Car insurance is a necessary but expensive, and potentially difficult part of being a vehicle owner in the UK. Millions of people have insurance policies, ranging from 1 day insurance to full yearly cover. You need to be fully covered at all times; whether you’re driving on your own policy in your own vehicle, or using a friend’s car on temporary car insurance.
When you fill out your application for your policy, insurers will expect you to disclose anything that may be important, even if they haven’t directly asked you for it. Insurers refer to this as ‘utmost good faith’, and it’s something they will often use as a basis to deny claims. If you do need to make a claim, track back through your application and make sure there’s not anything you haven’t mentioned. If there is something you haven’t mentioned, insurers may treat this at deceit and use it as a basis to reject your claim.
Insurance providers will often use small print in contracts to place clauses; usually giving them sufficient room to get out of have to pay on a claim in certain circumstances. If you do ever need to claim on your policy, you should bear the following in mind:
Any small print in your policy is usually small for a reason and is often very important. You should ensure you read through your contract thoroughly, particularly the small print. Make sure you read it carefully before, during and even after your claim. You should really check all clauses in an insurance policy before you take it out – it’s very easy for people to be tempted into signing straight away by an instant car insurance quote on an insurance website, as they often seen like a really good deal.
Make sure you keep an accurate, up to date record of any communication with your insurance provider. If it’s a phone call, take notes, if it’s a letter or email, keep a copy somewhere. You should also make sure your receipts are kept accurately and are easy to find, as this will make a huge difference in backing up your claim, and ultimately getting the pay out you’re looking for.
You should also bear in mind that you’re not legally required to accept whatever offer your insurer makes you. If you’re not happy with the amount offered, you’re well within your rights to ask for the amount to be increased, just make sure you can present your case in writing.
If you’ve exhausted all options and your insurer still refuses to pay out on your claim, you can contact the Financa Ombudsman service, which handles thousands of car related complaints every year. They also settle insurance claims that are being disputed.
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