www.iva.co.uk

My son has just bought his first car and included myself and my husband to the policy which brings the premium to an affordable level for him. The policy was done online via compare the market and all questions answered correctly. Today I checked the paperwork which was sent to me online via the Insurer and noticed that one of the questions included the awareness courses (not mentioned on the original form) so I rang to tell them that both me and my husband had attended a course each. To my horror this has increased the premium by £218!!! When I took the awareness course it was so that my insurance would be affected - my goodness, how things can change. I wish I had paid the £60 and had the 3 points now instead of having to endure 4 hrs preaching just for doing 34mph in a 30 zone which looked like a 40 zone. So p***ed off!

I take it you have to declare the awareness courses then?

I have looked into this and would be finding an insurer that doesn't penalise you for attending the course.

Is the insurer part of the Admiral group? They appear worst for upping premiums after you attendvthe course!!

Paul

Considering that the offer of the course is made in recognition that the speed was probably due to simple error, rather than the intention to speed, and that it was only a few mph over the limit, any insurance company using this to increase premiums don't deserve the business in any case!

Having attended the course recently i was clearly told that this would not impact on my insurance .... If they are starting to ask this question then i will be shopping around too .... Not fair !

Most regions now do not say it will not affect your insurance so they don't get sued. Admiral seem to be biggest offenders. Better off taking the 3 pts and £60 fine!

Paul

You cannot win either way: Your insurance premium will get loaded for at least the next 4-Years if you take the points: Next time you get quotes online at renewal time, go back through the form and just pretend to 'add' 3-points on an SP30 to your license. Adds £100-£200 to my online-comparison quotes!!!

I suppose this begs the question: Can the isurance companies find out if you have attended a DAC? (I've not attended one, so not sure on this point). If not, it's tempting not to tell them, but not worth the risk of invalidating your insurance.

There's always something to bump up those premiums, it's good you read the policies as I am as guilty as anything for not doing so. Not attended one myself either but if we're being penalised for taking this route then there is surely no benefit to choosing the route in the first place.

If it is part of Admiral I'm not surprised. A few years ago I had a quote from them but forgot to include a non fault claim. I phoned up to tell them and the premium shot up. When I questioned this and pointed out it wasn't actually my fault I was told that doesn't matter, I'd had an accident and therefore it caused the premium to increase!

Needless to say I went elsewhere!

That's interesting - I have just received a speeding ticket and was going to sign up the awareness course not to have points. I will look into the insurance costs in the long term first. Thanks for the heads up.

I'm still challenging my ticket [:)]

...the only other thing to bear in mind is that, it may well be that some insurance companies do not ask about DAC's, but all will ask about points.

Admiral are notorious for heavily loading premiums either way.

Check your small print as failure to disclose points or dac attendance may result in a null and void policy!

Any excuse.

Dick Turpin springs to mind.

Paul