i've just been on the greenlight site and noticed in the exceptions list that if your cars been a write off they wont insure it. i've never been asked this question before when insuring a vehicle, and to be honest wouldn't know if any had or not.

is this a new thing or has it always been this way.?

 

Hi Phil,

A previously written off vehicle does represent material information, which is expected to be disclosed to all Insurers at the point of application and previously written off cars are something that our main schemes currently exclude.

Whilst we overtly explain our position in connection with written off vehicles, others prefer to rely upon your disclosure of this under the 'any other material information' box.

The only way to be safe is to advise any Insurance provider when making an application, then ensure that any contract/application form has the vehicle listed as a prior total loss. Which is all you can reasonably be expected to do to make them aware.

We have spoken to our Underwriters historically about this situation and upon application (depending upon the nature of the damage) they do cover vehicles that were written off whilst covered by them until the end of the policy. This being subject to a requirement of a repair receipt, new MOT and in some cases (heavy damage sustained) an engineers report.

Most UK Insurers view the value of a prior write off as in the region of 20-25% less than the value of a vehicle without a history, which can cause heated arguments at the time of a claim or anger policyholders who feel their vehicle to be worth more than they are being offered by the respective Insurer.

We used to receive only a handful of applications each year for prior write off's and our exclusion is something that was brought in to avoid conflicts in relation to valuations at the time of a claim (as listed above).

I do take the point that cases could be looked at upon merit dependent upon the damage concerned due to some total losses seeming extreme (ie. low value car with just light damage such as wing/bumper would be beyond economical repair), but at the other end of the scale you also have high value vehicles that sustained heavy damage who's structural integrity after such a knock could be questionable. Which is a worry to Insurers from a passenger injury perspective.

Presenting the same approach to all seemed the best way to go, as we did not wish to confuse people by covering some then getting abused by those that could not on the basis that we covered their friend's write off.

Hopefully this helps.

Kind regards

Tony