Month: July 2018
Five Crazy But Common Car Insurance Exclusions
You buy your car insurance, you glance at the policy documents, and you assume you’re covered for all eventualities where your car is stolen or damaged. Think again.
Read through your policy documents in detail. Some insurers don’t cover injuries to passengers aged over 75. Others won’t pay out if your car is stolen by someone who deceives you into handing over your keys. A small number won’t cover damage to your car that’s caused in a road rage incident. It’s common industry practice not to provide gap insurance, so if your car is written off or stolen, you won’t receive the full amount you paid when you bought your car.
Every car insurance policy includes some exclusions. Many of the exclusions would be extremely frustrating if they happened to you, and you then discovered that you’re not covered by your insurance firm. Some of them are downright crazy. Five of the most crazy but common car insurance exclusions are:
1. Nuclear Fallout
If Britain was wiped out by a nuclear bomb and you managed to survive, you wouldn’t receive a pay out from your insurer for the damage caused to your car. This is not only because the insurance firm will probably have been destroyed in the blast; it’s because it’s standard practice for motor insurance policies to exclude damage caused by nuclear fallout.
The same applies if your local nuclear power plant explodes and destroys your car, or if your car is contaminated by radioactive waste: you will not be compensated for the damage caused.
Currently this exclusion applies to policies bought from almost all the major motor insurance firms, including Admiral, Direct Line, Aviva, Churchill, Saga, Prudential, Sheila’s Wheels, and Co-operative Insurance to name a few.
2. UFOs
Most car insurance firms will not pay out if your car is damaged by pressure waves from aircraft travelling at or beyond the speed of sound. This includes damage caused by sonic and supersonic UFOs from outer space.
If you are zapped by an alien laser-beam while driving on the motorway, your insurance firm is unlikely to cover your injuries or the damage to your car. This is because such aggression would be considered an act of war. Car insurance firms usually exclude cover for damage caused by war, civil war, acts of a foreign enemy, or revolution.
Currently this exclusion applies to policies bought from almost all major car insurance firms, including Direct Line, Aviva, Admiral, Churchill, Saga, Prudential, Sheila’s Wheels, and LV=.
3. Car Stolen by Jealous Husband or Wife
Motor insurers will not provide cover if your car is taken without your permission by any member of your household or family. This includes your spouse or partner, your children, your parents or a lodger in your home. The only exception to this rule is if you report your car as stolen to the police, and prosecute the person who took your car in court.
Currently this exclusion applies to policies bought from almost all major motor insurance firms, including Direct Line, Admiral, Co-operative Insurance, Sheila’s Wheels, and LV=.
4. Earthquakes
Fortunately for us Brits, the UK is not prone to earthquakes or tremors. However, were the worst to happen and the ground opened up and swallowed your car, or even if a less violent earthquake shattered your windscreen, it’s probable that your insurer would refuse to pay out.
A small but significant number of car insurance firms do not cover for damage caused by earthquakes. Admiral is the most notable insurer with this exception. Other insurers who refuse cover for earthquakes include Saga, Prudential, and Sheila’s Wheels.
As well as looking out for earthquakes, remember to check your insurance policy documents for the phrase “acts of God”. Sheila’s Wheels breakdown service, for example, cannot be held liable if they leave you stranded by the roadside because of an “act of God”.
5. Blind Drivers
Unsurprisingly, there is not a single insurance firm who will provide cover for drivers who can’t see. This is never stated explicitly in insurance policy documents, but insurance companies cover their backs by saying they won’t pay out for claims resulting from damage caused by “unlicensed drivers”.
Being unable to get insurance or a licence wasn’t enough to stop one blind person from getting behind the steering wheel. In 2006, 31-year-old Omed Aziz was banned from driving for three years and given a suspended jail sentence after police caught him driving on the wrong side of the road.
This exclusion seems to apply to policies bought from almost all motor insurance firms.
How do you make sure you’ve got the best possible insurance cover for your car? Firstly, don’t just choose a policy based on price. Research what’s covered and what’s excluded by each company you’re considering. Secondly, if the level of cover you want isn’t available from standard car insurance firms, consider taking out extra insurance, such as gap insurance, from a specialist insurer.
Car insurance exclusions are usually not that hard to find, you just need to have a look at the rarely-read policy documents.
To be sure you’re not hit by a nasty surprise when you need to make a claim, make some time to read through policy documents when choosing your car insurance. Most insurance firms make their policy documents available online as a free download.
Insurance coverage is often considered complicated and confusing. Commercial truck insurance is no exception. This is because the truck industry is highly diversified and many regulations exist to govern it.
The many forms of commercial truck insurance provide motor carriers and independent owner/operators with all the coverage they need to protect themselves and their assets.
The following are several examples of coverage options for both large companies and independent haulers.
General Liability
This coverage protects company employees and vehicles with liability coverage. Damage and injury costs are covered for employees and employers are given protection against lawsuits from accident victims.
Primary Liability
This type of coverage is required by federal regulations and covers damage and injury costs incurred by third party motorists involved in accidents caused by commercial truck drivers.
Physical Damage
Independent drivers are encouraged to purchase these policies in order to protect their own assets, such as their trucks. Damages caused by fires, theft, vandalism, and accidents will be covered up to a pre-determined amount. Considered the minimum policy coverage a driver should purchase to feel protected from the various situations that occur.
Non-Trucking Insurance
This form of liability insurance is a more cost-effective form of coverage for independent drivers. It covers drivers when not on active dispatch and therefore not covered by their contracted employers policy.
Trailer Interchange Insurance
This coverage is for instances in which trailers are being exchanged between two different companies. Trailer interchange coverage will cover the cost of any damages to the trailer or its cargo while being hauled by an outside party.
Cargo Insurance
Many commercial truck insurance policies do not cover the actual cargo, just the truck itself. Cargo insurance protects the goods that are being transported, as well as protects if those goods fall out or cause harm to another driver.
Freight Insurance
General freight insurance protects companies that haul dried goods ranging in value from $10,000- $100,000. Freight valued higher than $100,000 typically needs additional coverage.
Dump Truck Insurance
The defining quality of Dump Truck Insurance is the mechanical moving parts of the truck. Because the back of the dump truck is a machine itself, it requires special a policy for those that could be injured by operating it.
Investopedia defines an uninsurable risk as ‘a hazard or condition that either has either a high likelihood of loss, or in which the insurance would be considered against the law.’ Many individuals applying for life insurance have been deemed uninsurable and had their application for cover declined. This article will take a closer look at some of the reasons why a life insurance company would deny an application for life cover.
While it is important to remember that each and every company has different underwriting policies, here are some of the more common reasons for denying an individual life insurance:
Pre-existing medical conditions, for example heart disease, cancer or HIV/AIDS. Note that in some cases insurers might not decline cover but might load premiums or limit cover to accidental death only, or apply a waiting period to the condition.
Age: life cover will not be granted to those under 18 or generally over 65 years of age
An insurer may not insure you if they feel you are over insured (i.e. you already have sufficient cover from other providers) or if they feel you would not be able to afford the premiums
Individuals who earn their money illegally are not considered insurable
Individuals with no so-called ‘contractual capacity’ due to mental illness, i.e. individuals who are legally not allowed to enter into a contract
Lifestyle: an insurer may deny your application for cover if you take part in dangerous sports like base jumping, sky-diving etc
Some insurers wont insure those with hazardous vocations for example policemen or paramedics
Here are a few guidelines if your cover is declined:
Speak to the life insurance company and find out why the cover was declined. Perhaps there is a solution or compromise that you can come to with the life insurance company.
Don’t give up if you are denied cover by one life insurance company. As different companies have different underwriting policies, you might be turned down by one company but granted cover by another.
Remember that certain life insurance companies may insure individuals with serious medical conditions, for example HIV positive individuals or those with Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetes.
Lastly, remember that withholding information from a life insurance company when you apply for life cover is not only illegal but it might mean that any claims your family make one day are rejected or reduced. Do not risk a reduced or rejected claim and waste years of premium payments!