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| Denied Car Insurance Claim |
Car Insurance companies have the rights to refute your claims if they find that there is something amiss. They may downsize or even refuse to pay the claim amount filed with them.
For example, if your claim is regarding a vehicle, or property within a vehicle, being stolen, and the insurers have reason to believe that you were at fault (for example by leaving the car unlocked overnight), you may struggle to successfully get a payout from them.
This is where making sure all details given during the application stage pays off. If the insurer believes that your claim is being made as a result of the car being used or kept in a way not declared in the application (such as using your car for business purposes whilst only claiming domestic cover), they may reject the claim. This is why lying on your application in order to obtain cheaper car insurance can be a false economy.
This also applies to the claim itself; do not be tempted to lie about what happened in order to claim a little more out of the company – but this works both ways. Make sure you can prove ownership of anything that may be stolen from the vehicle, as if you cannot prove you owned that iPhone or laptop, your insurer is far less likely to pay for it.
If you drive a classic car and do not have an agreed value set with your insurer, you may lose money as the company may simply consider the market value of the vehicle itself, not its worth as a restoration project.
As discussed previously, all policies are held in “utmost good faith”, meaning that it is your responsibility to make sure that all information your car insurance has on you and your vehicle is correct and up-to-date, and that you inform them of any changes that may be important without being prompted. Insurance companies assume all information on file is true, and will only investigate in the event of a claim.
What if I am not happy with my claim result?
You are perfectly within your rights to dispute a claim being rejected or downsized by your insurer. There are a number of reasons you might want to do so, and we will tell you how to go about doing that shortly.
There are a number of reasons people may dispute a claim, including a difference in interpretation of small print and policy guidelines or a disagreement on the value of a claimed for item.
Inform your insurer that you wish to dispute the claim; although unless you have additional evidence or can make an effective claim with regard to a difference in interpretation you may find this is not particularly helpful – although you can haggle with insurers with regard to item values.
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