Cancelled insurance with Quoteline Direct

[Manxman in exile]

What do their terms and conditions say about cancelation by you?  Is the amount they have charged you in line with those T&Cs?

 

It could be argued that they've done you a favour by allowing you to cancel rather than them cancelling it - which would mean that you'd have to declare for evermore that you'd had a policy cancelled by your insurer and that would make finding future insurance much more difficult and much more costly.

 

That you couldn't cancel it within any 14 days cooling-off period isn't the fault of your insurer, unfortunately it's your responsibility because you passed (albeit I'm sure unintentionally) inaccurate information to the insurer during your application.

 

The (I'm afraid costly) lesson here is that when applying for or renewing insurance - especially motor insurance - you really have to be certain of correctly answering any questions you are asked.  You don't necessarily have to deliberately give false information for a policy to be cancelled, you just need to give a wrong answer - whether you know it's wrong or not.  This is particularly important about the details of additional drivers on your motor insurance.

 

You can try to get a bigger refund off them, and if that doesn't work, follow their complaints procedure.  If you get no satisfaction from a formal complaint you can escalate your complaint to the FOS.  (The FOS have stated that insurers must treat their customers "fairly".  Whether you've been treated "fairly" or "unfairly" I would not like to say).

 

There's a similar recent thread here: 

In that one the poster inadvertently (but possibly recklessly) failed to declare that a named driver was banned because he didn't know (and he hadn't asked.  At least you asked...)

 

EDIT:  Just re-reading my reply I may come across as being over-strict about how careful you have to be answering questions.  I'm trying to emphasise that if you give wrong information when buying insurance (even if you don't necessarily know that it's wrong) then you really are running a very big risk of having that insurance cancelled and that will be very expensive in future.  You must avoid at all costs.

Edited May 13, 2020 by Manxman in exile

[Manxman in exile]

BankFodder - I think(?) the insurer has allowed the OP to cancel the policy herself, so the question of a refund of premiums when the insurer cancels isn't relevant in this case?  I think it's just a straightforward case of the policy holder cancelling after the 14 days cooling off?

 

My main concern would be that the insurer will not have asked about any "unexpired" points but will have asked something like "have there been any driving convictions in the last five (or whatever) years?"

 

My understanding is (and I must admit I might be completely wrong here) that the question should be answered truthfully even if any points have lapsed.  I suspect the insurance company would argue this is not an administrative issue and that if the OP had answered "Yes" rather than "No", then they wouldn't have issued the policy.  I think that's borne out by the fact that they threatened to cancel rather than increase the premium after finding out, and that they didn't want to continue insuring even with just the OP on the policy.

 

The OP needs to be clearer about what question the insurer asked in respect of the father's convictions, and when his speeding fine was in relation to the question asked.

 

EDIT:  It does seem completely wrong to me that insurers should be able to ask about expired points/convictions.  But I take a belt and braces approach to buying motor insurance and try my utmost to ensure that I truthfully answer any questions asked - even if the offences in question are expired.  The consequences if a policy is cancelled or voided in the case of an accident are too serious to mess about with.  No point in insuring otherwise.

Edited May 13, 2020 by Manxman in exile

[Manxman in exile]

BF - FYI I was in the process of editing my previous post when you posted.  Don't think it changes anything.

 

Just to add, it may cost her in the short-term to cancel herself, but it will be cheaper in the long-term if the insurer were entitled to cancel and it avoided them doing that.

[Manxman in exile]

Yeah.  I believe the standard question is "within the last five years", which is a bit sneaky as many (if not all) points expire before then.  (I'm not sure but I think it's three years for some purposes, and four years for others).

 

I think it is unfair that they can ask about convictions which have expired, but unfortunately it's a question they do ask and has to be answered accurately - until someone brings a no doubt very expensive test case to establish whether this is lawful or not,  I wouldn't take the risk* of giving a wrong answer.

 

When you get a breakdown of their cancellation etc charges, I think your best bet is to query the amount they've charged and if you get nowhere with them with a formal complaint, consider going down the FOS route.

 

*We nearly had our car insurance cancelled when my wife changed insurers.  She was asked if we'd had any claims in the last five years and honestly, but wrongly, replied "No".  She'd forgotten I'd had a free/no-cost windshield chip repaired and because no accident was involved, neither of us thought it qualified as a claim anyway.  Fortunately they wrote to us querying this non-declaration and we corrected it before it was cancelled.

 

Similarly, when arranging travel insurance, I disclose more than I strictly need to because I don't want to end up having to make a claim and then arguing over whether I'd disclosed everything I should have done.  The response has always been:  "Thanks, but it's ok - you don't need to disclose that".  Better safe and sure than sorry - at least that's my view with insurance.

Edited May 14, 2020 by Manxman in exile