AXA refusing DOC insurance on 'Van'

looknohands

Any car insurance experts? I'm in a bit of a pickle.

The other day I was driving a VW Transporter people carrier and hit someone, the third party has attempted to make a claim. The Transporter is not owned by myself, however i have fully comp on another car with AXA that includes DOC cover third party. The insurer of the VW I was driving also has fully comp insurance.

I had always figured an M1 registered vehicle (jt states on the V5 for the VW) was a car for insurance purposes. However AXA have called me and said they will not pay out the third party from my DOC as it's a van not a car.

The advisor told me they would need to claim against the vans policy with the van owner. However I feel AXA have left me in a bit of a hole here as I'm un-insured, I've never used my insurance before but seemed maybe they are just trying to avoid the claim by saying it's a van?

I can't see anything in the policy documents mentioning vehicle class it just says car or van, in the literal sense yes it's shell is a van, but in the classification sense it's a family car, with seats etc.

I'll need to tell the police I'm actually un-insured, but I'm just wondering if there's anything I can do before that?

Franz_Ferdinand

looknohands wrote: »

Any car insurance experts? I'm in a bit of a pickle.

The other day I was driving a VW Transporter people carrier and hit someone, the third party has attempted to make a claim. The Transporter is not owned by myself, however i have fully comp on another car with AXA that includes DOC cover third party. The insurer of the VW I was driving also has fully comp insurance.

I had always figured an M1 registered vehicle (jt states on the V5 for the VW) was a car for insurance purposes. However AXA have called me and said they will not pay out the third party from my DOC as it's a van not a car.

The advisor told me they would need to claim against the vans policy with the van owner. However I feel AXA have left me in a bit of a hole here as I'm un-insured, I've never used my insurance before but seemed maybe they are just trying to avoid the claim by saying it's a van?

I can't see anything in the policy documents mentioning vehicle class it just says car or van, in the literal sense yes it's shell is a van, but in the classification sense it's a family car, with seats etc.

I'll need to tell the police I'm actually un-insured, but I'm just wondering if there's anything I can do before that?

Were the police involved in this collision or are you going to fall on your sword?

pinkshoes

I think AXA are talking rubbish.

If it is fitted out as a family vehicle, never used as a van, and has M1 on the registration, then it is treated as a car.

We have a Merc Vito which has rear windows and seats fitted, so is a car not a van, even though it does have doors at the back that open outwards.

Can you not just double check the log book?

http://www.gocompare.com/van-insurance/is-my-vehicle-a-car-or-van/

Edit: also, have you typed the registration in on the ACA website? Ours definitely comes up as a CAR.

looknohands

The police weren't involved but I'm keen to be up front with the guy I hit, he was decent enough about the incident and it was my fault, I genuinely thought I was covered, I've driven the vehicle 1,000's of miles before and never thought there was any issue.

So I'd imagine if he wants his damage paid out it'd need to go through police / courts?

The logbook says M1 classification, 100%, it's always been this classification, never converted.
When I search M1 classification it says you cannot get van insurance for an M1 vehicle, an M1 class must have car insurance!

However tried getting a quote through AXA and they have transporters listed on the car insurance section but it wont accept the registration.

So it's possibly a bit of a minefield depending on providers opinion rather than any official registration? Not really sure what to do, bit of a sticky situation.

Quentin

The police do not get debts paid!

The court that debtors get taken to (to get them to pay up) is the county court! ( No policemen there)

He can go to his own insurer to claim (if he has cover for damage to his own car).

Complain to axa that they are mistaken, then escalate to fos if you are unhappy with the reply

pinkshoes

Mine wouldn't accept the registration either, but when I selected it from the menu, it appeared in the drop down list as a car!

Also, how old the VW? Has it EVER been a van and been converted?

AdrianC

M1 is the type-approval class for "Vehicles designed and constructed for the carriage of passengers and comprising no more than eight seats in addition to the driver's seat."
http://www.dft.gov.uk/vca/vehicletype/definition-of-vehicle-categories.asp
.5t vans would be N1.
What does the body type say on the V5C?

looknohands

The vehicle is 10 years old and has always been a people carrier. It's under 8 seats.

The vehicle class is M1, the body-type is 'Minibus', VW Transporter T30 174.
Maybe mini-bus means it had over 8 seats at one point?

A bit of a minefield, I was wondering if there's any official guidance I can show AXA, the fact the government says it's M1 seems like it's a 'car'.

Depends if the final say is in the hands of the insurer, seems as though they could say my Golf is a van if they liked and what could I do about it!

pinkshoes

looknohands wrote: »

The vehicle is 10 years old and has always been a people carrier. It's under 8 seats.

The vehicle class is M1, the body-type is 'Minibus', VW Transporter T30 174.
Maybe mini-bus means it had over 8 seats at one point?

A bit of a minefield, I was wondering if there's any official guidance I can show AXA, the fact the government says it's M1 seems like it's a 'car'.

Depends if the final say is in the hands of the insurer, seems as though they could say my Golf is a van if they liked and what could I do about it!

Then it is likely that this is classified as a minibus, which has its own classification. Perhaps it did have more seats??

I would speak to AXA and ask for their reasoning.

Franz_Ferdinand

Has someone taken the extra seats out as their licence won't allow them to drive a minibus?

Quentin

looknohands wrote: »

....Depends if the final say is in the hands of the insurer, seems as though they could say my Golf is a van if they liked and what could I do about it!

The "final" say would be a judge in court!


But if you end up getting a FOS decision in your favour then axa will abide by it. (All at no cost to you)