Driving Convictions!! important plz read

[oldskoolmk1unoturbo]

I'll explain,

i took out an insurance policy with churchill a few months ago and when they asked me wether i had any convictions in the last 5 years i said no. however about 4 years ago i got banned for something that i'm not gonna go into here.

the convictions which are no longer on my license are spent convictions under the 1974 rehabilitation of offenders act.(they were spent before they came off my license)

however churchill have found out about these and have put my premium up by nearly double.

Under the act churchill do not have the right to know about them as they are spent convictions. below is an extract from a leaflet i got from the citizens advice.

"If the proposal form asks whether the applicant has any previous convictions, the answer can be 'no' if the convictions are spent. This is the case even if the conviction is relevant to the risk which the insurers will underwrite. (For example, spent motoring convictions are not required on a proposal form for motor insurance.)"

So when they ask you "do you have any convictions in the last 5 years" you do not have to tell them about spent convictions.

I am waiting for churchill to get back to me and i have contacted the Financial Ombudsman Service and i am going to lodge an offical complaint against churchill if they dont remove my convictions from my insurance policy.

the Financial Ombudsman service are sideing with myself on this one,

I HATE insurance companys to being with and i've had my pants pulled down for years because of my convictions even though i have never made a claim.

I will update here when i hear back from churchill etc.

Mark.

 

[FDF]

Get your money back. Good luck.

1997 Marea HLX 2.0 20V saloon

 

[custard]

well its really down to the T&C's
they ask if you have had any convictions in the last 5 yars so i assume that relates to any regardless of the status of them on your licence?

 

[MiG]

well its really down to the T&C's
they ask if you have had any convictions in the last 5 yars so i assume that relates to any regardless of the status of them on your licence?

No but if the official leafet about the conviction states that you DONT have to tell them, then they don't have to know.

Insurance companies are just out to make money, and theres a lot of thick people knocking about who work for these companies that think they can scrape pennies from everyone.

******** to them, you've done nothing wrong.

 

[[email protected]]

the 1974 offenders act was broght in too help ex cons merge back into socitiy with out scrutiny from employers



you are right too stand your ground and use the act too your gains if it can help wierdos and prison bitches into work y cant it help you save a few quid on a conviction you had 4+ yrs ago if you have no offences in the mean time it shows you have learnt from ur mistakes why pinalise you for an old crime

take it as far as you can mate for yrs they have screwed us over

TIME FOR THE LITTLE GUY TOO SCREW BACK

i am with you mate

how about an online petition too make a stand ???

 

[dave]

Disqualifications

The rehabilitation period for a disqualification is the length of the disqualification. If a person is disqualified at the same time as receiving another penalty, the longer rehabilitation period applies. (For example, if a motorist is banned from driving for seven years and fined - which takes five years to become spent - the rehabilitation period would be seven years, not five years.)

so looks to me like it takes 5 years or more for it to be spent, so it not spent

 

[FDF]

The insurance company's terms and conditions are superceded by the law of the land, ie. the 1974 act. Insurance company's cannot make the law up as they go along, if the convictions are spent and the act says you do not have to declare them when applying for insurance then thats how it should be. I've always wondered how insurance company's get away with it!

 

[ben]

Disqualifications

The rehabilitation period for a disqualification is the length of the disqualification. If a person is disqualified at the same time as receiving another penalty, the longer rehabilitation period applies. (For example, if a motorist is banned from driving for seven years and fined - which takes five years to become spent - the rehabilitation period would be seven years, not five years.)

so looks to me like it takes 5 years or more for it to be spent, so it not spent

Thats just an example, not all convictions take 5 years to be spent..?

 

[Liam]

But your buying a service from a company and should meet their demands before a policy is created.

They asked you a question and you failed to reveal information thus making the policy invalid or subject to change.

I can't see the issue?

Liam

 

[Randomman]

They asked you a question and you failed to reveal information thus making the policy invalid or subject to change.

Liam

Doesnt matter, the point is, the law says they have no right to know/demand this information whether they want it or nto.

Each expcetion has to be carefully written in (Paedophiles & schools spring to mind) Unless it specifially says that they are allowed info that doesnt need to be disclosed then it doesnt need to be dicslosed.

 

[oldskoolmk1unoturbo]

right then the outcome of it is that churchill have removed my convictions from my insurance policy and i was right that i didnt have to declare them in the first place. i'm now paying what i used to pay before they increased my premium.

however i'm still pissed off with them as i never got an apology out of them and i'm going to right a letter of complaint to them. what annoys me the most is if i never raised the issue with them i would still be paying extra and convictions would be on my insurance policy which legally shouldnt be there.

so the fact of the matter is that if you have convictions which are considered as spent under the 1974 rehabilitation of offenders act 1974 you do NOT have to declare them to your insurance company regardless of wether they say you do or not.

Mark.

 

[FDF]

 

[4RL]

interesting stuff... perhaps it should be a sticky?

 

[h2ypr]

I would be asking for the interest on the money back and also compensation for having to follow through to acertain the truth. They technically didnt know the law that affects their business and in my opinion that unacceptable. I would complain and look for serious compensation.

Ross

 

[sumplug]

Yes, write to them with an Invoice for say £100 for loss and induced stress. I think by company law, they have 30 days to respond.

Andy.

 

[johnlummis]

oldschool,have you asked them how they found out the information in the 1st place,I'm sure they will have known about the act and what the regulations say about revealing spent convictions and their right to ask,they have lawyers,who advise them as to the law,so it makes me wonder why they still ask the 5 year thing.Maybe its not against the law to ask,some people will tell them uneccessarily and unaware that they don't need to dislose the info and will be penalised for it.it may be worth a letter to the ombudsman anyway because other churchill customers may be paying excessive premiums that they shouldn't be and you could save hundreds,possibly thousands of people lots of money,it could possibly make news headlines and you could be proud to know it was you that got all the people a refund,just a thought.

 

[OxO]

so does this mean i am paying more than i should be?????
i got 2 convictions and a fine 3 years back and i was banned from driving for 2 weeks!

as i served the ban do i have to declare this? as if i dont i will be saving £300 a year which will be a great adition to my wallet

 

[oldskoolmk1unoturbo]

they found about my convictions when i gave them proof of my no claims bonus which was earned from another company. when no claims bonus is transferred so are all of your details, however my no claims was earnt when i did have to declare my convictions, churchill decided that because they were less than 5 years old they added them to my policy and doubled my premium.

i think there are thousands of people who are paying higher insurance premiums than they should be due to insurance companys lying to them. its not just churchill other companys are the same,

today i rang up premium choice insurance the tosser giving me the quote brought up my convictions from a quote from years ago and told me they still have to be declared because they were in the last 5 years, he wouldnt give me the quote insisting he was right. it makes my blood boil i swear i absolutly hate insurance companys they are legalised theives.


OxO - it all depends on how old you were and the punishment you received, take a look at the link below, it gives you all the information you should need

http://www.nacro.org.uk/data/resources/nacro-2007021302.pdf

 

[crazydave]

Insurance companies are just out to make money, and theres a lot of thick people knocking about who work for these companies that think they can scrape pennies from everyone.

How do you mean thick? to work for most insurance companies, basic training is 6 weeks and then further training is required for new products. a yearly test is in place to ensure each consultant is compliant with regulations. I work for an insurance company, and i have done for 5 years now (im 21) yeah may seem that they try to scrape pennies from everyone but they are regulated to ensure they follow procedures and treat people fairly, and if a customer/client is not happy then they have the right to complain and insurance companies will admit most of the times when they are wrong.

Crazy

 

[oilrag]

But how can the basic "any convictions in the last 5 years" be answered?

If it doesnt have to be declared, but if you say `no` its a lie in effect and the policy could be voided for that, even if you dont have to declare the actual offence..

The only way out would to be to say `I decline to answer that` and surely they are just going to decline insurance?

I just cant see how the question can be answered, other than honestly.