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?

Insurance is massively skewed against young(ish) drivers. I first started learning to drive at 35 and when I searched the quotes (bearing in mind I rode 125cc on provisional license for over 10 years), it quoted me 4k+. Then Covid happened and I didn't get a chance to take a test until I was 39. First year premium was 800 with telematics. I have a cheap car.
Can't imagine what a quote might have been if I were 18 and if I had a new car which parents seem keen to buy for their kids nowadays.

Take out an £8k loan???? Ridiculous and shocking advice that im sure the OP will ignore

Lots more helpful sugguestions on here already about challenging the cancellation/ using a broker

I know that but that's a crazy amount!

How else would you pay for it if you didn't have the money to pay it outright and needed to drive? Magic money tree? This is assuming challenging the insurance company or going through a broker doesn't yield a cheaper premium.

It'd odd that you would be bound by a cancellation of a policy before you passed your test! There could be lots of reasons why you wouldn't be driving if you were a learner. Very strange policy (also to write to you and tell you to drive more!) and definitely worth challenging.

Edit: glad you got some clarity that it was "terminated" and not cancelled and now you can safely answer no to the question "have you had a policy cancelled".

It wouldn’t be fronting I don’t think as I’m still going to be the main driver. But is it illegal to put partner down as a secondary driver if, realistically, he isn’t actually ever going to drive it

I am on my mum's policy as a secondary driver, even though I realistically am never going to drive her car. It made it cheaper for her.

But then, in January, she had an operation and couldn't drive for a couple of weeks, so I got the train to her house and drove her car. So it might be helpful anyway!

Some awful posts on here. Some people seem to have forgotten that the poster was 18 when this all happened. Of course, you were all experts on consumer law when you were 18! MNers can be so nasty (and badly informed with it).

Terms have to be fair, termination rights have to be fairly employed and if someone thinks they've been unfairly treated they can go to the ombudsman. Insurance companies are also regulated by the FCA, so have to comply with the Consumer Duty.

Which says: "The Consumer Duty sets the standard of care that firms should give to customers in retail financial markets. Coming in to effect from 31 July 2023, the Consumer Duty has set higher and clearer standards of consumer protection across financial services and requires firms to ‘act to deliver good outcomes for retail customers’"

Hope that helps.

In order to drive as a learner you need insurance. If you own the vehicle you're learning on then you need that insurance to be in your name, otherwise there's a risk of accusations of 'fronting'.

Youngsters are likely to need a 'black box' so the insurer can monitor their driving otherwise premiums get even higher. If the black box isn't reporting your position etc becuase its battery is flat the insurer may conclude you've disconnected it. Disconnection is a breach of policy terms and you're going to have to answer questions.

I think, cutting to the chase, that's what happened to the OP.

Worth contacting old insurance company now and explaining?

I am just looking for new insurance, and have noticed that Hastings Direct only ask if you have had insurance cancelled in the last five years. So if it was before that you can answer no.

You're not being treated like a criminal, this is entirely a civil matter. You, as an adult, contracted with an insurer that they would underwrite unlimited liability based on the information you gave them. If you'd had an accident and left someone with severe disabilities requiring life long care they could have been liable to pay millions of pounds in compensation. You didn't keep your end of the bargain. I'm not sure why you think the insurance industry should look on you favourably? You're even misleading in this post, noone is stopping you driving. You just need to pay the appropriate premium for the risk you present.

That’s terrible!
I’d definitely take it further. Surely the onus should be on the company which provided the black box to demonstrate that you tampered with it. They should not be able to just assume this due to inactivity, it’s ridiculous.
You have a right to request for your personal data to be corrected if you think a company is holding inaccurate personal data on you.
Call the ICO and ask for some advice on making a data protection complaint to the original black box insurer.
Make are to include how detrimentally this is affecting you now.
I’d also investigate whether they used solely automated processing for deciding that you had broken the black box. They shouldn’t be doing that if it can seriously affect you in future- such as this has.

Not stopping her from driving? Of course they are!
It’s a legal requirement to drive but what average person can afford to pay £13000 or whatever ludicrous sum it was for just car insurance? How on Earth is that in proportion to the risk she presents, it’s obscene.
Is it any wonder we have a problem with so many uninsured drivers?
poor insurance companies, don’t make me laugh. We all know they wheedle their way out of so many claims they should be liable for (and can afford to pay!)
they can afford to pay it because of muppets like myself who’ve been paying for 15 years and never claimed, like most people!

it is not classed as a cancelled policy. I went through the same with my daughter and I spoke to Axa insurance and they said it isn’t a cancelled policy so you don’t need to declare it

You have literally missed every nuance in this thread lol

Under GDPR you can exercise your right to not be subject to automated decision making. This would mean calling or writing to insurers, explaining the situation and asking for the underwriters to review your insurance application. You’d probably have to write to a few companies but might get a good result from this, underwriting can overwrite system decisions including risk factors and therefore cost.

Just out of interest what risk do you think the OP represents? An 18 year old who started learning to drive, stopped, and then passed a few years later?

That must be a pattern replicated up and down the country, especially if a teenager fails first time and then goes to university and doesn't get round to passing until they've graduated and maybe need a licence for a job.

I’d also investigate whether they used solely automated processing for deciding that you had broken the black box. They shouldn’t be doing that if it can seriously affect you in future- such as this has

Yes this is a very good point and one I'd not considered.

Of course they do, but a lot of people on MN have a rather concerning belief that the terms are always watertight and enforceable. They are not, there are lots of rules about consumer terms and conditions, and even more relating to insurance contracts. And as I said above, there is also the Consumer Duty for financial services which include insurance.

Yes, these people seem to forget (or lack knowledge of) PPI Review as just one example where it didnt matter a jot what the terms said becuase in my cases they were
a. not conveyed with sufficient prominance
b.were onerous

@Greenfluffycardi learners insurance is pretty cheap my son paid £300 , same car when passed just cost him £2000 with a black boc , quotes without £6000. He now has an injury so can’t drive cor a few weeks , so after reading this thread we have contacted them to advise via live chat and i have screenshot the convo. Black box insurance some of them are very unfair and if you say brake sharply because someone pulls or walks out in from if you some policies penalise or out you ok red warning, it doesn’t seem to well regulated. I mean regular driving like that, then yes but an emergency stop for a reason ??? We even learn to do that. Also my other son had black box for a year , that driving data is not shared so you can get other quotes based on it , so its really a bit of a con in my eyes and insurance needs regulating. I bet we have a lot more uninsured drivers that ever before as the costs are so high now

You can still have a black box re-installed at your age- try tesco insurance and RING THEM to discuss your situation.Explain what happened, & that you couldnt drive without another person with you back then, etc etc.Yes they will need to get all the details as your situation is NOT you just turning box off.They shoud have known all that as they are connected& can use diagnostics as other poster said.

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The op would have had the opportunity to challenge it at the time, but by be thier own admission just let it all happen without saying anything, and the insurance was cancelled.

It's a tough lesson and the premium are disproportionately high, but all the insurance companies see is the cancelled policy.

Sorry to be negative but I can't see any ombudsman siding with the op. That ship has sailed.

They may be able to get the insurance premium down one way or another, but I think the cancellation will stand.

Op .. This may help . I spoke to Swinton after my policy was cancelled by major insurance company as got points on my licence -long story but ended up in caught .

Swinton said it didn’t need declaring as it wasn’t cancelled due fraud or been disqualified . I stated insured with them for quite a few years .

Other point in terms of bringing your insurance down . I assume your car is sorn . Getting a date in the future 6 weeks is optimum according to Martin Lewis brings the price down .