Car Insurance Anomalies

[old man]

Just thought I'd write this as a warning to the uninitiated, although I suspect I'm preaching to the converted in most cases.
My car insurance is due soon so I've began my annual trawling through comparison sites, which this year has turned out to be a bigger pain than normal.
I do believe in being honest and declaring everything to insurance companies because I know they'll nit pick and maybe nullify a policy if they find anything untoward when making a claim.
I used Compare the Market initially and one of the questions I answered was regarding extras/accessories fitted. I stated I'd had a tow bar fitted recently and when the quotes appeared there was one from Darwin insurance which was favourable. Being the cautious type, I found them online with the intention of asking a couple of questions which were to include asking if there would be an extra charge for having a tow bar. There was a facility to to get a quote direct from them, so I filled in my details again. One question asked if I'd had the car modified, to which I replied yes, but there was no facility to explain what that mod was.
Upshot; at the end of the process, cover was denied, no reason given but asking me to phone them - which I did. Turns out that they will not insure any vehicle that has an aftermarket modification e.g.tow bar, so I'd wasted my time. But here's the anomaly; had I not phoned them and instead taken out insurance with them via the comparison site, it would likely have gone through and sometime in the future if I had an accident and an assessor noticed I had a towbar, it's possible that they would not make a payment and maybe nullify my insurance.

Another couple of companies I phoned from the comparison site wanted extra payment for my tow bar and what a rip off that is because I won't be towing and as it's removable, it will rarely be on the car.
The point is; if you care about these things, be sure to declare everything and ask questions about anything you're not sure of, otherwise you could potentially be uninsured and this is where companies that do everything online fall down. One such company lost my business today because there was no phone number to ring to ask my questions !!

[Philr]

Car insurance - a black art run by wizards and witches!

[Berty]

I know what you mean though about being upfront and declaring stuff. The idea of a post incident assessment can be to levy blame and of course discover any reasons to void the claim(s) of either party. I had a VW before(used) which had front fog lights. Somebody decided in a B&Q car park to do some DIY and stole them. I had the car in for a service and had them replace them, they said they weren't on the car from the factory and whoever installed them did basically an OEM job on it. The only reason they knew they weren't on it was they ran the VIN to order the part and couldn't find the part. Maybe that could void a claim as I wouldn't have known as arguably the electrical system had been modified.

Try this on for size. I was putting through some quotes for my upcoming new vehicle and running a registration of a proper Tucson PHEV(took a few regs off online adverts) so i can get the quote. I checked on our Irish Government systems(like DVLA) to ensure I was quoting the correct car and guess what..................different companies think the car is different and the government think something else as well.

One Comparison website we have belived it was a Tucson Exec Plus Diesel 4x4 and one of the bigger names AIG thought it was a Exec Plus Tucson Petrol MPV whereas the government tax department(if you like) reffered to it as an IX35 EXECUTIVE PLUS 4WD 5DR AUTO
Engine Capacity 1598.

Surely they don't process these things manually when a new car is launched. One might assume they get a listing from some source and just load them onto the system. Reminded me of that episode with Jeremy Clarkson when he tried to get a quote for a Bugatti Veyron(or similar) on the way to Dover and the guy on the phone asked him "Is that a Renault?"

So yes, be careful, check, and be honest when insuring such an expensive item.

[Big S]

Another couple of companies I phoned from the comparison site wanted extra payment for my tow bar and what a rip off that is because I won't be towing and as it's removable, it will rarely be on the car.
The point is; if you care about these things, be sure to declare everything and ask questions about anything you're not sure of, otherwise you could potentially be uninsured and this is where companies that do everything online fall down. One such company lost my business today because there was no phone number to ring to ask my questions !!
[/quote]

I guess you have a some sort of bike rack that goes across the rear of your car and connects to the ball hitch then. I have to ask, ( as you would )
because readers will be confused as to why you fitted a removable tow bar that as you say you are not going to tow with, and will rarely be on the car.

[old man]

Another couple of companies I phoned from the comparison site wanted extra payment for my tow bar and what a rip off that is because I won't be towing and as it's removable, it will rarely be on the car.
The point is; if you care about these things, be sure to declare everything and ask questions about anything you're not sure of, otherwise you could potentially be uninsured and this is where companies that do everything online fall down. One such company lost my business today because there was no phone number to ring to ask my questions !!

I guess you have a some sort of bike rack that goes across the rear of your car and connects to the ball hitch then. I have to ask, ( as you would )
because readers will be confused as to why you fitted a removable tow bar that as you say you are not going to tow with, and will rarely be on the car.
[/quote]

Yes it's for a bike rack and the manufacturer recommends that the hitch is removed when not in use.

[NoTwOld]

I see what is being said about won't be using it much as removing the tow hitch when not in use, but are you removing the tow bar or just the tow hitch and replacing the tow hitch when you want to use it again ? if that is the case then the tow bar is still fitted as far as the insurance company is concerned

[old man]

I see what is being said about won't be using it much as removing the tow hitch when not in use, but are you removing the tow bar or just the tow hitch and replacing the tow hitch when you want to use it again ? if that is the case then the tow bar is still fitted as far as the insurance company is concerned

It's the hitch that's removable. Removing the new tow bar would entail taking the rear end of the car apart as it did with fitting.