Car Insurance - I work 3 nights per week

andypandy42

I work 3 nights per week, 6pm to 6am so my car is parked in a factory car park, I got renewal quotes and rang 3 insurers. The first 2 said I needed to say it was parked in a factory car park pushing the premium up significantly. The 3rd company (Elephant) said because the car is at home for the majority of evenings (4 nights) they would treat it as kept at home. This was just a phone call - I have no proof that they said that. Do I trust them?

born_again

Elephant are part of Admiral group..

Baldytyke88

Surely, just like anyone, your car is parked at work when you are working and at home when you are at home.

JGB1955

If your answer is to 'where is the vehicle parked overnight?' the answer is 'at home' - that's where it is the majority of the nights, isn't it?

400ixl

Baldytyke88 said:

Surely, just like anyone, your car is parked at work when you are working and at home when you are at home.

Many insurers ask where your car will be parked during the day and overnight. So not as simple as you are implying for someone who works nights.

lincroft1710

JGB1955 said:

If your answer is to 'where is the vehicle parked overnight?' the answer is 'at home' - that's where it is the majority of the nights, isn't it?

Knowing that some insurance companies will use any excuse to avoid paying out on claims, I think the OP would be well advised to inform the insurer that their car is parked 4 nights at home, 3 nights at work.

Aretnap

lincroft1710 said:

JGB1955 said:

If your answer is to 'where is the vehicle parked overnight?' the answer is 'at home' - that's where it is the majority of the nights, isn't it?

Knowing that some insurance companies will use any excuse to avoid paying out on claims, I think the OP would be well advised to inform the insurer that their car is parked 4 nights at home, 3 nights at work.

People do have very strange ideas about how insurance works and why claims get rejected. 

Insurers have a duty to ask clear questions, and customers are entitled to answer the questions posed without having to guess what additional information an insurer might want but isn't asking for. If the insurer asks "where is the car usually kept overnight?" and the car is kept at home four nights out of seven, the correct answer is "at home". If the insurer wants to know where it's kept the other the nights, they need to ask a different question. 

The risk of calling the insurer is that the OP ends up talking to a badly trained member of staff and gets charged extra, as seems to have happened to him already. I suppose if he does ring up to volunteer extra information, the industry can change the quote on the basis of that information. What they can't do however is decline a claim because he didn't volunteer extra information, or because he answered the question that they actually asked rather than the one that they wish they'd asked. Well I suppose they could try if they were unscrupulous, but the Financial Ombudsman would not be impressed in the slightest.

ididgetwhereiamtoday

The car is usually parked at home overnight. 

I would imagine the factory car park would be a secure car park anyway?

Grey_Critic

More important than where you park it is are you insured for commuting to/from work?

lincroft1710

Aretnap said:

lincroft1710 said:

JGB1955 said:

If your answer is to 'where is the vehicle parked overnight?' the answer is 'at home' - that's where it is the majority of the nights, isn't it?

Knowing that some insurance companies will use any excuse to avoid paying out on claims, I think the OP would be well advised to inform the insurer that their car is parked 4 nights at home, 3 nights at work.

People do have very strange ideas about how insurance works and why claims get rejected. 

Insurers have a duty to ask clear questions, and customers are entitled to answer the questions posed without having to guess what additional information an insurer might want but isn't asking for. If the insurer asks "where is the car usually kept overnight?" and the car is kept at home four nights out of seven, the correct answer is "at home". If the insurer wants to know where it's kept the other the nights, they need to ask a different question. 

The risk of calling the insurer is that the OP ends up talking to a badly trained member of staff and gets charged extra, as seems to have happened to him already. I suppose if he does ring up to volunteer extra information, the industry can change the quote on the basis of that information. What they can't do however is decline a claim because he didn't volunteer extra information, or because he answered the question that they actually asked rather than the one that they wish they'd asked. Well I suppose they could try if they were unscrupulous, but the Financial Ombudsman would not be impressed in the slightest.

If you read the OP, you will see that 2 out of 3 insurers contacted said the OP needed to specify where the vehicle was kept on the other 3 nights.