Car Insurance Renewal Denied

I suffered a cerebellar stroke on 21 August last year. I notified Churchill, the insurer of both our cars, immediately. I was down as primary driver on both. (I have not driven since because of double vision.) Both cars are due for renewal in April and by total coincidence, Churchill found itself unable to renew the insurance on both of them - no reason given. Of course, I would never for a minute think that this had something to do with my notifying them of my change in circumstance relating to the stroke. It would be interesting to find out if any other stroke survivor has had this experience with their insurer.

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Aye, changing insurer might prove to be worthwhile, especially if they reduce the rate.

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@AndrewLBrown

Did you notify the DVLA after your stroke? If not you should have done that as soon as you were capable to do so. Your insurer has probably checked with the DVLA.

A lot of people after suffering a stroke fail to realise that they MUST inform the DVLA and their insurer.

I personally gave up my licence to my GP and removed myself from my insurance. The DVLA require written medical information from your Neuro Rehab or your GP. It is the DVLAs decision if you are fit to drive on information recieved not the insurer. Mine took 6 months to clear DVLA allowing me drive.

You need the all clear from the DVLA to drive and be insured.

I hope it all works out for you

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I had occasional epileptic seizures from my stroke and informed DVLA and surrendered my licence. I had given up driving before that. Hope all goes well for you.

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@jenny-wren you are absolutely correct. It is the threat of epileptic seizures after a stroke that the DVLA need medical clearance on

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J am assuming they won’t renew as uncorrected double vision would mean you are unable to drive. When you take out vehicle insurance you shpuld declare any DVLA reportable conditions & whether that means you have a full licence, medical licence or no licence. If they haven’t put any restrictions in place then getting insurance should be straightforward. More difficult if you have restrictions or been told you can’t drive / had licence revoked.

After my stroke I notified my insurance & as the DVLA hadn’t put any restrictions in place my insurer wasn’t interested & renewal went through ok.

I would contact Churchill and ask for a reason then look elsewhere.

You may have to declare to another insurer that your existing company have declined to renew.

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I did notify them and they removed my license. I have the all clear from the optician to commence driving but am still waiting (5 months later for them to return my licence)

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I suspect that is why Churchill won’t renew your insurance as untitl DVLA return your licence then you are probably classed as unlicensed. Is it worth calling DVLA to see how much longer you might have to wait? Can you transfer insurance to someone else’s name in the interim? I know that isn’t easy to do but worth a go if you find you struggle to get insurance.

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Are you able to drive under section 88?

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To my knowledge insurance companies share information and any reason to refuse car insurance would be visible to all companies approached. First step is to notify DVLA of change of circumstances to keep your licence. If you don’t have clearance from DVLA to hold a licence attempting to get any car insurance could open a whole lot of bother

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In other words, get your driving licence first. Then worry about the car insurance….which won’t be so much of a concern once you have your licence.

Insurance is the easy part. The DVLA are just slow. It took about a year to get my licence back, but that was as much to do with the lock down, and them having to correspond with the hospital and my gp. That’s what takes all the time with the DVLA. And you might only receive an update from them once or twice during that time…if you’re lucky.

Looking on the bright side, you are recovering more while you wait :grin:

Lorraine

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Thanks all for responses. I have obtainined insurance from a broker with my wife as promary driver so all well on that score. When I get my license back from DVLA I will add myself to the policy and I guess the premium will rocket

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Same for me in Massachusetts!

You dont have to notify DVLA if you have made recovery after one month - see Gov website - and have permission from GP/physio to drive. You do have to tell insurer.