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It's frustrating to have a claim rejected because your insurer decides that an incident was the result of your own neglect. While fewer than a hundred motor vehicle insurance claims were declined due to wear and tear between 2017-2018, more than 140,000 were withdrawn - potentially because drivers were convinced that their car wasn't in good enough condition to support a claim.
When car insurers refer to "wear and tear" in policy documents, they're talking about the breakages, malfunctions and general wearing down of components that comes with age. It plays into insurance claims in two main ways:
When an insurer rejects your claim based on wear and tear it could include:
No, your car insurance policy will never cover the kind of damage that naturally accumulates with age or is brought about by the neglect of the owner. It's expected that over time brake pads will wear out and tyres will have to be replaced – ordinary costs that come with owning a car.
The important question here is whether the exclusion for damage from wear and tear will prevent you from lodging a claim for something else. Some insurers could use your general lack of maintenance on the car as a reason to deny a claim, reasoning that your own neglect has brought this incident or damage about.
If you fail to replace your brake pads and crash into something because you can't stop properly, an insurer could be well justified in stating you should have seen such an accident coming. Fortunately, as stated above, the data suggests that this sort of rejection is extremely rare when it comes to car insurance claims.
When you disagree with your insurer's verdict on a claim, you can always lodge a dispute with the company's internal dispute resolution department. All insurers are required to have internal systems through which they can handle customers' complaints and disputes.
To improve your chances of a successful dispute:
If you still aren't happy with the decision or the way your case has been handled, you have the option of going to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority. It will usually only accept a case if you've already pushed a dispute through the company's internal resolution systems.
There are many ways you can keep your car in good working condition. Here are a few:
Picture: GettyImages
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