"Where is the car kept during the day"

Herzlos

Alanp said:

I had this discussion at work recently, I work in a care home that is coming to the end of major renovations, sometimes I couldn’t park in the works car park due to either work in the drive/car park or the sheer amount of tradesmen and their vans, sometimes I was able to park in the road opposite, but occasionally had to park further away, my insurance states that, during the day, Monday to Friday, I park in a works car park and wondered what would happen if I had to claim on my insurance for some incident or other, if the insurance company refused the claim because you’d parked elsewhere you could argue that you couldn’t just go home because you cannot park at work.

You'd need to check with the insurer obviously, but I'd assume that temporarily having to park on the road because your work car park is inaccessible due to renovations is going to be completely fine. What wouldn't be is if you said it was a work car park but never used it because you didn't have a pass or there was no car park, etc. 

They know life happens and sometimes you won't always park in the same places, it's all about likelihoods and averages. If over the coming year you think it's mostly going to be in a work car park then that should be fine. 

Aretnap

Herzlos said:

Alanp said:

I had this discussion at work recently, I work in a care home that is coming to the end of major renovations, sometimes I couldn’t park in the works car park due to either work in the drive/car park or the sheer amount of tradesmen and their vans, sometimes I was able to park in the road opposite, but occasionally had to park further away, my insurance states that, during the day, Monday to Friday, I park in a works car park and wondered what would happen if I had to claim on my insurance for some incident or other, if the insurance company refused the claim because you’d parked elsewhere you could argue that you couldn’t just go home because you cannot park at work.

You'd need to check with the insurer obviously...

Why on earth would you have to check with your insurer before you park your car? People really are determined to make this more complicated than it is.

Do people ever pop out to the shops at lunchtime? Or take a day off work? Or, God forbid, go on holiday? Do they worry about whether their cars are insured, or feel the need to ask their insurers if they are covered? How do they cope when they have a real problems to worry about?

There is no clause in your policy which dictates where you have to park your car.* The only relevant stipulation is that you have to answer the questions truthfully at the time you take out the policy. The question is "where is your car USUALLY parked during the day". (If the word usually is not spelled out, it will be clarified by the accompanying  text, as below.) So long as you give a truthful answer to that question, you have done all that was asked if you. 


So if you occasionally take a day off, or cycle to work when the weather is nice, or park somewhere else when the work car park is full, there is no problem - you still truthfully declared where the car is usually kept. OTOH if it turns out that your workplace doesn't have a car park at all then you might find that your insurance voie the policy, because "it's usually in a work car park" obviously wasn't a truthful answer; it was a lie.

* If an insurer did want to insist that you parked in a particular place, they occasionally add an endorsement to a policy along the lines of "There will be no cover for a theft that takes place within 300 meters of your home address between the hours of 11pm and 6am, unless the car is parked in a locked garage". This would most commonly be added where the vehicle is a high value one which is particularly attractive to thieves (and you've declared that you keep it in a garage). If your policy does have this endorsement then it will be shown clearly on your policy documents. If it's not there, then you are still covered if once in a while you park on street. You would only have grounds to with if it was clear that you didn't usually park in a garage, eg because your garage was so full of junk that it was impossible to park a car in it, or because you didn't have a garage at all.

Herzlos

I meant check with the insurer before taking out the policy, not checking with the insurer before parking. That'd be a waste of time. 

Baldytyke88

B0bbyEwing said:

This section of the insurance quote. Not actually sure what to select tbh. 

Just answer honestly, it's the same with employment. Should a person select house wife/husband unemployed or maybe student.

I drive a minibus for employment, which is often not listed, but I don't drive a bus, but I am allowed in bus lanes!

Alanp

Yes, always answer honestly to insurance questions, I think it’s not unreasonable to park your car outside of a works car park ( if that’s what’s stated on your policy) if you cannot gain access to that car park for some reason, my car is parked in my garage overnight, if, say my garage was damaged in a storm and I couldn’t park there until it was repaired, then I would probably contact my insurance and explain the situation just to be on the safe side..