Insurance and time held my licence

[Se7en172]

Well I have held my licence for 18 months. When I got my insurance with Direct line it asked how long have I been driving. The options were 1,2,3 3 or more years.
Obviously there is no 18 month option there. When I put in my quote I said i had been driving for 2 years as the 18 month option was not available.
How do I stand if I was to claim on this policy?
Should I phone them and tell them I have been driving for 18 months?

 

[MRBILLYUK]

Well you haven't held your licence for 2 years , so basically you've lied . If you give an insurance company any reason not to pay out in case of an accident they will most likely use the misinformation against you .

 

[Se7en172]

I havent held my licence for 1 year either I have held it for 18 months. See what i'm saying. There was no option for 18 months only 1 year or 2 years.
How do they obtain your licence details in the event of a claim anyhow?

 

[McBunny]

you have only held it for a year !

 

[duncansharp]

They are only interested on the number of full years you have held it for, therefore 1 in your case. Wouldn't risk it though, but it probably will put your premium up a bit

 

[MRBILLYUK]

Your best bet is ring them , tell them you've held your licence for 18 months then all your details are up to date . It probably won't make any difference though . Like duncan says , they are only really interested in full years .

 

[Se7en172]

It does my premium increases by £600.
I just checked.
What should I do?
And again how do they get your licence detail in the event of a claim?
If I was not to disclose this and did claim would my claim be void?
What If I have an accident in 6 months then I will have 2 years driving.
Where would I stand then, as I will have 2 years driving experience then?
Your help will be much appreciated!
Starting to worry a bit to be honest because if I phone them they are gonna think I lied purposly then

 

[martynh]

Possibly depend if the police where involved, you could get away with it i reckon but I think honesty is the best policy when it comes to insurance.

 

[Se7en172]

I have just reviewed my policy and my policy detail and certificate ect and it does not even say anything about the amount of time I have been driving It is not even printed in my policy

 

[Se7en172]

Oh what to do

 

[Cookie]

Inform them?

 

[Se7en172]

ok fella will do

 

[Se7en172]

Possibly depend if the police where involved, you could get away with it i reckon but I think honesty is the best policy when it comes to insurance.

hmmm I dunno?

 

[MCG]

Its got nothing to do with the police, just ring your insurer and get them to change it to 1 year, its no big deal, they wouldn't refuse a claim on something so minor, if it was more expensive based on 1 year and you made a claim, all they would do is charge you the extra on the premium of what it would of cost, they're only allowed to refuse to pay out if the adjustment is a total decline.

 

[Josh@Renparts]

the options given are in complete years.... when people ask my age i don't say 18 and a half....

 

[Deeg]

Common sense really, you only had 1 complete year, I'm sure it wouldn't have said anywhere to round up if you weren't sure.

I would tell them, better to tell insurance companies everything IMO.

 

[_BillG_]

Be honest, tell them now!!

If you have a claim, they will likely ask for a photocopy of your licence, fail to provide this and they will put you on conference call with the DVLA to give permission for them to release the details to the ins co. Fail to do this and the will simply avoid your claim.

If the insurers beleive you have deliberatly lied in order to obtain a cheaper premium, they are within their rights to null and void your policy from inception, and avoid all aspects of the claim. This may not be a major issue if you just clipped a bollard in a car park, but if you a being pursued by people for tens of thousands of pounds of personal injury claims - which you personally will be liable for, it's a bit more of an issue.

Some insurers may be nice, and just ask for the £600 you should have paid, but there is no guarantee of this.

 

[Se7en172]

the options given are in complete years.... when people ask my age i don't say 18 and a half....

Sarcasm Englands Favourite, yet most hated sense of humor

 

[Deeg]

Be honest, tell them now!!

If you have a claim, they will likely ask for a photocopy of your licence, fail to provide this and they will put you on conference call with the DVLA to give permission for them to release the details to the ins co. Fail to do this and the will simply avoid your claim.

If the insurers beleive you have deliberatly lied in order to obtain a cheaper premium, they are within their rights to null and void your policy from inception, and avoid all aspects of the claim. This may not be a major issue if you just clipped a bollard in a car park, but if you a being pursued by people for tens of thousands of pounds of personal injury claims - which you personally will be liable for, it's a bit more of an issue.

Some insurers may be nice, and just ask for the £600 you should have paid, but there is no guarantee of this.

Exactly, they may just ask you for £600 if you have only caused £500 damage to your own car, but if you read the other thread about the 2L conversion, then there is some information about insurance.

Yes they might be nice, but chances are, if you are involved in an accident where the claim runs to 20K, they won't be keen on getting £600 off you and then covering the other £19,400 themselves.

And as in the other post, someone I know had a claim running at £250K, which the insurers would be looking to avoid paying.

 

[Marky_]

Of course you don't round it up! If you want the half year to be taken into account you should phone them (but as stated above, it most likely wont make any difference).

 

[rctempire]

It does my premium increases by £600.
I just checked.
What should I do?
And again how do they get your licence detail in the event of a claim?
If I was not to disclose this and did claim would my claim be void?
What If I have an accident in 6 months then I will have 2 years driving.
Where would I stand then, as I will have 2 years driving experience then?
Your help will be much appreciated!
Starting to worry a bit to be honest because if I phone them they are gonna think I lied purposly then

They can get it from DVLA - Legally.
Not disclose this information, they will get it from DVLA, then they could NULL and VOID your insurance, which means the police get involved, could ban you for not having insurance and then have a criminal record and time in the POKIE.
You may not have had a claim in the 6th months, however they would see that as you having 2.5 years of no claims.

If they ask why you lied/said two, just say you said 18 months, but the person said you have two as it was rounded and you wanted to clear up with the company that you only have 18 months incase you make a claim.

Insurance is a easy money maker, they cancel claims like it rains. As soon as you say well i have a magic tree in my car, they can cancel the claim, thats how daft companies can be.

 

[ChrisR]

Use a bit of common sense, rounding up in this situation would not be the thing to do. It's usually deemed how many full years have you held your license.

There's even a little '!' by this question on Direct Line's online quote thingy that says:

Period licence held
If licence held for 0-11 months, input as "0 years", if held for 12-23 months, input as "1 year" etc."

So yes you need to say 1 year.

Please don't tell me you've rounded up your ncb as well