Car Insurance - Duty of Disclosure

The Rule

You have a duty to disclose all material facts when taking out a car insurance policy, at the renewal of your car insurance policy or when they change. Failure to disclose all material facts can result in your policy not protecting you in the event of a claim and is a criminal offence. Examples of facts that must be disclosed are shown below - this list may not be exhaustive, if you are in doubt if a fact is material it should be disclosed.

What must I disclose then?

Below are examples of events/ circumstances that must be disclosed.

Accidents

  • Fault accidents - a fault accident is one where the insurance company did not make a full recovery of costs.

  • Non-fault accidents - a non-fault accident is one where the insurance company did make a recovery of costs.

  • Non-reported accidents (as all incidents that could give rise to a claim should be reported to the insurance company this should not happen but we know that many 'bumps' especially where there was no other vehicle involved aren't reported)

  • Normally costs must be declared as well as any personal injury claims arising - you may have to ask your current insurance company for such details!

Other claims

  • Theft claims and attempted theft claims

  • Incidents caused by attempted theft even if no claim form was submitted to the insurance company

  • Windscreen claims - even though these do not usually affect the no claims bonus they must be declared.

Convictions

  • All convictions other than those 'spent' under the rehabilitation of offenders act 1974 must be disclosed.

  • In general this means ALL convictions less than five years old - even if 'off the licence'.

  • You must disclose offence date, conviction date and penalty (fine, disqualification, points, retest etc)

  • You also have a duty to disclose all non-motoring convictions.

  • It is up to insurance companies to decide how they will treat convictions. Do not ignore any - not even a single speeding conviction. We know of one company who imposes a 40% loading for just that!

Disabilities

  • Insurance companies are exempt from the disability discrimination act. In practice most will accept drivers with disabilities PROVIDING DVLA have been informed of any notifiable conditions and the licence is unrestricted.

Modifications

  • All modifications to the vehicle must be declared, whether simply cosmetic e.g. go-faster stripes, body kit, alloy wheels or performance enhancing - engine change Twin carbs

  • Some modifications will be acceptable without problem e.g. modification to enable a disabled driver to drive

  • Others will result in a higher theft excess - e.g. body kit - alloy wheels and/ or premium

  • Many companies won't take any modifications at all.

Drivers

  • You must declare who the main user is.

  • You must declare who is the owner and keeper of the car

  • You must declare how many cars are there in the household

  • You must declare how the drivers will use the car

  • In the current climate it is cheaper for a young driver to insure the car in their name rather than a parent's

Other Vehicle Details

  • The reason why anyone will drive the vehicle e.g. pleasure, commuting, business

  • Where the vehicle is kept at night. There is no point saying 'garage' when the garage is full of paint cans and a lawnmower.

  • How many miles the vehicle will do each year.

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