car insurance

[Arianalilly]

will my car insurance increase now I have an ICD

[Hidden]

Suggest you look at your policy and /or talk to your insurer. It is certainly a requirement of the DVLA that you advise them of your ICD and if you don't that may invalidate your insurance, apart from laying yourself open to a hefty fine.

[Arianalilly in reply to Hidden]

Thank you. I had advised DVLA and have had to relinquish my licence for 6 months. Just hoping I get it back then & thought I’d make enquiries as to wether I’d be charged a higher rate.

[Lezzers]

Your insurance should not increase at all because of your ICD. Under the disability act it is illegal for an insurer to increase your premium, excess or impose terms due to your medical condition, if they try to do so then tell them they need to refer to the disability act. You do however need to notify the DVLA you've had the ICD fitted & depending on the reason why you've had the ICD fitted will depend on whether you need to stop driving for a period of time.

[Arianalilly in reply to Lezzers]

Thank you. I had advised DVLA and have had to relinquish my licence for 6 months. Just hoping I get it back then & thought I’d make enquiries as to wether I’d be charged a higher rate.

[Lezzers in reply to Arianalilly]

My husband has an ICD & due to a recent medical event he's now lost his licence as well. Can I ask if you had your licence revoked or if you surrendered it? Is your 6 months up yet & have you now reapplied for your licence?

[Arianalilly in reply to Lezzers]

Hi

I had a cardiac arrest on the operating table whilst having routine surgery in November. I have no history of heart problems & all tests came back normal. I’m early 50’s so the doctors are mystified why it happens so fitted the ICD as a precaution to keep me safe.

I can’t reapply for my licence until mid May. I notified DVLA and surrendered it.

[Thanksnhs in reply to Lezzers]

Hi when my icd fired I lost my license for 6 month's, when I informed the DVLA saying what had happened they sent me a letter to give to my consultant for him to fill in and let them know I was fit to drive after that time. I gave him the letter after about 5 months and it was another 2 months before the happy day that it arrived back. Char

[Lezzers in reply to Thanksnhs]

Thanks Char. Do you mind if I ask some questions? Did you phone the DVLA or write to them & did you say you want to surrender your licence? Did you have to fill in a medical form? I understand you can download them from the DVLA. I know from some groups I belong to that there have been some serious delays in getting your licence back in recent years & that if you surrender your licence rather than have it revoked, then under section 88 RTA , if your consultant says you're fit to drive then you can do so whilst you wait for your licence to be returned.

[Thanksnhs in reply to Lezzers]

Hi it's a few years ago, I am sure I told them online and they sent the letter to me, I had to send them my driving license as it's an automatic 6 month ban if its an appropriate shock, mine was. I didn't fill in a medical form I just told them I had a shock from my ICD. I waited over 7 months to get issued with a new license I didn't think I was allowed to drive without it but things might have changed char

[ParrotLover22 in reply to Thanksnhs]

That doesn't surprise me one little bit. They're always on the 'Welsh News'. The last time I heard it, they were still ALL Working from Home!

[dogsneedwalking in reply to Arianalilly]

Hello there - I don't want to burst your bubble but I was diagnosed with SVT/Atrial Arrhythmia some 2 years ago and still have ongoing symptoms even with taking Sotalol. I like yourself advised DVLA as my Doctor advised me to do so. I had my licence revoked for a year and then I reapplied last year to be told No. I hope you are successful, but I know from experience I wouldn't want to be driving when I get the symptoms. I have now since moved back to Aberdeen as I lived in a rural area and getting used to using the bus service and getting help from both my Sons. It's hard as you do lose that bit of independence like jumping in the car and 'doing your own thing.'

[Hidden in reply to Lezzers]

I was sufficiently interested in your comment to do a little research, given that some conditions may come with an increased risk for the insurer, and came across this published by the Citizens Advice Bureau

citizensadvice.org.uk/consu...

This is taken from within it....

"When can insurance providers discriminate against you if you're disabled?

Risk assessments

An insurance provider can discriminate against you if there's a greater insurance risk because of your disability. This means they can use your disability to decide whether to offer you insurance and on what terms it’s being offered.

But they must base their risk assessments on information from a reliable source and one which is relevant to the product they are providing - for example, statistics. You can challenge an insurance provider if you think a risk assessment isn't based on a reliable or relevant source of information.

Blanket policies

Insurance providers are not allowed to have blanket or general policies of refusing to provide insurance or only providing insurance on certain terms, to disabled people. This would be unlawful discrimination under the Equality Act.

Example

You have cancer and apply for car insurance. Cancer counts as a disability under the Equality Act. The insurance company accepts to provide you with car insurance but only if you pay a higher premium than they would charge other drivers.

The insurance company is allowed to do this under the Equality Act but only if they can show that there's a greater risk in insuring you because of your disability. They would have to base their decision on your actual health condition and objective information about cancer. Also they mustn't have a general policy to charge people with cancer more as this would be unlawful discrimination."

I believe this is a fair and reasonable approach safeguarding the rights of the individual but also ensuring that the insurer is not forced to carry genuine additional risk without fair reward.

All that said I have absolutely no idea whether an ICD would be classed as a justifiable extra risk attracting a higher premium , and indeed that may vary from insurance company to insurance company. However if it were me and found my insurance company had put up my premium the first thing I would be doing is to shop around to see if I could get a better deal, and if successful go back to the original insurer to see if they would price match.

[Arianalilly in reply to Hidden]

thank you… I will read, digest & look into this

[Lezzers in reply to Hidden]

I used to work in personal lines insurance & the only time I ever knew insurers to refuse car insurance for a cancer patient was when that person was on morphine, that's an obvious risk. As the CAB have said, the insurer would have to prove that the person who has a medical condition is a higher risk than someone else with the exact same medical condition but who has insurance through a different provider, that wouldn't be easy to prove & most likely wouldn't be cost effective. If the DVLA have agreed someone with an ICD can drive then an insurer cannot charge a higher premium, excess, etc. My husband has both cancer & an ICD fitted, all an insurer will ask is 'have the DVLA been notified & agreed you can drive.

[Lezzers]

Fingers crossed 🤞 that there's no delay in getting your licence back, I know the DVLA have a backlog so might be worth applying for it before the 6 months are up. By the be way, travel insurance is not covered by the disability act, do tell your travel insurers ASAP if you have a trip booked so that you can ensure you're fully covered

[Lezzers]

I completely agree with you. However, if one insurance provider will insure you but another refuses you cover because of your medical condition then the 2nd insurer is discriminating against you. Most people would just walk away & find another insurer but if you decided to fight your corner the insurer that refuses cover will then have to prove why you're more of a risk!! And it just doesn't happen as, as you've said, the insurer doesn't even try!

[Hidden in reply to Lezzers]

That is not entirely true, just like the earlier comment 'Under the disability act it is illegal for an insurer to increase your premium, excess or impose terms due to your medical condition, if they try to do so then tell them they need to refer to the disability act.' It is clear from the Citizens Advice guidance that insurers can legally discriminate against someone with a disability and refuse them cover or increase the premium provided they are prepared to substantiate their case with hard evidence that their actions are justified. Whether they would ever go that far in practice is another matter and would most likely go along with the DVLA judgement as has been pointed out.

[Lezzers in reply to Hidden]

Ok!!

[lisburb]

Morning Arialilly

Good to hear you are getting back to normality, whatever that may be. Ring your insurers and ask to speak with the loss adjusters. They can and will adjust the premium back to, or nearer to your original, if they see you as a lower risk when you explain your procedure and your personal circumstances. I have had to do that on several occasions over the years as they tend to use a one size fits all regime when sorting out insurance for people who have medical conditions. For instance, I had breastcancer 27 years ago and was refused travel insurance, through the normal channels, bit difficult when you have a holiday booked to the USA and are so looking forward to it as a treat for the end of your treatment. Told by the travel agent to ring the loss adjusters, after quite a long detailed talk with a lady who knew her stuff, I had insurance in place for only double the "normal"price. I still have to declare it now if I go abroad, as if I dont, I am not covered, but can usually get the price right down. Unfortunately as I have got older I have other medical problems which are added to the bottom of the list xx Good luck

[Pjjmhaa]

I had a ICD implant last July and you will have to inform DVLA and also your insurance but I had no increase it was no problem fixed right away but you must inform them as you are not allowed to drive for a short time the quickest way is to email them good luck with everything 👍🏻

[03Rob77]

I had my license revoked in 2020 for having pacemaker and only just got it back!

[Frequentshocker]

Hi, I was wondering exactly the same so its good to read these comments. Im sure insurance, like everything else, has shot up in price since I last looked. I know I had to shop around for travel insurance and best I could get was still triple my friends insurance for same trip.

I lost my driving licence for 6 months initially after my SCAs but each time I reapplied it took several months to get my new licence approved. My work depended on it so I was keen to get driving again but so glad now I wasnt allowed to. Id hate to have put everyone at risk with an ICD shock behind the wheel.

The one time they'd actually issued my new driving licence previously, I had a shock on the day it arrived in the post and that rendered it useless again.

Every time Id have another ICD shock in the meantime and the consultant advised me to wait until Id gone over a year clear of shocks before applying next time! Said its up to them to approve it and they can refuse consent for months or years if they don't think Im safe to drive again. Its been a slow battle with meds to get me stable but its certainly looking much better now.

8 years later Im finally able to apply having had 18 months totally clear of bad episodes and a few years since the last major shock. I'm really hoping my consultant will say things have settled down now so I'm safe to be on the road. My applications going in..... Fingers crossed! Good luck with yoir insurance.

[james505]

Hi there, I had an ICD implanted a week ago as a prophylactic and notified the DVLA when I got home; I did this online for the sake of ease and understand that I should not drive for a month.

I then called to advise my insurer and was advised that they do not record this information on my policy. He said that it would 'only' be an issue if I made a claim during the period that I should not be driving but otherwise, I'm OK.

This does actually make sense as I've never been asked any health questions when renewing my motor insurance and you'll notice that you're not asked on any of the comparison sites beyond the generic "have you ever had insurance refused or certain conditions imposed?"