|
Car
Insurance does not pay out as much as i thought!!
I was dumbfounded to realise that, although everyone
in any car I hit, and the passengers in my own car, can get millions
of pounds in compensation for horrible injuries, the same does
not apply to me, as the driver, if I am at fault in the accident.
Under my policy I would get about £1,000 compensation.
I was so shocked, I immediately took out the first £500,000 personal
accident policy I could find on the net, in case my wife or I
get injured tomorrow in a crash that we cause, or if fate overtakes.
The latter was well illustrated four years ago when a deer jumped
a six-foot hedge and landed on our bonnet. The crash is recorded
as my "fault". If it had landed on the windscreen and broken my
neck, I would have received peanuts. Why does the industry permit
this state of affairs?
GC, Canterbury (The Observer sunday 25 Jan 2009)
This
isindeed
a little-understood aspect of car insurance. If another driver causes an accident, you are covered by their third-party insurance
for millions of pounds for your injuries. Some motor policies have no limit for the amount they will pay if a driver
causes death or horrendous injuries to others and will pay millions of pounds for the rest of those people's
lives.
But the driver who is held responsible for the accident might get £2,500 or even less. And, as
you have found out, you can suffer an at-fault accident through no fault of your own. Car insurers should make
this discrepancy more obvious in their policy wording.
Instead, they offer increased personal accident
cover as an optional extra but it still takes the maximum payable to drivers to perhaps just £40,000. Norwich
Union says the take-up, unlike legal expenses insurance, is low and suggests this is because customers never
consider themselves bad drivers. I think it is more likely that customers are unaware of how little they would
get if they were badly inured.
You can buy separate accidental disability or personal accident insurance, but
realistically only for amounts way below the millions of pounds available for other people. A £100,000 accidental
disability policy with Norwich Union costs £60 a year and personal accident insurance, which includes a death payment, is
£125 but benefits are halved when you reach 65.
|
|
