Is it OK to be insured twice?

Originally Posted by Neeja

[lots of sense here]

While I agree with you about it not being illegal, I've actually been told before that I wasn't able to change my bike policy temporarily to a different bike (my dads) that was already covered by his insurance, specifically for the reason of "preventing multiple claims", rightly or wrongly that's what they did.

That's down to the individual insurer - they're able to underwrite any risk that they wish to, and to refuse cover for whatever reason they choose (as long as it's not a discriminatory reason). If they decide not to insure anyone for a bike already covered by a policy, then they're entitled to do so without having done anything wrong. Equally you've done nothing wrong by asking them properly by informing them it's already insured by someone else, which I think is probably a lot more than most people would do!

Originally Posted by Neeja

I can absolutely, definitely say that this response is silly.

Fraud requires you to have made a false representation with the intention of causing personal gain or loss to another.

Insuring an item multiple times is *not* illegal in any sense. Why would it be? All you're doing is paying more premium to different insurers - you've placed yourself in a worse position, not the insurers.

It only becomes fraudulent if you place claims on multiple policies without informing them of the fact that you're claiming with other people. It's not even illegal to claim on multiple policies - as long as you inform your insurers that you're doing so. In this event, they would all get together and split the payout to you. Again, the only person who's lost out is you in paying multiple premiums, as you would not have gained any more than you would have had you only insured once.

So to everyone who said multiple insurance is illegal: You're wrong.
To the commenter who said that leaving a policy running invalidates a new owner's policy: You're very wrong.

HTH

oi numb-nuts thats what I was getting at.

"-->>> IF <<<-- you were to insure something twice" was the key part of my post, the remainder of which is assuming the previous is true. The fraud statement relates to claiming on all policies, which as you admit "It only becomes fraudulent if you place claims on multiple policies...some other stuff"

Originally Posted by Owenski

Bingo, its wrong because if you were to insure something twice whats to stop you doing it 10 times... then whats to stop you driving your £1000 fiesta into a brick wall and claiming the £1000 back on each policy.

I think the simple term is fraud.

Your post was ambiguous at best. The opening line, "it's wrong because..." implies that you think that insuring something twice is wrong in itself, as there's nothing to stop you from insuring it ten times. You then nest a hypothetical situation within this hypothetical situation. You then state that the simple term for this is fraud, without specifying that only claiming for it would be fraud.

In response to the (presumably rhetorical) question posed, "whats to stop you driving your £1000 fiesta into a brick wall and claiming the £1000 back on each policy[?]", the answers are:
a) Insurance databases
b) People like myself

I am insured twice on my bike. I have my company trade insurance and my original cover for my bike

TBF if i were to claim it would only be on my trade as i have no excess on that. Just havent been able to cancel my other one as they want a shed load to cancel it

it is illegal, but play ignorant and let it play out.

regards

alex

Originally Posted by 454697819

it is illegal, but play ignorant and let it play out.

regards

alex

but i fort people are saying its not. Can someone who actually works in the industy clarify this please?

Ah ha...technically its not illegal for me, ive found out, as none of my vehicles are actually named on the policy. But i have full comp on anything i drive

[TamSV]

As I've said before it is not illegal in itself to dual insure, unless you are doing it to commit fraud. Why would there be a law to prevent the taking out of multiple policies so that act itself becomes a criminal offence? There's already a law that prevents you from making a dishonest financial gain.

I work in insurance but I know there are plenty of others in insurance who get this one wrong - professional training/education are not what they should be in most sectors of the market.

I have avoided giving my credentials because it can look like willy waving but I'm happy to do so if it will help establish BASAT approval for my response.

Originally Posted by Rai86

but i fort people are saying its not. Can someone who actually works in the industy clarify this please?

Same as TamSV, I work in the insurance industry. More specifically I work investigating high-risk insurance claims. Although I don't deal with motor policies, the laws surrounding fraud and taking out multiple covers on one item are identical...and is something that I'm very familiar with.