Car Insurance threaten not to pay out after mouse damage to ventilation system on car

roscampa

Hi all,

Sorry if this has been covered before but, I can't seem to find anything on these forums.  My in-laws are insured by Quote Me Happy, a Policy from Aviva, which is fully Comp.  They recently drove their 2nd car after a couple of months stood in their garage (due to illness) and noticed bits of paper, plastic and shredded items blowing out of their air vents into the cabin of their Suzuki.  They immediately took the car to a local garage where they found out there had been mice nesting in the air intake system, the car runs fine but the ventilation system will need investigating and dash taking off etc...  Their Insurer has taken 90 days to assess the car with some initial photos going missing.  They have finally come back to my in-laws (late 60's early 70's) and said they're not covered due to damage over time (as explained earlier the car had been stood garaged for a couple of months due to my mother in-law being unwell - back problems).

I don't think this can be legal to refuse to cover these repairs when this was the first time they noticed a problem when driving it, and only noticed this due to bits being blown out of the air vents.  My suspicion is that they are trying to wriggle out of repairs as it may cost £500 just to remove the dashboard and start to see what parts and labour is required.  The car is a 2014 plate Suzuki Splash (prices range from £3000 - £6800 (trade) however their car has only 6K miles from new.  My suspicion is they know it will cost a sizeable amount to repair but that the car is actually worth a reasonable amount and therefore are trying not to have to pay out.  I'm not sure whether this is Aviva not wanting to pay out, or whether it is Quote Me Happy trying to put off my in-laws, so no claim will be made on policies they have sold for Aviva.

Has anyone out there had the same and what was your outcome?  Are there any advisors (I'd thought of Citizens Advice Bureau) who'd you'd recommend talking to or should we just play hardball and email saying that is not acceptable and not under their terms and conditions.  I'm getting hold of their policy from an online copy but I'm certain policies are only void if there's an issue which is ignored and causes greater damage over time, which this is not the case.

Any help, advice, experience from others would be very welcome as I'm trying to prevent my elderly in-laws from losing £1000's through no fault of their own and while she was ill.

Thanks for reading.

Thrugelmir

What does the policy document say? Did nobody at least take a cursory look at the vehicle in a 2 month period. Start the engine for example. 

davidmcn

Does the policy cover the risk of damage by vermin? "Fully comp" doesn't mean "covers anything bad which might happen", it still needs to be an insured risk.

molerat

Their only option is to raise a complaint and take it to the ombudsman if necessary.  Unfortunately likely to be a drawn out process if they won't play.

rs65

roscampa said:

 should we just play hardball and email saying that is not acceptable and not under their terms and conditions

Their terms and conditions specifically exclude damage which happens gradually - as do most.
Is there any actual damage?

Ditzy_Mitzy

I've no wish to sound flippant, but has any 'damage' actually been caused?  It sounds more like the mice, as mice are wont to do, have dragged lots of scraps and assorted rubbish into the heater ducts in order to make a nest.  The remedy for such a thing is to dismantle the heater and clean the insides of the ducts - I had to have something similar done years ago when a leaf got stuck in the heater fan.  It just sounds like more of a maintenance or cleaning job, rather than an insurable event.  You wouldn't claim on the insurance if, for example, you left the car window open and a load of rubbish got blown in. 

frederick1950

OP.....why do you consider that the insurer should pay out?
Most car insurance covers for...
Accidental
Malicious
Vandalism
How is rodent damage related to any of these?
Have you checked the policy thoroughly to check what is actually covered?

rs65

frederick1950 said:

OP.....why do you consider that the insurer should pay out?
Most car insurance covers for...
Accidental
Malicious
Vandalism
How is rodent damage related to any of these?
Have you checked the policy thoroughly to check what is actually covered?

Quotemehappy policy covers:-
If your car is lost, stolen or damaged. 
It doesn't specify accident, malice etc
If there is actual damage, this would fall under 'damaged'
It then excludes things such as gradual cause.  It doesn't exclude rodent damage

davidmcn

rs65 said:

frederick1950 said:

OP.....why do you consider that the insurer should pay out?
Most car insurance covers for...
Accidental
Malicious
Vandalism
How is rodent damage related to any of these?
Have you checked the policy thoroughly to check what is actually covered?

Quotemehappy policy covers:-
If your car is lost, stolen or damaged. 
It doesn't specify accident, malice etc
If there is actual damage, this would fall under 'damaged'
It then excludes things such as gradual cause.  It doesn't exclude rodent damage

There are also the following general conditions which may be relevant:
"You shall at all times take reasonable steps to safeguard your car from loss or damage.
You shall maintain your car in a roadworthy condition"

Jumblebumble

Thrugelmir said:

What does the policy document say? Did nobody at least take a cursory look at the vehicle in a 2 month period. Start the engine for example. 

I would like to understand how anyone can determine the timescale over which the mice damaged the car with anything that is beyond speculation
I also think would be reasonable to assume that there will be thousands of cars that have not been looked at for two months owing to Covid

roscampa

 In answer to a few questions, the policy doesn't mention rodent/vermin just, Quote Me Happy is saying gradual damage not covered (can't see how they'd know that)?  As for whether it's damaged, they are going on the local garage that had it in which, showed them a lot nesting material,l and the garage is quoting at least £500 to get dashboard off and behind (think it's a case of design making it expensive - unless anyone has a Splash and can tell me differently).

As for not using it for 2 months, they are both elderly, back problems prevented my mother in law from driving her car (the Suzuki) and father in law just drove his Citroen when they went out, however they have regularly started the car each week while it's been garaged.
Have just heard the Insurance company has come back with a report (no photos included so have asked for them) that quotes damage to seats, carpets, boot cover, spare wheel cover, insulation on the dash, wires to the dash and the obvious nesting material.  This both my in laws had not noticed before taking to the garage in March when they had the strange noise and nesting material blow out the vents.  They drove with no issues and no warnings on the dash, no lights or faults showing just the noise and bits to alert them.  The car was held at a garage from March until end of May when assessor finally came (just wondering if further damage could have occurred while stood at the garage as it's next to open fields and, as I say, both in-laws didn't notice any damage (although they may have not been looking for seat/carpet damage etc...)