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Driver's partner had a minor accident but insurer are now demanding a copy of his licence which has points he hasn't declared: if he does not supply it might they invalidate his policy?
I have a motor insurance policy with my partner as the named driver. I have a recent 3 points for mobile phone use and have not declared this to my insurers. My partner had a slight accident which she says was not her fault although the other party disputes this and there was no damage to our car. The insurance company now want a copy of my licence (not hers). I am not sure why as I wasn't driving. Should I just send her licence as she was the driver? I was going to just send them a copy of my licence which is clean and hope they don't check. After all, I wasn't involved. Will they invalidate my insurance if they find out and would my partner get done for 'no insurance' in those circumstances?
Had this been a non-fault accident with no damage to your vehicle as originally stated then there would have been no claim and your insurer would be irrelevant to it. Similarly had there been damage caused to your car then you could have made a claim directly against the other party's insurer for the damage and again your insurer would not have needed to be a party to this.
But the problem comes because the other party claims your wife is liable and your insurer is trying to crystallise their liability.
Even though you were not driving, they will (correctly) argue that failure to disclose penalty points was a failure to disclose a material fact. While this is unlikely to void your insurance they will certainly be seeking to recover any additional premiums you should have been paying since the points were applied to your licence. In this sense the position of your wife (assuming she has a licence with points correctly detailed with your insurer) is largely irrelevant. You are thus advised to send your licence to your insurer detailing the error or you risk your insurer being able to make this and any future claims void until the discrepancy is rectified.
Coming to the accident with the motorbike, if this was indeed the other party's fault then clearly he will be reliant on a claim against his own insurance. If however he asserts your wife was liable and you believe this not to be the case then it may be worth having a liability assessment undertaken.
I can ask our liability assessment team to call you, or you can call them on 0800 037 1066. This is a free service.
Should you decide to accept liability and the damage be minor then of course you can opt to self insure (meaning you pay directly for the other party's damage).
But whether the motorcyclist was liable or you decide to self insurer will not change the insurance position and your insurer is almost certainly able to charge you for the escalated premium the penalty points should have entailed had they known about them.
Please come back to us if you need further legal help with this, or if you have any other legal matter we can assist you with.
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