A friend at work pointed me towards an article in the Financial Times describing how Norwich Union Direct, who insure one in seven cars in the UK, have dropped the third party cover offered when driving another car you do not own. Whilst small print has been banned, the insurer has put details of the change in normal sized print on page 13 of the policy document.
Whilst it is a clause I haven’t often used, an example of a situation it is useful that my friend gave me. He and a friend made a trip up to Yorkshire, in his friends car. However on the trip his friend broke his arm, and therefore couldn’t drive. His friend had named driver coverage on his insurance policy, so when my workmate drove them both back home he was using his insurance policy third-party coverage for driving other cars.
The excuse given as an example is that the third-party on other cars clause allows inexperienced young drivers to insure a basic car, but then drive more powerful cars belonging to friends. Probably a fair point, but why penalise everybody else again?
I wouldn’t use an insurance company direct – when you go to claim, they are judge and jury on what you should get paid. Use a broker – http://www.motorinsurance.co.uk is a good online one. You can get the best price around and they help when you need to claim.
Insurance companies effectively say “take it or lave it” when they say how much they’ll pay you depite the fact they have had your money assuming a certain value for the car.
I would certainly agree with that. Until recently we got our car insurance through a local broker in my home town – unfortunately they’ve since sold their insurance business in order to specialise as IFA’s.