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?

I would try again to get the original company to insure you. Once insured with them for a year you could transfer to a different company.

Totally different circumstance but we have used the insurance broker Howdens. For our issue they were fantastic. The staff so helpful and the outcome they got changed our life.

OP, most newspapers have a consumer champion who takes up problems like yours and tries to solve them on your behalf.

Just googling I found Sally Hamilton at the Mail, Katie Morley at the Telegraph here:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/katie-investigates/katie-morley-investigates-contact-form/
Katherine Denham at the Time here:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/profile/katherine-denham?page=19

Why not try it? It sounds like the sort of problem they might be able to help you with. Good luck.

I feel for you OP with some of these responses, you’d think half these posters own these big insurance companies and are being personally attacked by you wanting cheaper insurance.
I’ve kind of been in your position so here’s what happened:
I got insurance when I passed, with Hastings Smart Box. They gave me a 2 week window to fit my box, they then said they couldn’t fit it in in that time because they were fully booked, the 2 weeks came around and they cancelled my policy because my box was not fitted. It was so stressful at the time however I ended up being able to get a policy in place straight away with no black box! Did I state I had a cancelled policy? No. Do I ever? No. I’ve always paid really reasonable insurance costs. It’s not my fault the insurance was cancelled and there is no point appealing because as they’ve said, there is no database. Try a quote without the cancellation and putting someone (anyone, a parent, your partner) who has driving history on your policy as a secondary named driver and that’s your best chance.
They‘re not going to ask you to prove you don’t have a cancelled policy are they? I’ve had some insurers that haven’t ever even asked for proof of my no claims or a copy of my licence. (And I always use big ones like admiral)

Do you and your partner live together? Is he going to be driving your car at all?

I 100% get where you are coming from. However if you needed to make a claim or someone else claimed against your insurance they would check and find out, as they don't like paying out on claims. Lying invalidates your insurance.

"I do this for a living"

And what exactly do you do for a living? Work a 30K a year job at an insurance company and think you know law?

Law is law. Either know it and use it to your advantage, or stay poor. Whatever.

Doesn't matter about the ins and outs of the previous policy, there is no way of any insurance company proving that you didn't answer questions to the best of your knowledge. It's that simple.

Just a follow up too, insurers ALWAYS pay out to the third party, even if they doubt your policy. If they dispute information given at inception of the policy they then pursue the policy holder in court for any monies paid out to the third party. You'll probably be one of these people who think insurers "void" your policy though, without actually having any experience in dealing with such a circumstance.

If you have an insurance policy in place, and a third party claims against you the insurer will always satisfy that claim, providing it's genuine.

In fairness to your Dad, he probably didn't realise the repercussions as its not something that happens everyday.

They don't share data regarding cancelled policies. All of this information is available on the MID website, you can see exactly what is shared and you can also request the data MID hold about you, it extends to little more than insurance claims. Again, more BS on this website from clueless people. Stay poor.

Can you?

The only way they could possibly find out is by emailing every single insurance company to say have you ever cancelled insurance for this specific person. They're just not going to do that. There is no "database" for this information, and records are only legally kept for 7 years, which I've now been driving for 9. I'm not going to pay a premium because a previous insurer couldn't fit my box in their own timeframe. Plus a lot of comparison websites state "have you ever had any insurance refused, cancelled or voided" which is legally classed as an open ended question and not enforceable in terms of not paying out on a claim.

Questions must be answered to the best of your knowledge, it will even say that on your policy documentation.

How is anybody going to prove that you didn't do that? Simple answer, they can't.

Don't get me wrong though, it sure does stop people with a low IQ getting on the roads. If you don't have the sense to know that you tick "no" then ride the bus.

Ever wondered why people who ride the bus are skint, low paid jobs, unintelligent, no ambition etc? This is why. It's not coincidence.

Finally somebody talking some sense. The amount of scared morons on here is unreal. Really makes me question our society. I guarantee you they spend their evenings watching police documentaries on TV.

Can I also just point out that sticking stickers to your car can technically void your insurance under "is your car modified", but insurers don't, so stop thinking so much on this cancelled policy question.

Check with who? 😂

Insurers share details of claims, and the outcomes with the MID, in particular the value of the claim. They most certainly don't share instances of cancelled insurance. You are literally writing what you fear, and not what you actually know. I bet you're scared of going to prison for not having a TV licence too.

It doesn’t matter - you’ve admitted you received it so it’s irrelevant!

You don’t need to do that - just keep a copy and get regular insurance through a comparison site.

Their email is good news, but for the record I think it’s awful that cancellations are indefinite rather than only lasting a set amount of time.

Posted for the daughter.

You have 2 options:

1. Keep telling insurers you had a policy cancelled almost a decade ago, and make your own bed. (It'll involve catching the bus for the rest of your life; as soon as you tell an insurer you have had a policy cancelled they will blacklist you, so your list of quotes gets smaller and smaller until no insurer will quote you)

2. Answer "no" like everybody else who has ever had a policy cancelled, and get on with life. It's not unusual for people to miss a payment and have a policy cancelled, for example.

Either way, insurers have no way of knowing, you choose your own life. If you keep declaring it, no broker will find you a better price, I can tell you that as a certainty.

Just go on a comparison site, answer "no" and start your driving life. As far as you're concerned it never happened. Ignore the people on here who tell you otherwise, it's not "insurance fraud" your policy won't be "void" it's all BS from people who fear it might happen, but have never actually had any experience with it. Insurers don't share that data, you are the one telling them about a complete non-issue from almost 10 years ago.

Forget about it. Stop asking the old insurer for documents, information to give to new insurers etc. Run a quote on Go Compare, or Compare The Market etc and crack on with life. It's a total non issue and being honest, you asked this question on the wrong website. Go on any motoring forum and ask the same question and you'll get the answer I have just given from 99% of people.

Good luck.

Adding an extra driver brings the cost down as you have someone to share the load if you are out and feel tried or ill.

A car can only be driven by one person at a time so adding drivers doesn't increase thier risk. We added a second young/learner driver and were surprised as it didn't really change much. They view it as they are aready insuring for one young driver so adding another isn't changing anything as only one can drive at a time and there is only so many hours in a day so now that is probably divided between the two.
Your partner doesn't need to drive the car much if a all. It means that he's insured if he needs to move the car for any reason.

We’ve always done our sons insurance as him as the main driver then me & his dad as named drivers. I’ve never actually had to drive his car yet but I’m named on there just in case my husband needs my car. In reality my husband has usually taken my son’s car as it’s a little corsa & I usually need my bigger car for the kids but I’m insured just in case I do need to drive it. He’s always been the main driver, we’ve never put our names first but it’s always reduced the price of the insurance. There’s no issue adding someone else in case they might need to drive it especially if it’s someone close like a partner or parent. It’s only fronting if you put them as a main driver & you as named

What about a moped, motorcycle or bicycle ?

Instead of a car ?

Just wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS on passing your driving test!

Also on your tenacity in sorting this out.