Your guide to what’s not covered by car insurance
Your Apia car insurance provides cover for an array of insured events. However, there are certain circumstances where your policy may be cancelled, or your claim is not covered even if an insured event has occurred. That’s why we’ve put together this helpful guide to assist you in steering clear of these situations.
What can affect your car insurance coverage?
Drink driving
If you or the driver of your vehicle cause an accident due to drink driving – in other words, have had more than the legal limit of alcohol in your system – it could result in your Apia car insurance claim being not covered. You’ll also be breaking the law and endangering those around you too. The same goes for drivers who are under the influence of drugs or medication including drugs that are legal and medicinal.
Non-disclosure
As an insured, you have a duty to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation before entering into an insurance contract. This means that intentionally withholding certain information from your insurer concerning your insurance details, including claims or criminal history, can result in a car insurance claim not being covered or your policy cancelled. For example:
- if you’ve been convicted of a criminal offence, such as drink driving, or
- you haven’t disclosed a claim made on a car insurance policy held with another insurer.
Fraud
Much like non-disclosure, your insurance claim will not be covered if you make a fraudulent claim to your insurer. For example, this could be if you intentionally or deliberately damage your car or lie about the value of your vehicle. Making a fraudulent claim will be investigated by your insurer and could be reported to the police. Your policy can also be cancelled by your insurer for making a fraudulent claim which may make it difficult to obtain insurance elsewhere.
Using your car for commercial purposes
In recent years, ride-sharing apps have allowed budding entrepreneurs to pursue a new cash stream, but doing so might not be covered under some insurance policies. Apia does not cover your car if it is used for ridesharing.
Car modifications
Modifications are alterations to your car manufacturer’s standard body, engine, suspension, wheels, or paintwork. These may affect its performance, value, safety, or appearance.
Apia Comprehensive Car Insurance automatically includes cover for your car’s modifications up to the amount covered. However, there are some modifications which we do not cover: custom or specialised paint (after market), nitro or hydrogen fuel, petrol turbo or supercharger (fitted after market), or roll bar, roll cage or racing harness.
You’ll want to ensure that the amount covered for your car reflects the cost to replace those modifications and that the modifications are road legal. Adding modifications that are illegal or unacceptable to us could see your claim not covered.
Road legal modifications vary from state to state – take a look at what’s allowed in your region:
How to ensure your car insurance is not affected
At Apia, we want to help our customers in their moments of need. Here are a few things you can do to help ensure the coverage under your car insurance policy is not affected.
Be honest with your insurer
Like most things in life, honesty is the best policy. Provide complete and accurate information to your insurer when you apply for a car insurance policy. If you ever need to make a claim, be transparent and forthcoming with your insurer and provide any necessary information promptly. Remember, they’re there to help.
Update your policy when required
If your personal details or circumstances change, get in touch with your insurer. Ensuring your policy details are up to date could even save you a penny or two. These changes can include, for example:
- driver details like age and claims history,
- if you replace or sell your car,
- the distance you drive, and
- employment status.
Address safety recalls
Unfortunately – through no fault of your own – there are instances where your car needs to be recalled due to manufacturer error. Safety recalls are generally classified as either voluntary or compulsory recalls. In most cases, you will be requested to take your car to the manufacturer – most likely a dealership – where it will be fixed free of charge.
If you ignore these requests and are in an accident involving your car, it could impact your car insurance claim if the accident results from your failure to have the safety defect fixed. That is, failing to action safety recalls may be a failure to keep your car well maintained and in a good, safe and roadworthy condition. It’s important to stay up to date with car safety recalls. You can find more information about the latest recalls on the Australian Government's Vehicle Recalls website. Also, it never hurts to have a refresher of what your responsibilities are as stated in the relevant Product Disclosure Statement (PDS).
Comply with driver restrictions
There may be certain restrictions or exclusions to your policy coverage that causes your car insurance claim to be declined. An example is if you allow someone excluded from your policy to drive your car, like someone with a suspended license or an unlicensed driver.
Notify your insurer of accidents
Life doesn’t always go to plan, so it’s crucial to be adequately insured in case an insured event happens.
If you have been involved in a serious accident or hit-and-run, call triple zero (000) immediately. Following this, you should file a report with the Police, regardless of who is at fault. If you fail to do so, you may face fines or even jail time.
Where possible, ensure to collect details of all drivers, passengers and any witnesses, as well as details of vehicles involved in the accident to provide to your insurer in the event of a claim. Not complying with your responsibilities could impact your claim or policy coverage.
Policies have differences between insurers and have different exclusions, so it’s a good idea to read the relevant PDS before buying insurance, or contact your insurer if you have any questions. If you’re looking for Apia Car Insurance or are an existing customer, you can find more information here.
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Australian Pensioners Insurance Agency Pty Ltd ABN 14 099 650 996 is an authorised representative of AAI Limited ABN 48 005 297 807, the product issuer. Please read the relevant Product Disclosure Statement. The Target Market Determination is also available. This advice has been prepared without taking into account your particular objectives, financial situation or needs, so you should consider whether it is appropriate for you before acting on it. The information is intended to be of general nature only. Subject to any rights you may have under any law (including the Australian Consumer Law), we do not accept any legal responsibility for any loss or damage, including loss of business or profits or any other indirect loss, incurred as a result of reliance upon the information. Please make your own enquiries.
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