Car Insurance query

loiner

It's that dreaded time of year again when I start filling in on-line forms for my car insurance. My previous car wouldn't fit in my garage, but I've changed the car this year and the new does fit, but only just. When you request a quotation you're asked if the car is garaged overnight. My query is, what would the situation be if I said 'yes' and an insurable incident occurred on a night when I left the car on the drive? Surely insurers can't expect you to garage the car every night.

lisyloo

loiner said:

It's that dreaded time of year again when I start filling in on-line forms for my car insurance. My previous car wouldn't fit in my garage, but I've changed the car this year and the new does fit, but only just. When you request a quotation you're asked if the car is garaged overnight. My query is, what would the situation be if I said 'yes' and an insurable incident occurred on a night when I left the car on the drive? Surely insurers can't expect you to garage the car every night.

If you say it's in the garage then that's the risk the insurers price on so yes they do expect you to put it in the garage.
The policies I've had usually have an endorsement saying there is a higher excess if within so may meters of your home, but you'd need to check that.
One option is to get a quote with and without and see the diffference.
If it's tiny then don't bother to claim that discount.

daveyjp

If you say its garaged and is damaged overnight while on the drive you would have to have a good reason why the car wasn't in the garage.

Aretnap

The question is where is the car "usually" kept overnight, and provided the car is usually kept where you say it is then you have answered the question truthfully. Obviously it's a different matter if the car is rarely or never kept in the garage - which an insurer could prove by looking in the garage and finding an amount of junk which clearly precludes putting a car in there, or if you have two cars and only one garage yet have declared that both cars are usually kept in a garage.

However one thing to look out for is that if you declare that you keep your car in a garage some insurers will add an endorsement to your policy to say that they will not cover theft if the car is stolen from within 250 m of your home, between the hours of 11 pm and 5 am (or something along those lines), unless it was in the garage. In which case yes you would have to keep it in the garage every night or risk being uninsured for theft.

Keeping your car in a garage does not always result in cheaper premiums anyway for various reasons, one of which is that the number of people who claim for damage caused by incompetently reversing into/out of the garage often outweighs the reduced risk of theft/vandalism - especially if you live in a nice area or have a car which isn't particularly attractive to thieves.

loiner

Aretnap said:

The question is where is the car "usually" kept overnight, and provided the car is usually kept where you say it is then you have answered the question truthfully. Obviously it's a different matter if the car is rarely or never kept in the garage - which an insurer could prove by looking in the garage and finding an amount of junk which clearly precludes putting a car in there, or if you have two cars and only one garage yet have declared that both cars are usually kept in a garage.

However one thing to look out for is that if you declare that you keep your car in a garage some insurers will add an endorsement to your policy to say that they will not cover theft if the car is stolen from within 250 m of your home, between the hours of 11 pm and 5 am (or something along those lines), unless it was in the garage. In which case yes you would have to keep it in the garage every night or risk being uninsured for theft.

Keeping your car in a garage does not always result in cheaper premiums anyway for various reasons, one of which is that the number of people who claim for damage caused by incompetently reversing into/out of the garage often outweighs the reduced risk of theft/vandalism - especially if you live in a nice area or have a car which isn't particularly attractive to thieves.

Yes, thanks. That word 'usually' can make such a difference so is something for me to watch out for.