Car insurance help..

pulsex0r

Basically a few weeks ago a friend of mine got into a accident where he ended up going into a Toyota RAV4. His car was near enough a write off, but there wasn't much damage to the Toyota. I won't go into much detail as to whose fault it was but basically she stopped on a keep clear sign in the middle of a roundabout to give way to the left? and my friend went into the back of her.

Of course rear enders seem to always lose their cases and circumstances are rarely taken into account. But anyways, a few days ago they told him that they voided his insurance because of his exhaust.

My question is, what does this actually mean? does this mean that he will have to pay for her claims?

Any help is appreciated.

Nilrem

If they have voided his insurance because of a modified exhaust* (definitely worth checking why they voided it if it's just an exhaust, and possibly appealing/taking it to the ombudsman), then the chances are they will pay out the claim to the third party whose fault it wasn't (generally speaking with rear enders), not pay for your friends repairs, and quite possibly require him to pay them back for all the costs involved by the third party, their insurers and his own insurers (IE admin etc).

What was the exhaust. and did he have anything else on the car that was not standard/not declared, or anything like that?
From what you've said it sounds like he's possibly not been 100% truthful when taking out the insurance, or not notified the insurer when he's made a modification that would have required it (and potentially an additional payment for making it higher risk, or that they would not have covered him if they'd known about it).



*I can't believe they would have voided it if the exhaust was a standard/equivalent part, but they may have done if it was a "performance" one and he had not declared it.

spiro

Nilrem wrote: »

*I can't believe they would have voided it if the exhaust was a standard/equivalent part, but they may have done if it was a "performance" one and he had not declared it.

They can void for anything that is not standard. That is why when I ever insure a 2nd hand car and they ask if 'any modifications' I state "None that I am aware of" because who knows what is and isn't standard when the car was built. I also make a point of declaring factory fitted extras i.e. alloy wheels.

Cash-Cow_3

This sounds like one of those very cheap insurance companies.

shaun_from_Africa

I bough a car about 4 months ago ( It was a garage demonstrator) and it had been "tarted up" to make it look better to potential buyers, having different alloys fitted and tinted windows at the back.
I told my insurance company about this, and after checking with the underwriters, they decided there was no additional premium to pay, and these changes were shown on my policy documents.
If I hadn't told them, I know that they could (and probably would) have refused to pay out if I made an at fault claim.

As Spiro stated, anything that changes the car from the manufactured specification should be declared as insurance companies will use any excuse to avoid paying out.

McKneff

My question is, what does this actually mean? does this mean that he will have to pay for her claims?

Its my belief that they will have to pay out any third party claim, but they will not pay for your friends claim for his
losses.

99.99% of these cases it is always the fault of the person behind. (too close, speed, inattention)

Quentin

pulsex0r wrote: »

My question is, what does this actually mean? does this mean that he will have to pay for her claims?

If this is confirmed (ie your friend is unable to get this decision reversed) then it means they have cancelled his insurance, meaning he was effectively uninsured at the time of the accident.

Any costs the insurer is involved in over the accident when dealing with the third party they will pursue your friend to reimburse them, and they won't pay anything at all should your friend claim for his own damage.

The consequences could be severe - your friend will have to declare the voiding of his policy to future insurers, which will mean most/all off the peg insurers won't want to know, and he will have to use specialist (and expensive) companies who deal with "difficult" histories like this.

He should try and get the decision reversed - appeal and ask why this has happened, and hope he can persuade them any non declaration was in ignorance.

mikey72

A few questions.

What sort of car is it?
What exhaust is on, when was it fitted (before or after the insurance was taken out) who fitted it (your mate or did the car come with it)
Does it increase performance, or just for show.
Any other mods at all on the car?
Anything else declared to the insurers?
Who is the insurer?

Flyboy152

pulsex0r wrote: »

Basically a few weeks ago a friend of mine got into a accident where he ended up going into a Toyota RAV4. His car was near enough a write off, but there wasn't much damage to the Toyota. I won't go into much detail as to whose fault it was but basically she stopped on a keep clear sign in the middle of a roundabout to give way to the left? and my friend went into the back of her.

Of course rear enders seem to always lose their cases and circumstances are rarely taken into account.

It doesn't matter why or where the other car stopped, if your friend was driving too close to the back of the Toyota, it was his own fault.

But anyways, a few days ago they told him that they voided his insurance because of his exhaust.

My question is, what does this actually mean? does this mean that he will have to pay for her claims?

Any help is appreciated.

Was a damaged exhaust the cause of the accident? If it wasn't (which, I know, is extremely unlikely), they can't void the cover. If however, the exhaust was modified, which altered the performance of the vehicle and he failed to notify his insurers, then they have presumably invalidated the cover because of that.

Flyboy152

shaun_from_Africa wrote: »

I bough a car about 4 months ago ( It was a garage demonstrator) and it had been "tarted up" to make it look better to potential buyers, having different alloys fitted and tinted windows at the back.
I told my insurance company about this, and after checking with the underwriters, they decided there was no additional premium to pay, and these changes were shown on my policy documents.
If I hadn't told them, I know that they could (and probably would) have refused to pay out if I made an at fault claim.

As Spiro stated, anything that changes the car from the manufactured specification should be declared as insurance companies will use any excuse to avoid paying out.

They would probably have tied, but I am pretty sure (unverified) they would have to prove that the modifications would have been contributory to the claim.

raskazz

Flyboy152 wrote: »

Was a damaged exhaust the cause of the accident? If it wasn't .. they can't void the cover

Not true...