10 Ways to Avoid Invalidating Your Car Insurance

First things first you need to give the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. From your address, your date of birth and your past convictions, you need to be 100% honest with the insurers as to not give them any reason to not pay out in the event of a crash.

Insurers will usually cover you in the event of theft, but not if you’ve left your valuables on the front seat in plain view of any opportunist who may be walking past. Similarly, they’re not going to pay out if you’ve left the car door unlocked. They’re there to insure your car, not your own negligence!

‘Fronting’ as it is often called, is the act of having someone more premium-friendly as the main driver on the policy, while the owner or most frequent user is listed as a named driver. This is completely illegal and obviously will end up with the insurers refusing to payout.

Don’t be a reckless driver. You might not have bothered reading that 50 page document of terms and conditions when you bought your insurance policy, which is fine, neither did anybody else. You did, however, agree to drive responsibly and within the laws of the road. If you were to write off your car street racing or drink driving, then your insurance will take that as an opportunity to not pay out.

It used to be commonplace for people to just lend each other their cars every now and then for the sake of convenience, and it used to be all above board. This is rarely the case anymore. Motor insurance premiums often used to come loaded with ‘DOC coverage’, which allowed you to Drive Other Cars. This has become far less common nowadays though. If you are thinking of lending out your car, do the research or call up your insurer beforehand just to check what’s what.

People used to modify their cars for all sorts of reasons. It’s become slightly less common now but a lot of motoring enthusiasts, typically younger drivers, still enjoy personalising or upgrading their vehicles in one way or another. It is absolutely essential that you declare any modifications to your vehicle. Some insurers go as far stating that even stickers need to be declared, so listen up National Trust members; give your insurer a ring to make sure you’re covered and they know what’s what.

It might sound stupid but if you clicked the box for ‘social, domestic and pleasure’ while leaving the ‘commuting’ box unticked, then you’re not covered for the commuting. Some insurers include this anyway at no extra cost, so just make sure you’re using it for what it’s covered for. 

Your premium is calculated across a huge web of variables and sometimes the slightest change can vastly affect how much you pay each year. Accordingly, it’s essential you let them know of the changes going on in your life. If you move house, if you change your job role, or even if you start storing your car on the roadside after telling them it will be in a garage - all of these examples are factors that need to be declared to your insurer. So get to it.

Minor accidents happen. If you scraped your paintwork on the driveway wall while reversing out, then it is a good idea to tell your insurer. You might not need to make a claim, but it’s just for the best that they know. If you don’t tell them, and you have an accident further down the line, then don’t expect them to repair the damage they never knew even happened.

Insurers make it clear that they only expect a ‘rough estimate’ when calculating the mileage you will cover throughout the policy. Don’t take any liberties, though. If you’ve told them you’ll only cover 8,000 miles over the year, and the MOT history shows you’ve actually done closer to 18,000 then, of course, the insurer will kick up a fuss. This is best avoided by just being honest - a recurring theme in this listicle if you hadn’t noticed...

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