if your car is going to get stolen make sure its ?

[Dave Eastwood (Gadgetman) - Club Chairman]

When I renewed recently, I'm sure the question was phrased: 'Where is the vehicle most often kept' or something similar.

 

A customer used to have a clause on the policy for a Mclaren/Mercedes that other than in a closed garage at home and a locked compound at work, the car must always be accompanied and couldn't be left unattended. Something he readily agreed to at the time. It was only later he realised he couldn't go out on his own in it; because leaving the car at the pump and going into the shop to pay, when stopping for petrol, counted as leaving it unattended!

[Norman Verona]

James, There are regular gold shipments from a city in the North to London. The shipments are in plain lorries and each is different. 3 people know the date and time the shipment leaves the factory in the city. 5 minutes before it leaves a call is made to the underwriter who covers the value based on a phone call.

 

When I was dealing with 2 day renewal conferences at our broker most of the discussions were based on trust. So much so that one year I forget to mention an increase to our hire fleet. The following month one of the new vehicles was hired, used in a bank robbery and ended up U shaped round a lamppost. Insurers paid out without a murmur, just said they accepted it was an oversight. Doubt that would happen today.

 

I had a friend who was working in a Met police team targeting insurance fraud. Some of the things people did were beyond belief. Beyond belief in the sense that they thought they'd get away with it.

 

Coming up to date it's now illegal to pay 3rd parties for information on RTC's. This year the high claims, generated by the so-called accident management companies, have reduced so much so that premiums are dropping.

 

 

 

I know many think the insurers are the guilty parties but you're all paying in one way or another for societies attitude to insurance.

 

Don't shout all at once.....

[ralphy]

well , if your car or van gets stolen make sure its at the address you tell your insurance its kept at  , because if its stolen from another address its not covered apparantly ,utter crap , another get out of paying out excuse ,waste of time having insurance tbh

 

heaven forbid you might leave it outside your girlfrends house , pub ,mates ,hotel etc for a night

 

Much as I love a good rant too, there is no way an insurance company would apply the above criteria post-policy.  

 

Such an exclusion clause will be in the policy’s terms and conditions (T&C’s) and if it is then there’s no reason to expect a claim to be accepted.  (Equally, if it not there then the claim should be accepted, unless other criteria comes into place).    It  is very, very important to read through the details of policies as it will be those T&C’s that the insurer will abide by - and which any arbitration will be too.

 

I’m no irrational fan-boy of insurance companies btw, but I have experience of challenging them professionally  (in my previous life) when they didn’t play by the book.

 

R

[Bispers]

It's a private policy but it's there to ensure that you keep it garaged overnight (as declared on the proposal) wherever possible and effectively it stops people with garages full of junk parking their car round the corner and still claiming their discount for claiming that it's garaged every night guv - honest.

When asking for a quote I have generally been asked if overnight the car is kept: 1. In the garage 2. On the drive 3. On the road.

It's not surprising that premium 1 is the lowest, then 2, with 3 the highest.

The catch comes when someone wants to pay the premium that doesn't match-up with the cover; a literal case of getting what you pay for. But is worth being careful in thinking, for example, about what happens with the "big garage clear out" and whether you can always get the car/trailer back-in at night before taking the cheaper cover.