Has anybody been able to continue driving after having an insurance policy cancelled? I’m in bits

[GraceyBeaker]

I’m mid 20s. Passed my test yesterday, absolutely over the moon. I have a car ready for me, my partner’s old one. It’s a 2007 Yaris. The car did fail its MOT a month ago but it’s only a small part replacement that we will get round to doing now that I’ve passed. It’s essential I drive ASAP for various reasons. It’s too far to walk to most places and I can’t do buses, within 5 minutes of being on a bus I have to get off to be sick. I have severe motion sickness on buses. 

Problem is, I don’t think I can afford any insurance. When I was 18 I tried learning with my dad and used a monetary gift from my grandparents to buy a little car. We arranged learners insurance, a black box policy. When filling in the forms we said we’d be practicing 2x times a week. However, my dad never kept to his promise of practicing with me, constantly fobbing me off when I asked and so we went months without using the car. This made the insurance company think we had turned the black box off and were driving without it, which resulted in them cancelling the policy. I received notice at the time that they were cancelling the policy but being a naive 18 year old I never realised it would affect me going forward, so I just let it happen.

Now when applying for insurance I have to declare I’ve had a cancelled policy, and my quotes are all £8000+. I have no idea what to do, I feel like I’m being treated like a criminal.

Any advice?

[LadyTiredWinterBottom2]

Call them up and explain.

[ClemmyTine]

NFU are really good and you speak to real person. Ring them and explain exactly what happened. If no joy/ too expensive ring others.


Think positive. Good luck.

[Catza]

I would also suggest phoning around. Have you tried one of those under 25 insurers? They usually have much better deals. You may not realistically be able to get it under 3k but it's better than 8.

[GraceyBeaker]

The under 25/first time driver companies won’t touch me because of the cancelled policy unfortunately. Admiral is the only big name insurance company that has bothered to quote me but even they’d given me a ridiculous quote which suggests they don’t want me business. On GoCompare’s comparison tool I got given ONE quote of £19,000.

[Catza]

@GraceyBeaker

The under 25/first time driver companies won’t touch me because of the cancelled policy unfortunately. Admiral is the only big name insurance company that has bothered to quote me but even they’d given me a ridiculous quote which suggests they don’t want me business. On GoCompare’s comparison tool I got given ONE quote of £19,000.

Was insurance taken under your name or were you just a named driver on a policy held by your dad? If the latter, you don't need to declare.
Unfortunately, cancelled insurance stays on your record indefinitely which seems very unfair.

[GraceyBeaker]

@Catza

Was insurance taken under your name or were you just a named driver on a policy held by your dad? If the latter, you don't need to declare.
Unfortunately, cancelled insurance stays on your record indefinitely which seems very unfair.

It was under my name with my dad as the secondary driver

[BoudiccaOfSuburbia]

I wonder if it would help to go back to the original black box insurer and explain… including that you didn’t understand the implications, just thought it would be ok to cancel because you weren’t able to use the car. And offer a notarised (signed in presence of solicitors) statement from both you and your Dad, and see if they would either insure you or officially cancel the cancellation.

I’m guessing you would have appealed the cancellation had you had full info at the time?

[Catza]

@GraceyBeaker bummer....
I think you can check somewhere if you still have cancelled insurance record. I am not sure where exactly. Experian, maybe?

[Kijuity]

Since this is your dad's fault for not taking you out have you spoken to him about this? I'd be mortified if I'd caused this for my DC and would offer to pay towards the insurance.

[GraceyBeaker]

@Kijuity

Since this is your dad's fault for not taking you out have you spoken to him about this? I'd be mortified if I'd caused this for my DC and would offer to pay towards the insurance.

I have spoken about this to him and he clearly felt guilty and was shifty but there’s no point in asking him to contribute. He’s on the bones of his arse on a state pension.

He's not a bad man but definitely let me down with the driving. He had promised to support me in learning with my own car and he said we’d practice 2x a week. The black box insurance was set up based on this promise, and paid for by me. But every time I tried to ask I got a lecture about how tired he was and how spoilt I was being. Even when I told my dad I’d had a letter saying they were cancelling it because I wasn’t driving, he didn’t warn me about what it actually meant.

[SageRosemary]

Where are you currently insured, to the point where you were able to practice and pass your driving test?

Look for an authorised insurance broker to act on your behalf, they will have direct links to underwriters to whom they can talk and can explain your situation.

[LostFuse]

Worth Giving Adrian Flux a try:

Car Insurance for Cancelled, Refused or Voided Policies | Adrian Flux

[Munchyseeds2]

Have you actually talked to any insurance companies about this rather than just looking online?
Congratulations on passing the test!

[Kijuity]

@GraceyBeaker

I have spoken about this to him and he clearly felt guilty and was shifty but there’s no point in asking him to contribute. He’s on the bones of his arse on a state pension.

He's not a bad man but definitely let me down with the driving. He had promised to support me in learning with my own car and he said we’d practice 2x a week. The black box insurance was set up based on this promise, and paid for by me. But every time I tried to ask I got a lecture about how tired he was and how spoilt I was being. Even when I told my dad I’d had a letter saying they were cancelling it because I wasn’t driving, he didn’t warn me about what it actually meant.

Thats really sad and he sounds like a shit dad. Any other family members that can help? Otherwise you'll just have to take out an £8k loan.

[Zampa]

Try talking to a broker and explaining your circumstances. They might be able to assist. We use Howdens.

[PineappleTime]

Definitely need to call a broker. This happened to someone I knew after they screwed up putting the wrong date of an accident on the policy, then forgetting to change their address so when the letters arrived asking for clarification and warning of a cancelled policy they didn't get them until it was too late. They called around to get quotes and found one that was not too high from a broker. However after some time they were able to get the cancellation removed from their record, though it took some time and effort and letter writing.

[mitogoshi]

A broker may well be able to sort this out for you, it wasn't cancelled because you were a bad risk, it was cancelled because you weren't driving. You won't be the first in this situation

[Darkedonlinen]

This seems pretty ridiculous to be honest, surely plenty of people go a couple of months without driving and their policies aren’t cancelled! Is there anything in the policy wording saying you need to let them know if you’re not using the car? I would maybe speak with citizens advice as well.

[Darkedonlinen]

@GraceyBeaker there is also some info on the financial ombudsman page:

https://www.financial-ombudsman.org.uk/consumers/complaints-can-help/insurance/motor-insurance/black-box-insurance-telematics

[YouveGotAFastCar]

Was it a requirement of the policy that you drove regularly? Sometimes it is, with a black box.

Did you appeal when they told you they suspected you'd tampered with the black box? You'll have had to send the black box back - did you ask them to run diagnostics and see that it hadn't been switched off?

[Letsgocamping67]

Yes use a broker and you will probably be able to get a black box policy which is fine as long as you don’t speed etc.

[Cloudysky81]

I believe Direct Line ask if you’ve had an insurance policy cancelled in the last 5 years as oppose to ever like the majority of insurers, which should help.

[Darkedonlinen]

I think the broker might get insurance now but a cancelled policy stays for a lifetime so it would probably be more helpful to OP if she can fix this problem as well,

[GraceyBeaker]

@YouveGotAFastCar

Was it a requirement of the policy that you drove regularly? Sometimes it is, with a black box.

Did you appeal when they told you they suspected you'd tampered with the black box? You'll have had to send the black box back - did you ask them to run diagnostics and see that it hadn't been switched off?

In all fairness yes I think it was a requirement. I remember getting an initial warning letter that I wasn’t driving enough, and I went to my dad saying we really needed to start using the car but nothing changed. I could’ve been more proactive at the time but I was just a stupid kid.

[kirinm]

Realistically you needed to challenge the cancellation but I think you probably already know that.

You need to speak to an actual person so avoid the comparison websites and start calling insurers. How long ago was the policy cancelled?