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?

Have you tried an insurance broker rather than online quotes? It seems unfair as your policy was cancelled due to not driving the car, not missed payments or a driving conviction

Hello OP, I just wanted to say well done for persevering. I think you were being treated unkindly on this thread. At 18, I would not have had a clue about car insurance! Even now in my 50s, I still have to take a big gulp and get on with it when dealing with any sort of insurance. I do believe the fault lay with your father at the time, not you. Hope it all gets sorted out.

As long as you have this in writing that they don't see your policy as cancelled then you can seek insurance elsewhere like it wasn't cancelled. Though you may want to go through a broker anyway to see if you get a better price/policy.

I had an issue with a non-claim as a new driver. Basically another driver stated they were going to claim I drove into them, however they never made a claim. As I had told my insurance company about the potential claim when nothing happened for 2 months I complained to them and they then contacted the other driver who stated that there was no incident. I then had to put in a formal complaint to get my insurer to remove this from my record and put it in writing that there was no claim.

Insurance being declined or a policy revoked are big red flags for insurers. Massive premiums if you can get quotes at all.

Usually with young drivers it's blokes and undeclared modifications - lowered suspension and that sort of thing.

If it's just a failure to respond to correspondence where, with the facts clarified the policy would have continued then I think you'll be fine.

Some comments here are really unkind to a young woman who may not have understood the intricacies of insurance T&Cs as an 18 yo. Seriously, what were all of you doing at 18?

I hope you get somewhere with some of the good advice offered. you nay have breached some part of the T&Cs but insurers have a responsibility to treat you fairly and this sounds very unfair and disproportionate.

Why is not driving ‘enough’ lead to cancellation? I don’t understand why that’s even an issue (I’ll await the ‘because it’s in the T&Cs comments 🙄).

Sounds like you have potential for a good outcome. Just out of interest do you not have any documentation that shows the mileage stayed the same during the period where you were previously insured (e.g. MOT history or car sale records etc) just in case things go further (for proof that you were not driving with a tampered black box)?

Op, you sound like nobody has ever told you no in your life and that you’ve never faced a consequence

Just read all of your responses after posting. Fingers crossed this is a good outcome for you.

Ignore the awful comments here siding with shitty insurance T&Cs and ‘computer says no’ mentality over a young woman who has done nothing wrong

No she doesn't. What a hyperbolic statement. Her posts literally detail at least one person repeatedly saying no to her.

Unfortunately this is what happens when your thread gets to "Trending".

Can you ask your parents to insure the car and list you as a driver?

Use a broker. Call Adrian Flux.

Have a look on money saving expert, there’s a site on there for drivers with cancelled policy and who can help. Good luck

@GraceyBeaker can I ask what sort of price you were expecting to pay for insurance without this happening? My DD got a quote last year and it was 21k and didn't even include break down cover! Obviously, we didn't take it out but I know many young people paying about 8k a year for insurance unfortunately.

I am sat in my daughter’s car with the engine running charging the black box. She is away travelling for 3 months and the car is actually waiting for some repairs ( hence why I’m sat in it not driving it) We both received many warnings saying it must be charged ( I am a named driver but have my own car)
I rang and explained the situation but they are totally rigid in their policy. Even if the car doesn’t run at all you have 14 days to get it into a garage and repaired otherwise the policy is cancelled. It had already dropped down to Third Party cover because it has not been driven.
She is with Adrian Flux.They are very inflexible.

Insurance companies have a duty to treat consumers fairly.

They are reasons e.g. illness, Covid lockdowns, where people wouldn't have used their cars and so stating that insurance is going to be cancelled in those circumstances is clearly unfair.

Apart from a potential claim which was wiped off my record, a few years later I also put in a complaint about an insurer making it difficult for people to opt-out of auto-renew. In short when you took out the policy you could not opt-out of auto-renew, you had to wait until under a month before the policy was about to expire to do so. And then you could only do it by phoning a specific phone number. The relevant ombudsman took up the case on my behalf and this is why people can now easily opt out of auto-renewal at anytime during their policy.

That's fronting.

The only way to do it would be for the OP to be the policy holder and a driver she lives with who is older and has lived in the UK since birth with a good driving record as a named driver.

Anything over 5 years is pretty much not included. I can confirm for definite with my DH when he’s home but working in insurance for 8 years myself - him being an underwriter for 30 years in motor, I’d suggest don’t tell them as the time is now spent.

You’d be better dealing with a broker as opposed to a big company if you really must declare it.

I think you’ll find insurance isn’t much cheaper even if you don’t declare it when just passed. Are you over 25?

I’ll will check for certain my comments are correct and his feedback too as the question usually is ‘Have you ever…?’

He insures all sorts of wrongens (not saying you are) so if he can insure them, he’ll give you advice on insuring yours.

Id have recommended you to him but he’s just left motor after 30 years to work in commercial but he’ll know who’s best to call. Possibly Adrian Flux at the top of my head.

What a bizarre conclusion to draw from someone wanting to try and resolve a seemingly inequitable situation

You sound like someone who spouts nonsense

The comments from some people here are absolutely ridiculous. They are even more unreasonable than the insurance company who at least saw sense and reassured me in the end!

The way some people on this thread have spoken to me is vile. You would think I’d been involved in a hit and run and was trying to worm my way out of it based on some of these comments.

But it’s fine, I’m sure they are all perfect and I’m sure if they have children who are around the age that age I was when I made this mistake they are all perfect too!

I didn’t even DRIVE that fecking car once, much less come close to harming anybody or damaging anything with it. No need to be so nasty to me. I was really upset when I made this post. My dream career as a community therapist that I’ve worked towards for several years and am now qualified for relies on me being able to drive, I was genuinely very distressed when I thought I wouldn’t be able to.

I had the same thought! I had better reading comprehension when I was in primary school. That poster needs one of those age 8-11 workbooks where you are asked to read a text and then answer questions that test your understanding of what you’ve read.

Hi OP

Your job - in London (often inner london but not greater as public transport link really good and parking is almost zero for this kind of work), comm therapists use public transport - so worth considering

Just a thought, have you considered an ebike? Then is a couple of years when you are a bit older and have more money, insurance may be cheaper, just a thought

Good luck

Go straight to Direct Line and get a new quote from them, not declaring this (because you have found out you don't have to) and put your partner as a second driver. Honestly it's good to do anyway so he can use your car in an emergency if he needs to. Its not a lie. Direct line aren't on comparison websites so it won't be tracked back to old quotes you got. I know how frustrating things like this are. And when you're 18 you know nothing of the world and how it's waiting to f you over 😅

Get that in writing!
You could also check the car’s MOT history online.
That should show mileage and proof you were not driving the car as much.
You Garage/Service receipts at the that time.