Is Your Car Insurance Really Valid?

[boddamloon]

Around 6% of vehicles on UK roads are uninsured.

Almost 2.5 million UK motorists could be driving with invalid car insurance and a further 6% of vehicles are uninsured, price comparison site uSwitch.com claimed today.

The website said that 10% of drivers lie to car insurance providers when buying a policy, which can invalidate their purchase. They typically lie about convictions for speeding or drink driving, their age and address and no claims bonus, and where the car is parked at night

Aron Thompson, head of insurance at uSwitch.com, said: "With many consumers seeing car insurance as a grudge purchase, it's no great surprise to see people either withhold or knowingly provide inaccurate, crucial information in order to get cheaper cover.

"To the consumer, this may seem like a little white lie to save money. In reality, it could end up teaching the driver a costly lesson - on average £1,636 - as the provider is under no obligation to settle a claim based on a policy that is inaccurate."

Those that drive all or part of the way to work often hold back the full truth about their journey, choosing to cover their car just for social, domestic and pleasure use, and not commuting.

People who drive to the station and continue their journey by train, however, can be considered to be using their car to commute.

"One reason insurers need to know if you use your car for commuting is that by leaving [it] in a public place it is at greater risk from theft or damage," said Thompson.

"In this example, by not disclosing the right information to your insurer about your journey to work, your policy will be invalid and in the event of submitting a claim the insurer is under no obligation to settle the claim."

Surprisingly, of the 15% of drivers who said they were aware that they had provided inaccurate information to their insurer regarding the use of their car, more than three-quarters were seemingly prepared to take the risk, and did so in the knowledge it could impact on the validity of their car insurance.

Of those who were aware of the consequences, around one in 10 (9%) said they did it to keep the cost of their cover down. More than a third of people claimed it was a genuine mistake, while 16% said they didn't understand the questions in the application.

[Steve ( West Mids )]

I suspect those that are bright enough to mislead the insurance company with details may also be bright enough to remember that if they claim ( or somebody claims off them ) that the story on the claim form will match their application. For example I parked at the station to go shopping that day in the town / city, or the car was parked on the drive ( even if they don't have one ) rather than stolen from the road. Obviously the speeding, drink and age are likely to be discovered but maybe they can deceive with the address.

[MrADeveci]

6% uninsured ?? ............ I'd say that's more like 26% !!

[Unregistered_User]

Yeah, I'm suprised the uninsured percentage is so small

J

[Rikos]

Uninsured drivers annoy me, at least some companies are starting to pay out if your hit by an uninsured driver!!

[Continunity]

I would say that alot of 17-20 yr olds are driving on iffy insurence. By being a named driver or a parents policy. But tbh its not suprising... When i was younger (not that long ago ;)) i drove for a couple of years as a named driver on my dads policy. It was really the only way i could afford to drive...

for example. on a H reg 1.2 clio (no mods)18yrs old, the cheapest policy i could find was £1300, now that is ALOT of cash for someone just leaving 6th form to stump up.

Now that im older i drive on my own policy, but even that can be a struggle when re-newal time comes around...

i know ins companys are their to make money.. but insurence is unbelivably expensive for young drivers and i have a feeling that they some dont pay because they cant afford to. And if they cant drive they cant get to work, wich means they cant make any money, etc.

Just my incoherent thougts on the subject.

(.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,) <-free puctuation for anyone to add to the above post :D

[Bobski]

I would have thought that those not declaring mods arnt up there....I was told by a company, even having non standard wheels can invalidate insurance.

So these teens going around with alloys etc are all prob risking it, as I doubt they have told of these mods.

[boddamloon]

I told my insurance i had fitted 18" aftermarket wheels and they did not charge me extra but had i had a claim and not told them im sure they would try to get out of it.

The one that surprised me was the social domestic cover as i have always went for this in the past and sometimes used my car for work.For example i now work overseas but i take my car to airport to get to my work overseas and someone drives it back. So would you say i use my car to get to work part of the way?

[Mike_B]

I told my insurance i had fitted 18" aftermarket wheels and they did not charge me extra but had i had a claim and not told them im sure they would try to get out of it.

The one that surprised me was the social domestic cover as i have always went for this in the past and sometimes used my car for work.For example i now work overseas but i take my car to airport to get to my work overseas and someone drives it back. So would you say i use my car to get to work part of the way?

Technically, I think the answer to this is 'yes', you are using your car for business. The 'commuting' covers you to drive to a fixed place of work, not varying places of work.

Class 1 business (which is just carting yourself around from place to place, not carrying goods or samples, and certainly not carrying people about as part of the job) is actually quite cheap, I think it's about £50 extra a year depending on the insurance company. I added it onto a motorbike policy for just £20 extra for a year a couple of years ago.