UK Car Insurance Valid ? - 4 1/2 year old points no longer on licience not disclosed to insurance company?

Question

Hi, I am fully comprehensive insured and recently had an accident when I hit another car, leafing through my paperwork I have noticed I did not disclose three points no longer on my licience which are 4 1/2 years old but insurance company asked me disclose points upto 5 years old. I genuinely thought they were over 5 years old as my licience which I replaced a few months ago came back with known on it. Does this invalidate my insurance policy or would they possibly adjust a claim to cover and increased premuim costs ?

Answer 1

I would say nothing & see what happens - the chances of them finding out are absolutely minimal, and you could always plead innocence then.

I certainly wouldn't admit it outright, they would doubtless try to back out of the claim.

I strongly suspect that points no longer on your licence are untraceable without a police search, and this info won't be available to your insurers.

Answer 2

It could invalidate your policy but you will not know untill you try to claim.

Answer 3

You are required to inform your insurer of any material fact that differs than is current on the policy. Now currently, although an insurer can invalidate the policy based on non-disclosure the majority would be unable due to FSA tightening of ICOB to avoid the claim unless it could be shown that it had a direct impact on the claim or if there was a particular clause in the insurance that allowed them to avoid the policy without infringing on ICOB.

If you come clean, it would increase your premium almost certainly, based on the increased level of risk. What is likely to happen is that if it was found out during the reporting of the claim, the claim would still be paid out normally but the policy would not be continued based on ICOB.

Essentially, when dealing with insurers it is best to be honest rather than the insurers finding out themselves and having a declined claim against your name.

Answer 4

Since they asked for 5 years worth of history, they have all that they need to deny cover in the event of a claim.  Ring them up immediately and come clean on this.  Just explain that you honestly believed it to have been more than 5 years prior but have recently discovered that it was only 4 1/2 years.  They may or may not adjust your premium but full disclosure up front ensures that you are covered no matter what.

UK insurance companies are notorious for denying cover if any material fact is not disclosed when the policy is written.  The law permits this, sadly, so there's little you can do unless you can prove that the undisclosed fact would have been irrelevant at the time that the policy was written.  Good luck proving that!

At least in the US, the worst that will happen is that the insurance company will re-rate the premiums if there is a claim and deduct that from any proceeds.  And in most US States, the insurance companies have up to a year to underwrite a policy.  If they fail to discover a material omission in that timeframe, they generally lose the right to use it to deny or re-rate a claim as long as the information was reasonably available to them.  Since driving records and insurance claim information is readily available to them in real time in most cases they have little leg to stand on in the US.

Answer 5

Technically they could claim that you made a false statement, but I wouldn't worry too much. Most insurers overlook the odd "minor" these days.