5 Things to look out for in your insurance contract

You are involved in a motor vehicle accident and you claim from your insurers. You have been a loyal member for years and the accident was not your fault. Your insurers value you, are eager to compensate you for your loss and help you in this time of need.

Sadly, this is not always the experience of those of us who have had the misfortune of putting in a claim to our insurance providers.

Here are 5 of the most common, and easily avoidable, reasons why our insurance claims are rejected:

1. You forget to advise your insurance provider of your change of address: At Goldberg & de Villiers, this is the most common reason we find insurance providers repudiating insurance claims. Most policies have a clause which requires the policy holder to notify his/her insurance provider of a change of address, failing which the cover will lapse in the event of an accident. All too often we find claimants moving house, and forgetting to notify their insurance provider of the change. When the insurance provider finds out, and you put in a claim, the claim is repudiated and there is nothing you can do about it.
2. The driver at the time of the accident did not have valid licence: It should go without saying that if the driver at the time of the accident does not hold a valid driver’s licence, or a valid learner’s licence while being accompanied by a licenced driver, any subsequent claim would most likely be rejected.
3. Unroadworthy vehicle: Make sure that your vehicle is still roadworthy. Check things such as your tyre tred, windscreen wipers and brake lights.
4. Drunk driving: It cannot be stressed enough that driving under the influence of alcohol is dangerous, illegal and should lead to any insurance claim you put in being rejected immediately.
5. The driver is not the  ‘regular driver ‘as envisaged in the policy: Some policies have a ‘regular driver’ clause, and if it is discovered that the driver at the time of the accident was not the ‘regular driver’, the claim could be rejected.

By avoiding these common pitfalls, you will go a long way to avoiding that dreaded rejection letter.

If you have any legal insurance related queries, please contact the professional legal team at Goldberg & de Villiers Inc on 041 501 9800.  Passionate Legal Minds. Real solutions.