WARNING direct line insurance under 25's

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oldskool

oldskool

Well-Known Member
Posts
3,116
Location
Essex near maldon
This may not affect anyone here but thought i would let you all know,
my son got stopped by plod last week got a producer and on it was "check insurance for modifications" the modification in question was a chrome tail pipe (the sort of thing you get from halfords) so i called direct line to ask if they classed this as a modification? its a 6inch long 2inch wide chrome pipe held on with a jubillee clip, yes it is a modification and that means your son is not insured :(we are now waiting for the police to contact us regarding no insurance, well we got a letter this morning from insurance co. saying they are cancelling my sons insurance because he has modified the car.
We have now got to send a letter to insurance co. stating the car has been put back to standard to keep him insured.
This 'mod' was fitted by the previous owner because the tail pipe was badly corroded and failed its mot because the the rear silencer was to short (causing fumes to build up under car) this apparently was the recomendation of the tester as quick/cheap fix as he was selling the car.
His insurance cost over £2000 pound and because of a piece of chrome pipe he could be losing his licence.
Modified means anything that the car didn't have when it left the factory that includes gear knob, led side lights and no. plate lights even changing the stereo can be classed as a mod by direct line.
 
oldskool said:
This may not affect anyone here but thought i would let you all know,
my son got stopped by plod last week got a producer and on it was "check insurance for modifications" the modification in question was a chrome tail pipe (the sort of thing you get from halfords) so i called direct line to ask if they classed this as a modification? its a 6inch long 2inch wide chrome pipe held on with a jubillee clip, yes it is a modification and that means your son is not insured :(we are now waiting for the police to contact us regarding no insurance, well we got a letter this morning from insurance co. saying they are cancelling my sons insurance because he has modified the car.
We have now got to send a letter to insurance co. stating the car has been put back to standard to keep him insured.
This 'mod' was fitted by the previous owner because the tail pipe was badly corroded and failed its mot because the the rear silencer was to short (causing fumes to build up under car) this apparently was the recomendation of the tester as quick/cheap fix as he was selling the car.
His insurance cost over £2000 pound and because of a piece of chrome pipe he could be losing his licence.
Modified means anything that the car didn't have when it left the factory that includes gear knob, led side lights and no. plate lights even changing the stereo can be classed as a mod by direct line.
Click to expand...

I was with them when I passed my test 5 years ago, and wanted to put some better wheels on my crappy Ford Fiesta. I rang them up to declare the modification and they said that my insurance wouldn't be valid if I modified my car, and that there wasn't any way to amend my policy to include the modifications. Just goes to show how crap they are regarding modifications.

Driving with invalid insurance can incur 6 penalty points. If he has been driving for 2 years or less, this could result in a disqualification given that he would be on "probationary period" which means he's can't receive 6 or more penalty points. The cops are clearly just being morons here though. They probably knew that Direct Line would be funny about it, and took advantage of the situation.
 
Last edited:
Best thing you could have done is ring up direct line and ask about it without letting them know it's already on the car.

It's easy enough to reproduce a certificate saying the insurance includes all modifications. The woman at the desk in the office would have just looked at it and ticked it off as you brought the cert in.

I know it doesn't help now but it's what i would have done.

Direct Line wouldn't insure me on my freeby. Glad now.
 
And if he's worried about losing his license, send him on holiday to the republic for two weeks. He gets himself a PPSN number and can then swap for an irish license. He can only do this before he gets his current license revoked though.

Then the police in the UK can't take it off him. He may still get a fine though.
 
sorry to hear that oldskool. Was it a copper who was having a bad day that pulled over your son? I've heard of his sort of thing happening for vehicles being used for business use without business insurance ( eg pizza delivery) but not come across it in general day to day driving, especially for something so trivial.
 
freebiker said:
Best thing you could have done is ring up direct line and ask about it without letting them know it's already on the car.

It's easy enough to reproduce a certificate saying the insurance includes all modifications. The woman at the desk in the office would have just looked at it and ticked it off as you brought the cert in.

I know it doesn't help now but it's what i would have done.

Direct Line wouldn't insure me on my freeby. Glad now.
Click to expand...
And if you get caught modifying your certificate like that its fraud then your realy in the smelly stuff.:doh:
 
oldskool said:
And if you get caught modifying your certificate like that its fraud then your realy in the smelly stuff.:doh:
Click to expand...

It would be very rare that they would ring the insurance to check against the cert.

Every time i had a producer the pig behind the desk just said right i'll let such and such know you brought in ur docs.

Never had a producer since cos i keep all documentation in my freeby with me.
 
ratty said:
sorry to hear that oldskool. Was it a copper who was having a bad day that pulled over your son? I've heard of his sort of thing happening for vehicles being used for business use without business insurance ( eg pizza delivery) but not come across it in general day to day driving, especially for something so trivial.
Click to expand...
Think copper was showing off infront of a special who was with him the special was the one who issued the ticket on the instruction of the other one, he also gave him a hard time over his no. plate, we bought him a personalised plate for his 18th its totaly legal but the copper wanted to know where it came from, when my son said don't know my dad bought it for me he then went off on one, its your car and you should know everything about it, so my son showed him the paper work that came with the plate and he still wasn't happy.
These are the type of coppers who give the whole force a bad name he's been stopped before by traffic cops (notorious around here for being arses) and never had a problem they just look over car check your paper work and send you on your way, but this cock was local plod who generally we never see out where we live sertanly not when my vans being brocken into or some ****s nicking my no. plates (thats happened twice)
 
freebiker said:
It would be very rare that they would ring the insurance to check against the cert.

Every time i had a producer the pig behind the desk just said right i'll let such and such know you brought in ur docs.

Never had a producer since cos i keep all documentation in my freeby with me.
Click to expand...
They tried ringing insurance co. at the time but they were closed (9:30 pm) and they copy all documents and send them to the issuing officer.
 
ratty said:
sorry to hear that oldskool. Was it a copper who was having a bad day that pulled over your son? I've heard of his sort of thing happening for vehicles being used for business use without business insurance ( eg pizza delivery) but not come across it in general day to day driving, especially for something so trivial.
Click to expand...
Hes got busness insurance cos he does a delivery job for local indian, hell we tried to be as legal as poss none off the other delivery drivers he knows has busness insurance and he wasnt going to bother but i insisted and it wasnt that expensive suprisingly :eek:.
 
They are taking the p1ss, but they might get away with it. Just make lots of noise and you may make some progress.

They are required to have a complaints procedure, so make a formal complaint and follow the procedure. Try and hook into one named individual to deal with your claim and talk to their supervisor if they don't play ball. If you get no joy, go to the Financial Services Ombudsman.

The FSA have an insurance Code of Business Sourcebook (ICOBS) which Uk insurers should follow. It doesn't talk about them cancelling a policy unreasonably, but it does require them to be reasonable about claims:

FSA Handbook - Full Handbook

If your son had claimed on this policy they would have to have paid out because the tailpipe isn't material to the risk they are insuring. The same principle should apply to the policy overall - it just isn't material and it isn't a modification in the usually accepted definition.

I guess they will dig their heels in because this seems to be their standard practice. However, if you keep at them they may agree not to make the cancellation retrospective - so you will dodge the ticket.
 
FSA -I had policy with direct line and won with FSA help.
Direct Line are total ****e.
I would suggest you go to court and state that it was insured and there was only a chrome trim-which you thought was factory fit standard-as so many cars have them today.
ON THE OTHER HAND
If it had a boy racer drain pipe on it-I don't think you could complain
 
Tell them they are being unreasonable and that you are considering contacting a solicitor.

What next...seat covers aren't factory fitted...they could find anything to get out of their obligation...don't give up...this is ridiculous.
 
just a point - but did yu say "This 'mod' was fitted by the previous owner"? coz if so - how were you to know? what if someone replaced summat on the engine?
 
Plus...how many vehicles have the original exhaust?? Are they all 'mods' cos they arent original and factory fitted?? this is an attempted **** take that unfortunately many folk fall for cos the 'big company' beats the ****e out of its customers....
 
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