Life:

Managing Failures

Five Ways To Invalidate Your Car Insurance

 

Have you ever let your MOT lapse, insured your child’s car in your name or failed to report a minor accident to your insurance company? If so, you could be driving with invalidated insurance. It’s surprisingly easy to invalidate your car insurance, but by avoiding the following mistakes you should insure that both you and your car remain on the right side of the law.

Misrepresentation

 

The most common way of invalidating your car insurance is misrepresentation, which means providing your insurer with false or misleading information. For example, you might feel tempted to lower your premiums by claiming that your car is kept in a garage when in fact it is parked on the street. Although this may seem like a harmless white lie, it could in fact land you in some serious legal trouble. Other common means of misrepresentation include lying about the number of years since you last made an insurance claim, providing incorrect information about the make and model of your car, or failing to disclose information that relates to the potential safety of your or your vehicle.

Failing to report an accident

Anxiety about losing a ‘no claims’ discount can stop drivers from reporting accidents to their insurance company. In fact, you have a duty to report any incident that could result in a third party making a claim – by doing so you are protecting yourself against loss by passing the risk to your insurers. Although this is unlikely to increase your premium, failing to report an incident can invalidate your car insurance.

Fronting

With insurance premiums so high for younger drivers, ‘fronting’ is something of which many parents are guilty. In fact, it has been estimated that more than two thirds of parents would consider breaking the law by insuring their child’s car in their own name – a practice which is technically fraudulent and can have serious consequences. If you are caught ‘fronting’ then your insurer may either cancel the policy or charge the correct premium as a lump sum. They can also refuse to pay out for any claims, which can result in the young driver being treated as uninsured and receiving a ban from driving and a large fine. Both parent and child may also find it harder and more expensive to find new car insurance in the future.

Making undisclosed changes to your car

Insurers can charge higher premiums for modified cars, so keeping mum about any changes is tempting. However, doing so can actually render your insurance policy invalid. You should report any changes you make to your vehicle, from fitting alloyed wheels and body kits to more complex alterations which boost speed and performance.

Out of date MOT

Driving without a valid MOT will automatically invalidate your car insurance. Any car more than three years old must hold an MOT certificate, which will need to be renewed regularly. Failing to do so will open you, the motorist, to a potential fine and prosecution. To avoid the potential scrapes not having car insurance can bring, look to online companies like Co Operative for quotes and policies you can purchase whilst browsing the internet.

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