Summary:

Don't renew your car insurance policy without checking the alternatives. Your existing policy might have changed without you noticing. Always read the small print.    

Small Print Can Bring Big Problems  

When your car insurance renewal reminder drops through your letterbox, you might just sign up for the new annual premium without a second thought - after all, that's the easy option, isn't it?

But it could be well worth your while spending some time looking at alternative policies. You could find you are paying more than you would if you changed your insurance company,

But that's not the only thing you might discover if you read your policy carefully. You might find that your cover has been altered somewhere along the line and you have never even noticed. It could have happened a couple years before if you have just been signing the renewal notices year in year out. Or the new terms could just be coming into effect with this latest renewal. But if you have never read the small print you would never know.

There was one case where a man's car went up in flames as he was driving along, and when he put in a claim he was told he wasn't covered for that sort of fire. He'd originally signed up for a 'fully comp' policy and understood that all electrical, mechanical and computer malfunctions were insured. However, when he read through the small print after the incident he found a clause excluding damage due to those sorts of failures.

The year after he had taken out the original policy that clause had been inserted, but he hadn't noticed it - he had just signed up to continue the direct debit payments letting the policy run on. It wasn't the insurer's fault and they hadn't tried to trick him; he just hadn't read the policy through.

Luckily for this driver, his story has a happy ending. He consulted an insurance broker about this particular clause and they found that it was most unusual - in fact they couldn't find any other policy with the same wording. When they tackled the insurance company they agreed there had been a mistake made with the wording of this clause and that it would be changed. The clause should have said that when the damage was due to component failures caused by drivers' negligence in maintaining those components, then claims would be excluded.

Our hero was awarded his full claim and in fact the insurer waived his excess payment as a gesture of goodwill.

Let this be a lesson to one and all - read the small print, because the devil is in the detail.

The market is full of new car insurance deals so you could get quite a surprise if you look around at what is available, especially if you have been guilty of renewing your policy year after year through force of habit. There's even a new 'pay-as-you-drive' policy recently launched which you could investigate.

Even if you stick with the same insurer you might get a better deal if your annual mileage has decreased for instance, or you no longer need to drive to work.

It doesn't take that long to check that you're getting the best possible value for your money with your car insurance. An online broker will research the market for you and come up with a selection of insurers and products to suit your circumstances. Then all you have to do is read the small print!

Readers please note : You should undertake your own background checks before taking any action on any aspect mentioned in this article. Where the author has mentioned specificproduct details or given examples of how companies have reacted to specific situations,these should be correct as far as the author is aware when this article was written. In some cases additional background information not mentioned in the article has been used in obtaining the examples. Some examples or quotes may have been taken from information available in the public domain where all the background details may not be available.Insurers do change policy conditions and underwriting approach. They will view each situation on its own merits.

You should be aware that details of the topics written about within the articles can change.Therefore, always check out the current position before taking any action. You should also check that any action you are considering, or any proposed purchase, is suitable for your personal circumstances.

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