body to ask me a few more questions in order to clarify the claim details. the company is called quest partnership. i've googled them but they have very little if any details about themselves on the site.

my question to you is have you ever had any dealings or do you have any knowledge of this particular company or any of its type. If so what can i expect? What do they do? why has the insurance company really appointed them?

many thanks in advance for any help given

 

 

Originally Posted by Mossycat

I've never heard of them, I'd be tempted to post this update on the thread you started and see if any of the other insurance guys have.

It sounds like they want to investigate it a bit further (which is reasonable), so my advice at this stage is play along and be honest, if they end up rejecting your claim (which I think is unlikely) there are a number of things that you can do, but let's wait and see what they say first

 

 

Mossy

Edited May 19, 2010 by Mossycat