to think this is illegal?

[CruzControl]

I have a provisional driving license and DH has a full, clean driving license. I was a named driver on his insurance. I had a seizure and the doctor said to stop driving (I barely did anyway) and contact the DVLA (which I did). We contacted our insurance company to tell them and remove me as a named driver. They've spent the last three months trying to decide what to do (apparently this is a VERY complicated situation for their tiny brains to understand).
They've now come back to us and said they're cancelling our insurance. We have to declare to all future insurers that we've had our insurance cancelled. In addition, they are charging us £125 for a cancellation fee!
They're saying they can't leave me on the policy because I don't have a valid license (because of the seizure) and that they can't take me off the policy without cancelling the whole policy.
Our insurance premium with everyone else will skyrocket and we've lost our no claims bonus - which seems unbelievably unfair. AIBU to think this is illegal? If so, what can I do about it?

I don't know the legalities but you should be able to amend your policy for things like this for a small fee. Cancelling it seems ridiculous. Can you see if it will let you amend it online?

I think you need expert advice (Which? or MSE resolver maybe) this could impact on everything you insure.
It's ridiculous and heavily weighted in their favour especially as road insurance is a legal requirement.

Others posters will have experience but submit a written complaint asap to force their thinking and when you've exhausted their complaints procedure then escalate to the Insurance Ombudsman.

Good luck.

Well hopefully the new insurer will see this as being a bit ridiculous and decide to reinstate the no claims bonus. Call and speak to someone like Admiral Insurance or Zurich who have their heads screwed on and should give you a precise answer.

@OldEvilOwl

I don't know the legalities but you should be able to amend your policy for things like this for a small fee. Cancelling it seems ridiculous. Can you see if it will let you amend it online?

Their website says they charge a fee of £30. We tried to amend it online but it said you needed to phone up to remove a named driver. Unfortunately, they've decided to cancel and are charging us £75 cancellation fee and a £50 set-up fee (not sure why we're getting a set up fee in order to leave?!).

I would escalate this with the insurance company, they shouldn't need to cancel your insurance policy as a fault type cancellation there is a mis-communication somewhere. Especially as a provisional named driver they should have just been able to take you off of the policy for any reason, if it was reversed (you with a full license and DH provisional) it would be understandable.
I'm epileptic and when I had my license revoked for the year I just cancelled my policy on medical grounds and got a refund for the time remaining. Only thing I missed out on was the years NCB as I was only 10 months into my policy.

I would press this as disability discrimination tbh.

They absolutely can just remove you as named driver without affecting the rest of the cover.

Make a complaint with them. That's a ridiculous decision

@Zilla1

Others posters will have experience but submit a written complaint asap to force their thinking and when you've exhausted their complaints procedure then escalate to the Insurance Ombudsman.

Good luck.

Our complaint with them will be resolved "hopefully within the next 8 weeks".

Also re your seizures. You've stopped driving as per your GP instruction and spoken to the insurance Co in good time. You've done nothing wrong and everything right. Once you are on medication and have not had a seizure for a year then you should be legal to drive again. Check obviously with the new insurance company and also speak to the DVLA who will give you the advice you need.

Try the Financial Ombudsman if a complaint to the insurers gets nowhere

Did you being a named driver lower the price?

My sister was on my insurance as a named driver but when I changed cars she didn't want to drive my new one so I rang them and they removed her with no fuss.

This was with Sheila's Wheels.

legalservice.which.co.uk
It's £30 + 9per month.
Unless you have legal cover on any house policy I would join.

I don't think it's illegal but it doesn't sound right either. I would suggest making a complaint and outlining you are aware of your rights and are prepared to take this to the financial services ombudsman.

It's almost like they don't understand that you were informing them that you had stopped driving immediately.

Our complaint with them will be resolved "hopefully within the next 8 weeks". angry

Ring your bank and make sure no payments can go out to them in case they try and take the £75/50 in the meantime

There may be something in the small print that doesn't allow amendments in the last 90 days of the policy period, or something like that. Otherwise I think they are taking the mick.

Do you have in writing that they have cancelled the policy and removed your no claims?

How odd. I removed our old au pair off our policy last week as she's left and it involved a 5 minute phone conversation and they actually gave me money back! (this was admiral).

How much no claims did you have?

I used to work for an insurance company and can categorically state that you should be able to be removed as a named driver. It could possibly increase the premium as some insurers do what they call “insured and spouse” where it costs less for the main insurer and their partner to be on the policy than it does for the insured to have it just in his name, but there is literally no reason why they would have to cancel the policy.

I would ring them and speak to them to ask for clarification as to why the policy had to be cancelled.

If their computer system couldnt handle it they could have just cancelled it and replaced with a new policy surely?

Would you be prepared to tell us which insurer? You could google their chief exec who you could then email, most companies have an exec complaints team who will then look into it for you.

When you call them did you ask to speak to their manager or head of the call centre? Might be worth a try.

Also, if you go to another insurer and explain what happened they may match the NCB so you get the same discount, worth asking. But like someone said upthread go to a good one like Aviva, LV, Zurich etc.

Sounds like an admin error and something that could quite simply be resolved as you haven't done anything wrong and have contacted them in good faith to let them know. Keep us posted how you get on.

Get back to them and explain the situation.
If they do not change the policy, without penalising you more than a small fee, tell them that you will be raising awareness of what happened via SM.

Ombudsman

Hi I work in insurance.
It's really not difficult to remove a named driver from a policy. Some companies would charge you an admin fee to do so, or it may mean a change in the actual premium rating as someone above mentioned, but it should not mean they have to cancel the whole policy.
Make a formal complaint and if they still do not find in your favour, go to the ombudsman. And once settled move to a better insurer.
Sounds like you've either spoken to an inexperienced customer service advisor, or the company is a joke. (hoping it's not my company you're dealing with haha)

Are you sure there wasn't another reason for them to decide they had to cancel the policy?

Are you with One Call ?