Are you sure your car is insured? Read this.

[graduate_owner]

Hi everyone,
I'm in the process of changing car insurers and have come across the following interesting issue:

You will need to prove your no claims discount to the new insurer. Sounds simple enough BUT some insurance companies won't accept proof by email, some won't accept photocopies, some want proof within 7-10 days.

So if your previous company is slow in providing proof, or if the proof is not in the correct form then what happens - you get charged a higher premium, right?
WRONG
The new company can cancel your policy AND charge you a whopping (e.g. £50) cancellation fee. They will let you know of course, but that might be by email (do you check your email daily?), or perhaps by post while you are away on holiday for a few weeks. Either way, if you don't find out then you are driving uninsured and it is your responsibility to ensure that you are insured. Therefore if you get stopped by the police you get 6 penalty points plus a fine - no comebacks. Worse, if you have an accident then .....

A google search turned up this info for me - loads of people having been affected.

There is another issue you may like to know about. Some companies don't consider no claims discounts of more than 5 years. So if you have 20 years driving without a claim, when you transfer to a new company the proof of NCD is 5 years. If you've had a claim you might think you now have 20 years less 3 for the claim. Not so. It's 5 years less 3 for the claim. So suddenly 20 years of claim free diving has earned you 2 tears NCD.

So check before you change companies - 1. how many years NCD do they accept - many will accept 9 years. 2. What form of NCD proof do they want? 3. What will they do if the proof is not provided on time?
And if you don't like any of the amswers you get, try another company as there will probably be plenty of quotes within £10 of each other.

K

 

[RobinBHM]

Hi K,

very useful information, I sort of knew this was the case, but will be vigilant in future in case it happens to me. I currently renegotiate each year with the same insurer and haven't had to change

It just shows what a PITA this current trend insurers have, for only rewarding new business.

In the same way changing energy suppliers can be a pain, saving a small amount but risking losing credit or problems with bill overlaps

cheers Robin

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Another one to watch if you are older. You have fully comp. so you're covered third party for another vehicle, you always have been, right? Probably not - most companies now take that cover away. My friend as good as called me a liar on that one - he came back about a week later and thanked me. He'd been driving his father's car for months with no insurance. He' changed companies and not read the small print.

 

[theartfulbodger]

Very good warnings.

Even if your fully comp policy does give you third party only on other cars there's often an exclusion to cars owned by others in the same household.

Always worth reading the small print..and ask loads of questions when buying a new policy.

I'll not rant on about people with modified cars who don't declare the modifications to the insurers (hammer)

 

[Phil Pascoe]

...and the tens of thousands doing parcel pick ups, pizza deliveries etc...

 

[graduate_owner]

I cleaned the ashtrays out in my car, but I didn't tell the insurance company in case they considered it to be a modification and used it as an excuse to increase the premium.

K

 

[wizard]

The other thing people do not know that if they drive another car not belonging to them using their insurance is the other car must be insured by the owner.

 

[henton49er]

The other thing people do not know that if they drive another car not belonging to them using their insurance is the other car must be insured by the owner.

That is a very interesting one ... logical when you think about it, but I'll bet that it is an insurance breach that occurs many many times each year.