Car Insurance Issues

[Photega]

I have for several years took my car insurance via my bank, Halifax and have been very unfortunate with regards to accidents in the last year, I had an accident where I hit a piece of stone wall which at night had fell into the road so didn't see this and it smashed my gearbox and a subsequent claim was made for this against my insurance policy. In january of this year I was involved in an accident where I was reversing out of a parking space and a car hit me from behind. It was dark, I was driving a large 4x4 the other car was a dark small car which I don't believe had it's lights on, he was driving forward so had a better view of what was happening. My car suffered no damage but his car made contact with my towbar. I gave information to my insurer saying I don't believe I was to blame for this accident I also at the time advised them that I had recently picked up a driving conviction. Despite my claim that I believe this was not my fault it turns out my insurer paid out on this claim.
In July this year my insurance came up for renewal I was told by Halifax that my premium had gone up but if I did not advise before renewal date my insurance would continue and subsequently I was issues with a new certificate.
In August I submitted a claim via Halifax following Malicious damage to my car by a neighbour who had shot at my car several times causing damage to the bodywork. When answering the questions regarding previous convictions etc. I informed them of the conviction I had disclosed when reporting the previous accident. This put a hold on my insurance whilst they investigated as they claim I had not informed them of this offence.
It turns out Halifax had changed my underwriters earlier in the year and whilst the new insurers would honour the claim they were going to cancel my insurance as with this conviction they couldn't insure me.
As far as I am concerned I had declared the conviction however this was to the previous underwriter, namely Covea however it seems they never recorded this fact down so the new underwriters had quoted without this conviction and as such they wouldn't have quoted.
As I see it I did everything right here, we go to a broker when we take out the insurance I informed them of the conviction and they were aware of the other claims as they were the ones who had dealt with them, I am not to know they have changed their broker and thus their policy decision making rules.
I feel I have been unfairly treated but who would you feel the issue lies with and how would I complain and challenge this issue which has now put me in an impossible position. I dealt with what I thought was the Halifax, I informed them of all facts as they became relevant, in one respect the original underwriters Covea have caused me 2 issues firstly by admitting on a claim which I felt was not fairly fought against the other driver nor was I given chance to challenge, they also failed to record the conviction. I feel the Halifax have not been fair in just continuing the insurance without informing me of a change in underwriting of the insurance and the relevant rules the new underwriters apply and finally with the New underwriters, the Co-op have been somewhat unfair in cancelling my policy at short notice this despite the issues not being of my doing.
I am now finding it difficult to find reasonable insurance based on this as I am now having to declare that I have been refused insurance by another insurer.
Who should I be complaining to and at what level do and against who should I be leveling my complaint at?

[des8]

What a mess.

1) you have no grounds to complain about COVEA settling your claim.
When you make a claim you give your insurer permission to deal with the matter as they see fit. It is called subrogation.

2) COVEA have no responsibility to record your conviction nor to advise subsequent insurers of it.

3) did you inform Halifax of the conviction directly, or was it only COVEA to whom you mentioned it?

4) On renewal were you not sent documents including a Certificate of Insurance,, a policy schedule, policy documents,copy of information given to Co op?

5) if you didn't have to complete a new proposal form, and if you had informed Halifax who used your existing info to renew your car insurance under a new binding contract, then IMO Halifax have to take responsibility.
However if you received new documentation from Coop which showed they were unaware of the conviction a certain proportion of responsibility would fall to yourself

[Photega]

What a mess.

1) you have no grounds to complain about COVEA settling your claim.
When you make a claim you give your insurer permission to deal with the matter as they see fit. It is called subrogation.

2) COVEA have no responsibility to record your conviction nor to advise subsequent insurers of it.

3) did you inform Halifax of the conviction directly, or was it only COVEA to whom you mentioned it?

4) On renewal were you not sent documents including a Certificate of Insurance,, a policy schedule, policy documents,copy of information given to Co op?

5) if you didn't have to complete a new proposal form, and if you had informed Halifax who used your existing info to renew your car insurance under a new binding contract, then IMO Halifax have to take responsibility.
However if you received new documentation from Coop which showed they were unaware of the conviction a certain proportion of responsibility would fall to yourself

Hi
On the first point that feels very wrong to me as it is me that suffers a financial penalty when I deny that I did anything wrong on this matter would suggest that in fact the driver of the other car was at fault, I am allowed to reverse and my reversing light worked fine as was checked at the time however there were no lights on the other car, it was dark and he was driving forward and would have had a clearer view of what was happening. If it is possible that the underwriter can make such a decision that leaves the room open to fraud as the other driver could be known to covea staff members or indeed could also be insured by them.
On the 2nd and 3rd points I actually reported the offence to the brokers claim line when they called me about the incident, and would expect them to then note this with my details and indeed after this call Covea called me to discuss the details of the conviction so would have expected someone to record this when it was discussed and thus it would be on my record when the insurance came up for renewal which was left with Halifax who unbeknown to me changed the underwriter.
This leads onto the 4th point this is all done online and merely got an email from Halifax informing they had renewed my insurance and that the premium had gone up which I feel I reasonably believed was because of this conviction. All I did was logon to the Halifax system and downloaded the certificate of insurance which I printed to put in my car. The certificate made no mention of any convictions or accidents and given I was dealing in the first place with regards to the accident and conviction I had no reason to doubt they had some 7 months on had not recorded this, nor would I think to check if the actual underwriters of the Policy had changed.
So on point 5 as a simple none legal trained person who lives a normal if somewhat challenging personal life currently would not think it was necessary to read all the documentation as far as I was concerned I was leaving my insurance with Halifax as I did not have the time to go shopping for a new policy so the reason for my post was to see what the feelings were from people like yourself and would agree with your suggestion that Halifax have to take responsibility for this issue, though as I said on the 1st point I do find it shocking that an underwriter can agree to just settle a claim which has implications for the insured driver without taking account of all the facts and would in the normal run of things be looking to defend the insured driver and of course their financial responsibilty taking account of all the facts.

I will contact Halifax to inform them that I wish to raise a complaint with them and will also contact Covea to protest my personal feelings regarding the accident and their decision to accept responsibility for an incident which I would say in fairness should be considered to be at the very worst equal responsibility by myself and the driver of the other vehicle this not withstanding my own claim that he would have had a much clearer view of the scene and should have seen me moving and he had plenty of room to avoid any form of collision had he been being observant and been using his car properly with the failing light having his headlights on and if necessary use his horn to warn me he was actually there none of which he did

[des8]

Your insurers are entitled to settle any claims they receive as they see fit without having to have your express permission to do so.
Your policy will state that somewhere.
The decision will be made on a commercial basis i.e, cheaper to settle than dispute.
I suspect the third party claimed you reversed out as he was passing. You don't say which part of his car you collided with, but if it was anywhere other than
the front of the front wing, I can fully understand why your insurers paid out.

The Halifax were acting underwriters (albeit the renewal company had changed) and as they had been advised of the conviction they should have brought their underwriting file up to date. This would point to a failure of their claims department and underwriting departments to liaise.

As you had notified Halifax, as brokers/intermediaries having a duty of care they appear to have breached this duty and so you have a possible claim against them.
Although renewal documents might not have been posted, in today's world if they are available on line they are considered as delivered.
As an insured it is your responsibility, despite the use of an intermediary, to check the documentation.

However still complain to Halifax, and if you have no satisfaction make a complaint to FOS.
They will (hopefully) adjudicate on the basis of fairness rather than strict legal liability and are free for you

[Photega]

Your insurers are entitled to settle any claims they receive as they see fit without having to have your express permission to do so.
Your policy will state that somewhere.
The decision will be made on a commercial basis i.e, cheaper to settle than dispute.
I suspect the third party claimed you reversed out as he was passing. You don't say which part of his car you collided with, but if it was anywhere other than
the front of the front wing, I can fully understand why your insurers paid out.

The Halifax were acting underwriters (albeit the renewal company had changed) and as they had been advised of the conviction they should have brought their underwriting file up to date. This would point to a failure of their claims department and underwriting departments to liaise.

As you had notified Halifax, as brokers/intermediaries having a duty of care they appear to have breached this duty and so you have a possible claim against them.
Although renewal documents might not have been posted, in today's world if they are available on line they are considered as delivered.
As an insured it is your responsibility, despite the use of an intermediary, to check the documentation.

However still complain to Halifax, and if you have no satisfaction make a complaint to FOS.
They will (hopefully) adjudicate on the basis of fairness rather than strict legal liability and are free for you

The contact between the vehicles was my towbar hit directly in the front of his bumper so he was coming directly forward toward me thus presenting the smallest view and with no headlights on in a dark car in a dark area made him impossible to see and I would suggest that as I did not hit him in either side nor in the rear and given his lack of lights would suggest he gave me very little chance of seeing him and indeed it has been suggested he saw this as an opportunity to setup a claim.
I thought Halifax were the brokers and the underwriters were Covea and then Co-op but whoever I would agree that they failed to communicate and bring the file upto date and thus leaves me in the predicament I find myself in.
As for checking the small print of every document we are given as I was not aware that Halifax used different underwriters and therefore not made aware there was any sort of change to previous policies I would suggest that it is reasonable that most people would not go through the documents word for word on each renewal, as you are likely aware I have a great many more issues going on in life that make demands of my time and I trusted that should there be a significant change in terms that my attention would be drawn to this.
I have already raised a complaint to the Halifax, the Co-Op and Covea as I feel sure like the Police complaints system I will have to prove I have undergone the companies own complaints procedures before going forward to FOS

[des8]

I can understand your frustration with the way your claim was settled, but there is nothing you can do about it now so cease spending time and energy on it.

I agree that IMO Halifax fouled up.
I was pointing out that it is always the insureds duty to check the details, simply because legally there is a strict liability to have valid insurance.
This means the law does not accept excuses if you are not insured, so it is in the insured's interest to check.

Good luck with your complaint, and if you are not satisfied take it to the FOS

[wales01man]

The contact between the vehicles was my towbar hit directly in the front of his bumper so he was coming directly forward toward me thus presenting the smallest view and with no headlights on in a dark car in a dark area made him impossible to see and I would suggest that as I did not hit him in either side nor in the rear and given his lack of lights would suggest he gave me very little chance of seeing him and indeed it has been suggested he saw this as an opportunity to setup a claim.
I thought Halifax were the brokers and the underwriters were Covea and then Co-op but whoever I would agree that they failed to communicate and bring the file upto date and thus leaves me in the predicament I find myself in.
As for checking the small print of every document we are given as I was not aware that Halifax used different underwriters and therefore not made aware there was any sort of change to previous policies I would suggest that it is reasonable that most people would not go through the documents word for word on each renewal, as you are likely aware I have a great many more issues going on in life that make demands of my time and I trusted that should there be a significant change in terms that my attention would be drawn to this.
I have already raised a complaint to the Halifax, the Co-Op and Covea as I feel sure like the Police complaints system I will have to prove I have undergone the companies own complaints procedures before going forward to FOS

You say they drove into you They say you reversed into them? reverse the scenario would you say they reversed into you?

[Photega]

You say they drove into you They say you reversed into them? reverse the scenario would you say they reversed into you?

No I wouldn't. But i see what you are saying some people are prone to lying but then I believe my insurers should believe and want to defend my position and if necessary take the matter such that a judge would have to decide who was more believable in their description of the events so I am shocked to see Covea did not do that.

[wales01man]

No I wouldn't. But i see what you are saying some people are prone to lying but then I believe my insurers should believe and want to defend my position and if necessary take the matter such that a judge would have to decide who was more believable in their description of the events so I am shocked to see Covea did not do that.

Fair comment others lie I was hit in the front when parked the other driver said I hit him was not even in car insureres believed me . If you went before a jude no guarantee you would win though

[des8]

You must realise insurance is a commercial business.
When you insure you are passing the risk to the insurers.
They are not necessarily interested in who is right and who is wrong.
They will look at what happened, what the costs are and make a decision whether to accept full liability, go 50/50 or dispute in full.
They will take into account the cost of disputing, which can be high and make a pragmatic decision.
Court is always a bit of a lottery, and for companies expensive as they are unlikely to cover their costs.even if they win.