The car insurance information contained within these pages is based on information supplied by The Claims Guru, a site packed with useful information about the inner workings of insurance companies and their products.
Policy Exclusions - Personal Effects
A comprehensive policy will usually provide some limited cover for your personal possessions. This cover might have its own special section in your policy.
Important points to watch out for are:
Look for the exclusions in the 'small print'. You won't be able to claim for money or valuables. It is not the intention of a motor policy to cover valuable items in your car. You can obtain cover under your household contents policy.
"I didn't think the speed limit applied after midnight"
Extracts taken from actual claim forms submitted to
a number of UK car insurance companies
There is usually a limit of £100 or £150. This has not changed for many years! So if you have more personal effects than this in your car, your policy limit will apply and you will receive the limit. From where I sit, it is amazing how many people have just about £100 worth of personal effects in their car all the time!!
It is not 'new for old' cover. Insurers can deduct for fair wear and tear. If you have a tatty worn out coat you can't expect to be paid the cost of a new one. You would be getting better than you had before and that is contrary to the principles of insurance. Again from where I sit, nearly everyone who claims have new or almost new personal possessions. And of course, no one keeps receipts to prove that.
Many insurers now apply your excess to this part of the policy. So if you have just had your personal effects stolen and there is no other claim for your car, forget it. Don't bother to report it to your motor insurer. If you have adequate cover on your household contents claim on that instead.
Also, don't try and claim for the same loss on both policies without telling them you are doing so. You cannot be paid out by two insurers for the same loss in such a way as to make a profit. There are sophisticated computer database's that insurers subscribe to for the very purpose of catching people who try this sort of fraud.
