Driving and life insurance

[Dee121]

I was reading information on a website reagarding APS, it explained that there is only one company in the UK who is willing to offer life insurance to people diagnosed with APS. Does anyone know if this is correct? Also I read that you must notify DVLA that you have an APS diagnosis which may result in losing your driving licence and possible increase in car insurance. Or if you fail to notify and you have an accident that could be deemed as related to APS then your insurance will be invalid. Does anyone know if this is related to all people diagnosed with APS? Or if things have changed, I never been advised on this by any doctor and have never come across such information before.

[molly1969]

Yes you must Tello dvla ghetto babe sentiamo severamente letters. My consultant informed dvla after my strokes. What i dont understand is we are being treated with condition with warfarin etc. No different to anyone else with a problem ??

[london-lass]

Hi there

The Hughes foundation charity did a great article in one of their magazines recently.

They have found a company who WILL help with life insurance. APsnotfab is correct about the driving. Why not contact the Foundation and ask? Or Kate may respond to this.

Blessings Ann

[MaryF Administrator]

Please take a look through this section: hughes-syndrome.org/self-he...

MaryF

[tiredmum]

My doctors advised me to stop driving due to the dizziness related to APS, but I didn't have to inform the DVLA.

[Hidden]

Hi Dee

Yes, we have managed to find one company, NLP, who will cover people with APS for mortgage and/or life insurance. However, please note that each case has to be looked at separately and there is still no guarantee. This is because the underwriters block us straightaway because, as bookies, we are an unsure bet for them simply because we are unknown.

All the questions you're asking about the DVLA should be answered on our charity's website under the link that MaryF gave you - look at the very end under the heading Driving.

[MrsMouseSJ]

Hi Dee121. When my own car insurance renewal came up I was asked if any of my details had changed. As my insurance schedule contains a section on medical conditions, and my insurer's website highlights my Duty of Disclosure, I told them about my Lupus and Hughes (which I had just been diagnosed with). The former they could cope with; the latter totally baffled them! Hence my schedule only lists the Lupus. Anyhow, it has made no difference to my insurance premium so far; fingers crossed this remains the case.

I then decided, for peace of mind, to inform DVLA - although of course neither condition is listed on its notifiable medical conditions list and my doctors had said nothing on the matter (which my GP told me they would have done, had they had concerns). Nonetheless I decided to do this as I really wasn't sure where I would stand legally if I had an accident; might it be deemed to be as a result of either condition? The Hughes Foundation website includes guidance, highlighting the need to be safe to drive - which of course is very subjective. (The nearest town to here is full of very old people who may not have a notifiable condition, etc, but who are most decidedly not very safe to drive!) I then spoke to DVLA, whose representative said that the list of notifiable conditions wasn't necessarily definitive (the 'necessarily' didn't help me much!). By this point, I was half wishing I had simply said nothing. But my rheumatologist was written to and many months later DVLA wrote to me saying all ok to continue as I had been. At least I have now have certainty, although how consistent DVLA decisions are, I really don't know.

[Dee121]

Hello all, thanks for shedding some light on the matter. When I read the article I thought it couldn't possibly be true, but now hearing different experiences and advice it makes it all a bit clearer. I'm not sure I'm going to dwell on it or contact DVLA. I do feel it's discriminatory that there isn't choice of life insurance companies and as Molly stated if your being treated and condition is as stable as it can be then I guess we should be treated the same as anyone else.