Did anyone get their reply from MID? I’d be curious to know the official answer because I had my motorcycle insurance cancelled after a non disclosure after two minor incidents in a HGV, in very similar circumstances to this as it was inexperience (first 6 weeks of driving after passing test) rather than outright carelessness. I did discuss it on this forum but was met with mostly rolling eye emojis and people calling ■■■■■■■■. I’ve always loved trucks from a young age and my love of driving meant it felt natural to follow into a career as a HGV driver, but my car and bike insurance fees after the cancellation was so ridiculous, that I was forced to make a career change, unlike points/convictions, a cancellation has no expiry date, although there are a few companies who consider it to be spent after 5 years, so you have to pick carefully.
Camtruck:
Hi all. I’m a relatively new driver looking to change my career from the boring office and been working for Agencies. I turned a corner and pranged a parked car, truck undamaged. There was just no space to park and just unfortunate, you live and learn, I will be ensuring it doesn’t happen again.
My question is, if its my fault, will my personal insurance be affected? I am very anxious of outcome and how it will affect my applications to employers going forward. I shouldn’t let it bother me as no-one was hurt and its just a bit of damage to a chunk of metal, but I’m looking at the potential damage to my short/long term trucking career.
I had plans for this year and I’m hoping they are still on track, but don’t think employers will look at applications with an accident, or are we allowed a 2nd chance?
Anyone had a similar accident and how did it affect them?
Just to break down your two points here, hopefully this will reassure you, it will absolutely not affect your HGV driving career, companies generally look for no points/convictions, companies typically have their own incident/accident clause written into a contract of employment but this varies from company to company, typically if you have X amount of incidents within a certain time frame or if you do something serious like hit a bridge it would be considered gross misconduct and amount to instant dismissal.
Your second point about telling your car insurance, if I had told mine at the time it would’ve been roughly £50 added at renewal, some insurance companies want claim info for 3 years, some are for 5 years (again pick wisely) this would’ve been significantly cheaper than my insurance which doubled after the cancellation (across all my policies) Having been on the rough end I would advise emailing your insurance company, they may choose not to load your premium and you’ll at least have the email as proof of informing them.
A few of the questions I asked at the time, the answers aren’t exact but are roughly what happened :
Q. Why does an accident in a HGV affect my own personal car/bike policy?
A. Upon your renewal it states ‘Have you had an accident in ANY vehicle within the last 5 years, this includes a work/company vehicle, your policy is calculated on risk and likelihood of having an accident, if you’ve had a number of accidents within a set period of time we consider you to be an increased risk, regardless of what the vehicle was.
Q. Why has my own employer told me it shouldn’t make a difference, why have my colleagues never had this issue?
A. All claims are now on a shared database called CUE, you can request any information held about you, your policy information was checked upon renewal against this database, this is typically done to prevent insurance fraud, you policy was cancelled at inception due to non disclosure.
Q. That didn’t answer my question, why don’t more people know about this? Why do I feel like I’m being punished when I’ve got other drivers telling me it’s all ■■■■■■■■ and they’ve never had this issue?
A. Not every policy is checked at renewal against the database, perhaps 1 in 50 might be checked thoroughly, it’s upto the individual to read the small print and ensure all information given is correct, in the event of a serious incident occurring it’s highly likely the policy would have been cancelled from date of inception, effectively making you uninsured, we’ve actually done you a favour by highlighting this.
Q. I still don’t understand it, I don’t own the truck, I don’t decide where I’m delivering to, half the time I don’t even pick the route, I frequently deliver down narrow streets with badly parked cars, half the time the loading areas are unsuitable, I don’t know what’s going to happen until I actually try to deliver there? I frequently struggle getting in/out of side roads at these sites, sometimes with inches to spare, I have had less incidents than other drivers, infact my company regards me as a decent driver, they have absolutely no hesitation in getting rid of bad drivers, so why do I still feel like I’m being punished? They just say that having a few minor bumps are to be expected and are part of the job?
A. Simply put, as the driver you are in charge of the vehicle, if you can’t do your job safely that is an issue for your employer, but it is down to you to manage that risk, we calculate our insurance premiums based on that risk, we’d rather insure someone that’s had no accidents than one who thinks ‘it’s just one of those things’
Q. I’ve now refused to deliver to all the places that I consider carry a higher risk of me having an accident, my colleagues now hate me, my stress levels are now through the roof and my employer is telling me that I’m being unreasonable and that they deem what is an acceptable risk and what isn’t, it’s making my job absolutely unbearable?
A. We are pleased to hear your taking less risks, we feel you’ll be a much safer driver as a result and your premiums should reflect this in a few years time.
Q. I’m being given zero overtime as a result, effectively being pushed out the door, I either accept the job for what it is or I have to find something else.
A. We have a list of occupations that typically carry a lower premium, anything else I can help you with?
