Car owner being sued by her insurance firm

adonis

Interesting article in this paper, here http://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/8164221.Car_owner_being_sued_by_her_insurance_firm/

At first you think ok the owner didn't declare the modifications, then it goes on to say about seat covers and car mats.
Now my insurance company didn't care about my towbar, do i really have to ring them up and say i have a set of lidls car mats with a nice red pattern and expect to be charged extra for my insurance?:(

colino

Someone died because of a culmination of small errors. The obvious error/lie was one of "fronting" (he chose to pretend it was his mothers car and spend the money on tacky "upgrades" instead of insurance) was just one of them. (I'm sure his mother really craved that lowered suspension).
The insurer will no doubt be paying out a fortune on his behalf and is absolutely right to be taking out a demonstration case to warn off others.
Incidentally insurers expect customers to mitigate their costs and do so themselves. That is why 25 years ago, when my mate put an XR3 badge on his bog standard 1300, and it was stolen, they initially refused to pay out as he had made the car more attractive to a thief!

Nilrem

I suspect the car mats/seat covers were probably an extremely minor thing and they wouldn't have bothered about in any other situation, other than to refuse to replace them (although in some cases certain seat coverings/mats can make a difference*).

As Colino says, it's about the most obvious form of fronting, added to that the undeclared major modifications that affect handling/performance (suspension etc) and that will be why she's being done, as she was a party to an attempt to defraud the insurance companies.

IIRC you should really notify the insurance company of things like the towbar being fitted as it's an optional extra, but it's not one that will normally make any difference to the insurance cost as it's not a performance mod.


*Changing the bog standard cloth seat covering for a leather one for example is very different to changing the bog standard grey cloth that came with the cars made in one year, to a grey cloth with red stripe that was standard the year after (or just putting a basic cover over it)...

kwaks

A pretty obvious case of fronting IMO. I am sure the insurer isn't really bothered about the car mats, but more the performance affecting mods such as the suspension, air filter, exhaust etc.

Innys

kwaks wrote: »

A pretty obvious case of fronting IMO. I am sure the insurer isn't really bothered about the car mats, but more the performance affecting mods such as the suspension, air filter, exhaust etc.

To be honest, I doubt lowering the suspension, adding a "high performance" air filter, alloy wheels, sports exhaust etc have made much difference to a Corsa. If there was a crime committed here, it was against good taste....

vikingaero

Most minor mods such as mats, alloy tax disc holders are OK for reasonable policyholders with reasonable insurance companies. A claim is more likely to be paid out for mature drivers that insure cars with mods than a 17 year old who hasn't declared anything.

Diamond, the insurer in the article, are part of the Admiral Group and they are very much the lower end of the scale in terms of reasonable insurers. The business model run by Admiral Group very much run on the ability to charge additional premiums for modifications to provide cover, yet they can skank out of replacement of the damage modifications under the Standard Parts Replacement Clause.

Unfortunately it IS very much a case of you get what you pay for as the unfortunate person in that article has found out.

adonis

I agree it is a clear case of fronting and someone has died and i don't know what type of seat covers and mats were fitted but to me it seems the insurance company start to to lose credibility when they start picking on things that most people would not even think about mentioning to their insurance companies.

mikey72

The stereo being changed was a good one too.
My policy actually states it will replace a factory fitted one, or pay up to £100 for an aftermarket one. That doesn't seem to imply I have to declare it.

Kilty_2

mikey72 wrote: »

The stereo being changed was a good one too.
My policy actually states it will replace a factory fitted one, or pay up to £100 for an aftermarket one. That doesn't seem to imply I have to declare it.

Yep, mine too (confirmed over the phone that it's not a modification that needs to be declared, too)

Interesting that it's Diamond Insurance - my previous policy with Elephant (same firm) said it included £750 of audio cover and mentioned nothing about declaring it!

Weirdlittleman

adonis wrote: »

I agree it is a clear case of fronting and someone has died and i don't know what type of seat covers and mats were fitted but to me it seems the insurance company start to to lose credibility when they start picking on things that most people would not even think about mentioning to their insurance companies.

They are not picking on things here though. They will have commissioned a report on the car and have simply listed all the modifications noted including minor ones.

The reason they are doing this is because it was fronting and significantly modified.

If it was just mats we wouldnt have this thread.

skiddlydiddly

Innys wrote: »

To be honest, I doubt lowering the suspension, adding a "high performance" air filter, alloy wheels, sports exhaust etc have made much difference to a Corsa. If there was a crime committed here, it was against good taste....

Heh, it sometimes even lowers performance as they suck in hot air through their cone filters and lose back pressure due to the 5" backbox on their 1litre shopping trolleys.Not to mention lowering springs mismatched to dampers making the ride even worse.

Still, you're only 17 once.

BTW I am in the process of insuring an extremely modified car with everything declared and it doesn't necessarily load the premium as much as you'd think.It depends on the company you are dealing with.