Unilateral cancellation without warning

I have been a member of Discovery for many years. Towards the end of July I got an email from them saying they were sorry I was cancelling my policy and that it would be cancelled in a month's time. I emailed back that this was an error and I was not cancelling it and thought nothing further of the matter until I got a call from my broker some weeks later to say that Discovery was unilaterally cancelling it due to my having submitted too many claims. It turns out that Discovery Insurance has the practice of informing clients that this will happen by sending them an email saying it is sorry that the client wishes to cancel. Apparently this is to give the client time to take out a policy elsewhere while it is still technically the case that no insurance firm has cancelled their policy. The reason is that it is almost impossible to get an insurance policy with any firm once this has happened. However, the letter does not inform the client as it is couched in language which simply presumes an error has been made. Discovery should have a mechanism by which it informs clients that they are making too many claims - the client would then be able to cover such negligible issues as minor pothole damage themselves rather than claim.

This situation is aggravated by the fact that Discovery paid out needless 3rd party claims where it was easy to show how the other driver was at fault. Perhaps it is easier for them to settle minor claims in this way but this has negative consequences for a client as it shows negatively on their record when they are not at fault.

The consequences of this is that I can no longer take out insurance which means I can no longer drive. I have several people depending on me so I am now in an impossible situation. So far Discovery has refused to review this decision saying that it is my broker who is at fault for not warning me. This may be the case but whatever recourse I have against my broker it would not extend to her being able to insure me such that I then could drive. The insurance company should not shirk its responsibilities to its clients by shifting the responsibility to brokers. This situation is extremely unfair and should be reviewed.

The insurance premiums were very high for an eight year old car, and the Broker was receiving extremely high commission. By her own admission she told me she was not aware of the excessive claims and that is the reason she did not warn me or even make contact with me even after the letter which was supposed to be a warning letter ( which was deceptive and I did not understand at the time) She should have contacted me to explain it.