Car insurance claim accepted can the company then revoke?

[Kirst]

Hi All! This is a long post apologies at the start! So I hold the policy and took it out 5 years plus ago and 6 months into the policy I added my husband as a named driver. At the time I enquired to whether this would entitle him to drive other vechiles under 3rd party cover. Which they confirmed.
Roll on 4 years and my husband had an accident 10th Nov 19. I called the insurance company 30 mins after the accident and they stated that he was insured. I even asked the question so he is definately insured 3rd party they confirmed that this was correct. On 19th Nov i recieved a text message asking me to contact them as they had recieved details of my car being in an accident. I called again and informed them that this had been reported on 10th and the gentleman apologised that the out of hours team hadnt updated the system and he took the details again and I was again informed that my husband was covered 3rd party. We then recieved* an email on 21st Nov with the claim ref details advising the claim had been recieved that the company was accepting full liability and that the case would be open for a year for any 3rd party claims. My husband then recieved a letter from the police requesting proof of insurance. I again contacted the insurers who said it wasnt a problem and the claims team put me through to the customer services team. Heres where the issue started! They said my husband wasnt insured to drive another vechile 3rd party. I put a complaint in and said i have a claim ref ect, but what I want to know is once they have emailed me with the details claim ref and accepting liability can they then revoke the claim?*
What is the chances of me fighting this and winning as I was only acting on their advice that we was both insured to drive other vechiles. They also stated that I was told on the 19th that he wasnt insured (this is incorrect I have requested the call be sent to me) they also called my husband and discussed my policy with him without any data protection questions is this allowed?
TIA

[des8]

hi and welcome.
Going to start with a series of questions;
1) who is the insurer
2)do you have* copies of your certificates of motor insurance back to when you added your spouse as a named driver?
3)do you have**copies of your policy schedule from same date as 2)?

Who was responsible for the accident?

The problem he faces with the police is that driving without insurance is an absolute offence, which means there is no defence.
You could also (but unlikely under the circumstances) be having problems for**permitting someone to drive your vehicle without insurance,
*With a claim for mitigating circumstances it may be possible to reduce any penalty

[Kirst]

Hi thanks for replying. The answer to your questions are as follows.
â1) Hastings Direct 2) No as this was 4 1/2 years ago. They have stated that as this is that long ago they do not have to keep the recordings from then. Working in finance I believed anything financial had to be kept for 5 years?
Police attended the scene as per my husbands request and they checked he was insured and the car on the day and stated that all was fine.
My husband was driven off the road by a taxi who caused the accident and drove off. This was agreed by the police on the day as the house opposite had CCTV and my husband was in the belief that when they left they was going to try to find the taxi driver for causing an accident and leaving the scene of an accident.

[Kirst]

Do you believe they can revoke a claim even though they had processed it and I have recieved this in an email?*

[des8]

Hastings Direct is not your insurer, they are intermediaries.

If you look at your certificate of insurance it should name the actual insurers.
I assume the current certificate does include your husband as a named driver, but doesn't cover him driving third party cars.
It looks as if Hastings employee doesn't know one end of a policy from another... don't suppose you have anything in writing from Hastings saying your husband was covered
I'm thinking along the lines that Hastings (the experts) gave wrong advice and so have a liability for professional negligence. (an article from Chartered Insurance Institute on this matter:*https://www.cii.co.uk/fact-files/law...rance-brokers/)
This may help you recoup your monetary losses, but it will mean a court claim (or try the FOS)

Did you discover the name of the taxi driver?
If not your husband or the owner of the vehicle can make a claim against MIB

I assume Hastings said your husband was covered and started to process the claim, but when it landed on your insurer's desk they said "No cover".
The intermediary is considered mainly as the insured's agent, so yes the insurer can decline the claim.

[McBeanz]

Hi there,*

Short answers to your questions:

Yes, an insurer can agree to deal with a claim (indemnify you), but later revoke that cover if new infromation comes to light that means (as they think in your instance) you were acting outside of the insurance contract.*

There will be records of your policy. 4 years ago isn't that long and anyone can present a claim up to 6 years in the past.

It could be he was covered under third party at the time you added him, however this term was later removed from your cover at a subsequent renewal. If you called and discussed your renewal i would have though it should have been discussed then, if not noted within your documents as an important change. If you've autorenewed then the onus is on you check the documents and make sure the terms are understood.*

Ideally the insurer will admit their mistake and ask your underwriter if they would be willing to write a letter of Indemnity, meaning the whole situation goes away and the claims covered. But, this is at your underwriters discretion, Hastings is an intermediary as noted above, so can't force them to do so.*

Problem you've got is that if you were told it 4 years ago and have been through 3 renewals, the argument could be there to say you should have checked your documents thrououghly, or called before he used the car to double check the terms around it and not relied on information from 4 years ago.*

Make the complaint, see what comes, they'll either agree to cover it in which case the whole situation goes away becouse he's indemnified and thus drove with cover; or they won't indemnify. You might get a responce somewhere in between, as mentioned the intermediary can't force your actual insurer to do anything, just present them the case if they feel it should be covered.*

Either way you'll get a responce to your complaint,* which you can take to the Financial Ombudsman service. They have the power to make your underwriter deal with things if they think you've been mislead and set about rectifying the impact to you and your husband.

Far as I understand it you've got to go through Financial Ombudsman before court or anything.*

[Kirst]

Advantage are the insurers. Hastings have sent me an email stating that the claim has been accepted and full liability has has been accepted.
*There are two phone convertsations where they have confirmed that my husband is covered 3rd party to use another vehicle.*
Sorry for my niavity but what is the FOSA and the MIB?*
Would this have provided us with a claim number and email accepting liability two days after the second call into hastings call centre?
They have also discussed my policy with my husband without my permission.

Thanks for all your help so far

[des8]

Now it becomes interesting.
Advantage are a Gibraltar based insurance company, who together with Hastings Insurance Services are subsidiaries of
Hastings Group Holdings PLC
Advantage policies are only sold by Hastings Insurance Services trading as Hastings Direct

So as McBeanz*a formal complaint to*Toby van der Meer, their CEO asking for a letter of indemnity for your husband.
Point out that you do not expect to receive incorrect advice from companies who are so closely tied.
Stress the group duty of customer care, and the possibility of a claim for professional negligence* and a report to the FOS.

FOS =Financial Ombudsman Service
You don't have to make complaint to FOS first, but it is free for you.
You don't have to accept their decision (but the insurers do).
They take time to come to a decision, they don't follow the law, but come to a conclusion on what they think is fair.
I personally have found they don't understand insurance

MIB =Motor Insurance Bureau
They indemnify those who suffer loss caused by uninsured or untraced drivers who cause an accident.

Regarding possible breach of GDPR, you could mention it in your complaint letter, but I think you have bigger worries to deal with

*

[McBeanz]

If you've been misadvised directly prior to him using the other vehicle, then fair enough theres a real case there. If its after the fact when registering your claim, whilst it's incorrect advice, it doesn't override the written contract between you and your insurer sadly and doesn't mean they have to provide cover. Claims are usually registered quickly to get the ball rolling and then reviewed over a period of weeks or months by varying teams and departments as things develop.*


If your husband is a named driver, he'll have authority to discuss and do anything really as he's an authorised party you've added to your policy, so is trusted in a sense.

Fosa is Financial ombudmana service (I would assume). MIB are Motor Insurance Bureau, they help with uninsured drivers / foreign drivers ect.

You're welcome :-)*