Car Insurance – Sure Thing!
Hunting for the best deal on car insurance can be difficult at the best of times – repeating your policy details each time you approach a company can be frustrating. Throw specific and possibly highly specialised adaptations into the equation, though….
Comparison websites are all the rage these days; when you’re looking for some insurance, they can save you time by sifting through numerous companies on your behalf in just a few seconds. As with any development, though, you now get certain companies proudly insisting that, because they’re not on – and so don’t pay fees to – comparison websites, they can offer you far better deals when you contact them direct. So what now?
A potential downside of the most popular comparison sites is that they are designed to be useful to as many people as possible, meaning they may have problems coping with the insurance complications arising from the specialist adaptations that many disabled motorists need even just to get into the vehicle.
By not asking for specifics, many insurance policies lump a wide range of adaptations together; essential modifications such as hand controls are viewed no differently as undeclared cosmetic or performance enhancing modifications like hydraulic suspension. This can lead to harsh consequences if you have to make a claim on your policy in the event of an accident or damage.
DETAILS
In an attempt to get a better idea of the lay of the land when it comes to finding the right insurance, the Able team came up with a set of fictitious personal and policy details and contacted seven leading insurance companies in order to see which would offer the best deal. More importantly, we were looking for the most secure cover for a motorist with an adapted vehicle.
We approached the companies stating we were buying a Peugeot Horizon from Allied Vehicles. Based on the Peugeot Partner Tepee, the vehicle comes with a lowered floor and other adaptations for a wheelchair passenger.
Please note that prices quoted by each company were influenced by the age and address we gave (see Meet Allison…) and will therefore be subject to individual variations.
(Box out 1)
MEET ALLISON…
In order to research this article, Able magazine took on the persona of 23 year old Allison Williams, who lived in Renfrewshire, in the West of Scotland, and was looking to insure a Peugeot Horizon (based on a Peugeot Partner Tepee) from Allied Vehicles. When asked, we decided Allison would not, herself, be disabled, but was the driver for a disabled relative.
Engine specifications: 1.6, 16v, 90; petrol, manual.
Adaptations: lowered floor and rear ramp for wheelchair accessibility.
Value of adaptation: £3,000-£3,500.
Total value of vehicle: £12,695.
(Box out 2)
INSURANCE AND DISABILITY
In the UK, insurance services currently come under the terms of the Access to Goods and Services section of the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) 1995. This only affects policies created or renewed after the legislation started to come into force from 2 December 1996. From this October, the DDA will be replaced by the Equality Act 2010.
Under current legislation, it’s not, in principle, unlawful for an insurance company to charge a disabled person more for cover than a non-disabled person; however, they would be legally obliged to justify their position as being ‘reasonable’ and based on sound, up-to-date information or data relevant to the assessment of risk.
MORE:
Equality and Human Rights Commission: 0845 604 6610 (England), 0845 604 5510 (Scotland), 0845 604 8810 (Wales); www.equalityhumanrights.com
Association of British Insurers: 020 7600 3333, www.abi.org.uk
• AVIVA
An obvious potential problem for disabled motorists looking to Aviva for insurance is that the company insists that a vehicle can have no more than four adaptations of any kind.
This wasn’t a problem for our fictitious vehicle – which had only two stated modifications – and we were pleased that we were then asked to elaborate on the details of the various modifications, including the cost of each. Unfortunately, the online list of adaptations had only two options: ‘modification due to disability’ and ‘wheelchair clamps/straps/lift/ramp/winch’. Especially with the first option, this seems way too general and might not apply at all adaptations – or to parts of those ‘named adaptations’ which actually encompass a number of smaller alterations to the vehicle.
The Aviva website does suggest that, if the list of adaptations does not comply with your vehicle, you can contact the company directly with your query. So we did! They were able to elaborate on the position of disabled motorists and that the selection of ‘modification due to disability’ is broad enough to encompass any alterations made to a vehicle. However, they also advised that their website is really intended for general insurance policies, and that anything ‘more complicated’ would be best dealt with directly.
Aviva came in at £502.00.
MORE: 0800 015 4715, www.aviva.co.uk
. . .
• DIRECT LINE
Direct Line don’t appear on comparison websites, claiming instead to offer you their best deals – as their name suggests – directly. Certainly, their quote was the least expensive of the companies we contacted, but we were worried that the quote wasn’t truly reflective of the cost of insuring our imaginary vehicle – their online system didn’t give us any opportunity to declare that our vehicle was modified – for cosmetic reasons or disability, let alone specify the exact details and costs of the adaptations to ensure we would be covered in the event of a claim.
To incorporate that information, we had to call Direct Line, and discovered that instead of the specific adaptation details, they wanted to know the total cost of the vehicle’s modifications.
This could pose a problem if the total estimated value of your vehicle encompasses the costs of any adaptations – you may well have to go back to the company or dealership through which you’re buying the vehicle in order to get an exact cost of the modifications on top of the value of the vehicle itself. However, once you can provide them with this information, it would seem that Direct Line will cover the full costs.
The Direct Line quote was £359.10.
MORE: 0845 246 3761, www.directline.com
. . .
• ELEPHANT.CO.UK
As the name implies, Elephant.co.uk offers online insurance quotes, although there is also a telephone service. Tackling the array of questions asked on their website first, you are given the opportunity to declare your vehicle has modifications due to disability, but this only requires ticking a box.
While the system will still provide a quote, we found this inability to declare specific adaptations for the vehicle worrying; could we be at risk of finding out that, in the event of a claim, that not all of the modifications are covered by the policy?
Nor were we particularly reassured when we contacted Elephant.co.uk’s telephone helpdesk – we were not asked for the specifics of the vehicle’s adaptations. “Would Elephant.co.uk cover the cost of modifications?” we asked The company representative we spoke to assured us that all adaptations would be covered as part of the policy but, given that they seemed to be unaware of the full cost and requirements of the adaptations we ‘needed’, our doubts remain.
Elephant were the cheapest out of all seven companies at £419.15, but their lack of interest and knowledge of the specifications of adapted vehicles leaves room for doubt.
MORE: 0800 118 1644, www.elephant.co.uk
. . .
• FISH INSURANCE
Fish Insurance is the UK’s leading specialist disability insurer, and it’s their specialist knowledge of the requirements for adapted vehicles that they claim allow them to provide reliable cover. With no online system, all quotes are given by phone.
As you might expect, of all the insurance companies contacted, we found Fish were the most clued-up on the various modifications that an adapted vehicle can feature. Crucially, when asked about cover for modifications in the event of a claim, Fish made it clear that all vehicle adaptations are fully included in the policy. Specialist expertise of disability insurance is beneficial at this stage; in the event that a claim has to be made, Fish is able to offer a range of benefits especially designed with adapted vehicles in mind. Damaged adaptations are replaced on a ‘new for old’ basis.
Similarly, if your vehicle is written off, Fish are able to either replace it on a ‘like for like’ basis, or provide an appropriately adapted courtesy car. If, for any reason, the required adapted vehicle is unavailable, Fish will also offer up to £500 mobility allowance. All of this creates a feeling of reassurance, and helped make the process of getting an insurance quote relatively stress free.
Fish is currently offering a 35% discount. Although Fish was not the cheapest quote, at £438.93, their representative definitely knew what they were talking about.
MORE: 0800 012 6329, www.fishinsurance.co.uk
. . .
• GO COMPARE
Go Compare was the only price comparison website included in our research, mainly because comparison websites tend to apply primarily to the most general insurance policies. Go Compare offers the policy holder the chance to elaborate on the specifics of their modifications; after identifying that your car has been adapted, the site then displays various categories of modifications for wheelchair users. The only problem? These lists do not necessarily include all potential adaptations for people with other mobility impairments.
MORE: www.gocompare.com
. . .
• MORE TH>N
Given that MORE TH>N are the online/telephone arm of Royal & Sun Alliance Insurance plc, the insurance provider for Motablility’s Contract Hire Scheme, you might think they would at least mention this association on their own website. But no; also, given their parent company’s experience in adapted vehicles, it’s strange that there is no place on the MORE TH>N website for you to declare any modifications made to your vehicle, for cosmetic reasons or otherwise.
If you’re getting your suitably adapted vehicle through Motability’s Contract Hire Scheme, then your insurance cover comes as part of the whole package, but it does seem unfair that such expertise seems unavailable if you’re not part of the UK’s largest scheme for disabled motorists.
So we called their helpdesk; although we were not asked for specific details about our vehicle, we were advised that any adaptations would be covered, provided that they didn’t affect the engine performance. This reassurance came at a price, though; their best offer over the phone was around two and a half times our cheapest quote – putting a different emphasis on the company’s name!
The best quote offered by the MORE TH>N phone service came in at £1,052.88.
MORE: 0800 300 220, www.morethan.com
. . .
• SWINTON
Swinton has an online option to declare that your vehicle has been adapted due to a disability. The catch is that you can only select one option from the list – so does that mean your policy will only include one modification to your vehicle?
Since Swinton can accept insurance for a vehicle with adaptations, we assumed that their telephone helpline would offer us an opportunity to clarify the vehicle modifications so that they could be included in our policy. Yet, after going through the process of obtaining a quote by phone, we were told that the company would not insure a vehicle with the modifications we had described.
In other words, with Swinton we would be able to take out a policy in accordance with their specific criteria but which wouldn’t in fact cover all the modifications.
MORE: 0800 072 9018, www.swinton.co.uk
. . .
OUR EXPERIENCE
Overall, our experiences with all seven companies suggest that their phone services are the better option when searching for anything other than a generic insurance policy. The criteria on websites are, on the whole, too general.
The best way to ensure that your policy will be secure seems to be by speaking with somebody directly with whom you can explain the details of the adaptations. In many cases, understanding and compliance with these criteria requires specialist knowledge of the numerous adaptations that a vehicle adapted for a disability can involve.
Our encounters with each of the featured insurance companies revealed that this level of customer care was most readily available through a specialist insurance company. As such, Fish, whose customer representatives have an in depth knowledge of disability and adapted vehicles, gave us the most confidence that our insurance needs would be taken care of.
