Insurance companies may be some of the least liked companies in the world. Not only is insurance a grudge purchase but as soon as a friend’s car insurance claim is rejected, we’re all quite happy to drag the entire industry over the coals.  

Bear in mind, in most countries in the world, insurance is very tightly regulated, and as consumers, we also need to take some responsibility and read the fine print.  

While insurers are encouraged by regulation to present their documentation in plain language, not everyone has moved to this ideal model yet. In other words, you need to make darn sure that you understand all the ins-and-outs of your motor insurance contract.

This will extend from how much excess you will need to pay in the case of a claim to whether your insurance contract covers other drivers. 

Believe it or not, many an insurance claim has been thrown out owing to non-disclosure on the part of the client. Non-disclosure could be something as minor as not revealing that the vehicle moonlights as a transport vehicle or that you once claimed for a fender bender in the past. 

This is somewhat open to the court’s interpretation if a claim is escalated to legal proceedings. However, falsifying information or making fraudulent or inflated claims, on the other hand, allows less room for interpretation in the law and will most likely end with tears on the part of the insured.
 

It is generally a good idea to keep your car in a good condition anyway but as life gets the better of us we might forget to check our tyre tread, wipers etc. Unfortunately, if your car was involved in an accident and your tyre treads are under the minimum allowed of 1mm, for example, it is likely that your claim will be rejected.
 

Unfortunately, any type of reckless behaviour that leads up to an accident can be the cause for your car insurance claim being rejected. So don’t drink and drive, speed, drive recklessly or lend your car to an unlicensed driver. Many insurance companies now insist upon telematics devices, which can track your driving behaviour but even if you don’t have one installed, you never know when a traffic or CCTV camera is recording the incident.
 

If you told your insurance company that the car is kept in a locked garage at night, and if your car is then stolen during the night while parked in front of the garage, they may well not honour the claim. So take an extra five minutes in the evening to lock up your vehicle. While these are by no means the only reasons that claims are rejected, following these tips should reduce the chances drastically.