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EV Insurance - charging cables liability
I received notification today from my insurers (Saga) of a change to the cover under the policy (the usual several pages of small print that nobody bothers to read)
Liability to others
We have added the following bullet point under ‘we do not cover the following’
Liability to others
We have added the following bullet point under ‘we do not cover the following’
- Liability for the death of or injury to any person caused by tripping over the charging cable whilst you are charging the insured vehicle and you have not taken due care to prevent an accident
The purpose of liability cover is to provide you with indemnity in respect of your negligence. I am not a lawyer but I believe, if you have taken all reasonable care, then the chances of you being found liable in negligence are quite slim although liability can also arise under statute or some other tort such as nuisance). If you cause an accident on the road because you have not taken care then your insurance policy would cover you so should we be worried about this exclusion?
I imagine the intention is to avoid liability where you are running a cable from the house across the pavement to charge your car and haven’t used a cable cover or channel, or taped the cable down but equally it could apply if you have left your cable in a coil on the ground when charging at a supermarket or in a car park.
I imagine the intention is to avoid liability where you are running a cable from the house across the pavement to charge your car and haven’t used a cable cover or channel, or taped the cable down but equally it could apply if you have left your cable in a coil on the ground when charging at a supermarket or in a car park.
What constitutes due care?
As an example, I used to use a bright green 3m cable at my local Tesco 7kw charger which conveniently (for me) didn’t quite reach the ground, thus keeping the cable clean. If someone was taking a short cut between the car and charger and tripped over the cable would I be considered as having failed to take due care? The risk of an accident was foreseeable and it might be considered that I didn’t take reasonable care to prevent it. A 6m cable could also cause a trip hazard so maybe tuck any spare under the car.
Northern Lincolnshire. 7.8 kWp system, (4.2 kw west facing panels , 3.6 kw east facing), Solis inverters, Solar IBoost water heater, Mitsubishi SRK35ZS-S and SRK20ZS-S Wall Mounted Inverter Heat Pumps, ex Nissan Leaf owner)
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Ultimately it will take time for some complaints to make it through the Financial Ombudsman process to see what they deem due care should be interpreted as. We'll then possibly see evolution of wording to clarify (just like some policies now say items have to be in a locked boot or glovebox) if it means taping or tunnels etc.
Having seen a few just having loose cables from their property, across the pavement and into their car its no big surprise. To be honest you see the same with people cleaning their cars too but the EV issue is likely to become more common over time
Is the car being ‘used’ while parked and being charged? I’d suggest not, and in that case Saga don’t need this particular clause to avoid liability.
(except air quality and Medical Science
It would be like tripping over the front door step and then trying to claim that the lack of signage and orange chevrons was to blame.
Major Highway Code change could see EV owners face legal action over charging cables
Electric car owners could face legal action if someone trips over their cable while they charge their EV.
The Highway Code recommends displaying a warning sign. If you fail to do this will you be deemed as having failed to take reasonable care?
Like this perhaps
or this
And I don't think the idiots stretching cables across a public pavement should consider themselves safe from liability - "you should watch where you're going" isn't a great defence in relation to other claims for slips and trips.