Not upheld: Travel / life insurance claim disputes complaint against Right Choice Insurance Brokers Ltd

Decision detail

Summary

Mr S complained to the FOS about how Right Choice Insurance Brokers handled the cancellation of his van insurance policy after his claim was repudiated. When Mr S applied for cover in August 2021, he disclosed three previous claims, but the insurance company later discovered he had four claims and voided the policy. Mr S claimed he had told Right Choice about all four claims, but Right Choice provided evidence that only three had been disclosed. The ombudsman found that Mr S had forgotten to disclose the fourth claim and that Right Choice's error in initially suggesting it had details of the fourth claim was corrected in the same call. The complaint was not upheld, and the ombudsman found Right Choice's offer to waive cancellation fees and provide a refund to be fair and reasonable.

The Ombudsman's reasoning

The ombudsman determined that Mr S did not disclose the fourth claim to Right Choice when applying for cover, as evidenced by Right Choice's records and Mr S's own admission that he forgot to tell it. Although Right Choice made an error in initially telling Mr S it had details of the fourth claim, this was corrected in the same call. The ombudsman found no evidence that Right Choice knew about or had details of the fourth claim, and noted that if it had possessed such information, it would have been unable to place the business with the insurance company. Right Choice's offer to waive cancellation fees and provide a refund was deemed fair and reasonable.

How this compares

Source

Read the original decision on the Financial Ombudsman Service website