Car insurance claim refused - no 'commute to work' cover

uk1

Deleted_User said:

uk1 said:

Deleted_User said:

Sorry to hear this but thanks for posting because so many people miss this, I saw a Facebook post from the local plod that confiscated a car from a driver they pulled. The driver had insurance but said he was travelling to work but the insurance didn't cover commuting. I hope a lot of people read this and double check their insurance, maybe one for Martin Lewis to mention publicly as he gives so much advice about how to save money on insurance.

The reality is that the quote often isn't that much different with commuting added and could be cheaper! 

My quotes:
SDP: £422
SDP & Commute: £409
Business class 1: £384 (!!!)

Figure that one out - actually cheaper for Business Class 1 so I always get that insurance on renewal even though I work from home right now due to covid - over insured is better!

I wonder how long it will be before a pensioner making a claim who has commute included has the claim scaled back because they don’t commute but had a lower premium ......

Agreed, in fairness I spoke directly with my insurer on live chat upon renewal in Sept this year and told them I'm no longer working from different sites and at home but I don't know how long it will last, also told them my mileage is significantly lower but they recommended I use exactly the same parameters as the previous year and I have a record of the chat log in case of any problems.

BTW I did do comparison sites and got my existing insurer to beat the comparison sites.

In times past commuting to a single place of work has been included in my standard cover automatically without me asking, and I wonder whether some policies today include it as a part of their standard policy whilst others might only include it if a declared requested option.  If so I wonder whether all comparison sites accurately pick it up.  It does seem odd as you have found that having more might cost less. 

I think also in times past traveling to customers was called “commercial traveling” and was extra. 

[Deleted User]

uk1 said:

  It does seem odd as you have found that having more might cost less. 

It might be an anomaly of the fact that I didn't alter the 15k annual miles across the 3 quotes and used 1000 business miles for the quote. I'd say people who need to drive for their business purposes take care not to risk their licences / cars because they are important to them vs people who would do 15k for SDP. I take care not to speed or get in a dangerous situation because the threat to my job / livelihood far outweighs that (pre-covid). 

I have a second job for just 3 days per year (university guest lecturer) which is why I've had Business Class 1 for the last 10 years, I'm technically not commuting to a single place of work for those 3 days and was surprised years ago that it came up cheaper when I added it.

Anyway, point I'm making is that adding commuting could be cheaper along with extra cover for multiple business sites and therefore no reason to scrimp on cover.

dunstonh

Well surprised at some car owners who appear to have no knowledge as to what their policy covers?

30-40 years ago, a car manual would tell you how to fix something with a wrench.  Today, a car manual tells you not to drink the battery acid.

The more you dumb things down, the less people need to know.

chrisw

TELLIT01 said:

A side question on this really.  I'm retired but sometimes take my wife into her work.  I'm not commuting as I'm retired but do I need to have commuting cover.

When I chose the retired option on the quotes it automatically removed the commuting cover. I suspect trying to add commuting whilst claiming retired will raise all sorts of red flags to the insurance companies. If its something you do regularly it might be a good question to ask them directly.

penners324

The original poster must be in the USA...

ic

penners324 said:

The original poster must be in the USA...

Now I reread that opening post, I do wonder if he's describing the crash at the start of Beetlejuice. 

TELLIT01

Hasbeen said:

Well surprised at some car owners who appear to have no knowledge as to what their policy covers?

I've been with the same insurer since the mid 1990's and have to admit that I haven't checked each year for any changes in cover.  I will be looking far more closely in future.

I've stayed with the same insurer because I get substantial discounts as initially an employee of the parent financial company and now as a pensioner of the same.

On-the-coast

I do have some sympathy with the OP and his daughter, and i did go back and check my policies again just in case, because it’s so easy to assume what you think is obvious.
For example last year at renewal I discovered that my comprehensive policy, which for many years has  allowed me third party insurance to drive a car that i don’t own, no longer had that option. The reason being that I’d transferred the policy to a lease car, and that action had automatically dropped that feature from the policy.  It’s not a feature i value highly... but one or twice I’ve taken advantage of it - although fortunately not since I’d started leasing.  I might easily have driven a friends car in an emergency thinking i was covered - so beware and do check.  Thanks OP for making me check again - since I’ve just realised that I’m not insured to drive my car around the  Nurburgring! for some reason they called that one track out explicitly!  I’d never noticed that before.

Joseph_Merrick

Norman_Castle said:

Joseph_Merrick said:

Hi.
My step-daughter has just had an accident in her BMW on the way to work. She was crossing a slippery wooden bridge, the rear wheels span, sending the car sideways then down a bank, hitting a concrete post on the side on the way.

Where is this "slippery wooden bridge". Is it on google maps?

Yes it is. Look on Google Maps for 'Alpha Crossing' Upavon. It is one of 3 military bridges that link the East and Central areas of Salisbury Plain crossing the river Avon.

Joseph_Merrick

Thrugelmir said:

Sometimes the attitude is simply the insurer will never find out. At 23 a BMW may not be cheap to insure depending on the model/value. 

Thanks for suggesting that my step-daughter would do something illegal. Most unhelpful and completely wrong. She has a 1 series diesel which she worked hard to afford and went straight away and got fully comp insurance. Unfortunately, it wasn't until this accident she even knew there was a difference in cover type. Indeed as other posters have thanked me or given other examples, it seems she is not alone. Having been driving for 6 years in the typical late teenage run of small first cars, why now shouldn't she have a car to cherish?