Car being parked in my garage AND on the driveway - what do I tell the insurance company?

shinytop

Baldytyke88 said:

glennevis said:

If you have declared your vehicle is garaged check your policy wording. My insurance policy specifically states:

"Theft cover is excluded in the event of the insured vehicle not being kept in a locked garage between the hours of 10pm and 6am whilst parked at your home address as last notified to us."

That is rather extreme; it means that you cannot stay out after 10pm!

No, it means if it's at home it needs to be in the garage.  Standard for motorcycles where you declare it's kept in a locked garage ovenight.  If the bike is away from home at night you're covered.

XRS200

Goldwing1 said:

XRS200 said:

What does the question actually say?  

Not the exact wording but roughly "Where will the car be kept at home overnight?"
Garage
Driveway
Street

Precise wording is important.  It will probably say 'normally' or 'usually'.

Goldwing1

XRS200 said:

Goldwing1 said:

XRS200 said:

What does the question actually say?  

Not the exact wording but roughly "Where will the car be kept at home overnight?"
Garage
Driveway
Street

Precise wording is important.  It will probably say 'normally' or 'usually'.

The exact wording is: Where is the car kept overnight?

Aretnap

badmemory said:

Yes I discovered last time I renewed that I was charged more for the car being in the detached garage than it would be on the road outside the garage - not on a drive which I do not have.  I did wonder if they expected the garage to collapse on the car.

Couple of reasons supporting to mind: 

(1) Plenty of people damage their cars reversing into or out of their garages. Depending on the car and where you live, this risk may well exceed any benefit you gain by not leaving your car in the street. 

(2) Modern cars are very difficult to steal without access to the keys, so the most common way they get stolen is by the third breaking into the house to find the keys. If the car is on a driveway or in a garage it's obvious which house you need to break into to find the keys: if it's on the street is not so obvious.

Okell

Goldwing1 said:

XRS200 said:

Goldwing1 said:

XRS200 said:

What does the question actually say?  

Not the exact wording but roughly "Where will the car be kept at home overnight?"
Garage
Driveway
Street

Precise wording is important.  It will probably say 'normally' or 'usually'.

The exact wording is: Where is the car kept overnight?

Errrr.....

Why don't you do the obvious thing?

ie ring them up and ask them what answer you should give in your circumstances.

If they can't give you a clear answer that you can understand, you need to choose a different insurer.

(I buy all insurance over the 'phone by speaking to a human being so I can ask any questions I want for clarity.  It seems pointless buying insurance if you don't fully understand what you are buying...)

Goldwing1

Okell said:

Goldwing1 said:

XRS200 said:

Goldwing1 said:

XRS200 said:

What does the question actually say?  

Not the exact wording but roughly "Where will the car be kept at home overnight?"
Garage
Driveway
Street

Precise wording is important.  It will probably say 'normally' or 'usually'.

The exact wording is: Where is the car kept overnight?

Errrr.....

Why don't you do the obvious thing?

ie ring them up and ask them what answer you should give in your circumstances.

If they can't give you a clear answer that you can understand, you need to choose a different insurer.

(I buy all insurance over the 'phone by speaking to a human being so I can ask any questions I want for clarity.  It seems pointless buying insurance if you don't fully understand what you are buying...)

Okell said:

Why don't you do the obvious thing?

ie ring them up and ask them what answer you should give in your circumstances.

If they can't give you a clear answer that you can understand, you need to choose a different insurer.

(I buy all insurance over the 'phone by speaking to a human being so I can ask any questions I want for clarity.  It seems pointless buying insurance if you don't fully understand what you are buying...)

Because it's cheaper to do it online.

It turns out I've got to ring them anyway, the cars make and model isn't on their database.........

To misquote them: "It's OK, I'm with the AA" 

MyRealNameToo

eddddy said:

Perhaps the best option is to declare the "worst case" risk.

So if parking on the drive is higher risk than parking in the garage, declare that you park on the drive.

Then, for example, if the car is stolen whilst parked on the drive, there should fewer problems with the claim.



But anecdotally, some people have reported that they are quoted higher premiums if they say they park in their garage - so that's actually considered a higher risk.

That's probably because the AI based risk assessment has found that 'the type of people who park their car in garages, are the type of people who make more insurance claims'.

It might not be directly because of claims related to parking in a garage - but perhaps just the worse driving style, mindset, etc of people who typically park in garages.

With my last Motor client they only used the classic three of garage, drive and road, and rated them all equally. There are basically problems with each... on the road it can be clipped by passing vehicle but theft claims are lowest; in the driveway has the highest theft claims as people know which house contains the keys to take the car but they have the lowest AD claims. In a garage is mid point for theft but has a high level of people hitting their own garage when getting in/out.

Baldytyke88 said:

glennevis said:

If you have declared your vehicle is garaged check your policy wording. My insurance policy specifically states:

"Theft cover is excluded in the event of the insured vehicle not being kept in a locked garage between the hours of 10pm and 6am whilst parked at your home address as last notified to us."

That is rather extreme; it means that you cannot stay out after 10pm!

normally limited to thefts in the vicinity of  your home

Goldwing1

Well, that was fun!
The online system crashed and told me to ring the helpline.
Because I was able to quote the page saying the site had crashed, the agent waived the £25 admin fee.
Because the car spends more than 51% of it's time at night parked in the garage, it's recorded as being parked in the garage.

At the end of it all, I'm getting a £15 refund!

Happy days.

Robbo66

Presumably you have an up and over door is so run the charge cable under the door. I have a campervan and it is constantly plugged in to a battery tender and that's what I do.

Goldwing1

I have a secure shutter door. The run from the charger to the cable would be too long plus, if I leave room to get out of the car, I can't get to the port and, of course, vice vera.