A Judge has once again slated insurance companies for inflexible and bureaucratic processes which result in many motorists risking being put off the road because they are unaware that their policies have been inadvertently lapsed.
Judge James Faughnan made his comments at Tuam District Court when dealing with a driving-without-insurance prosecution brought against a lady who had no idea her policy had lapsed.
The defendant explained that she had changed her address and so had to make some amendments to her existing policy. She assumed, because she remained with the same insurer, that her no-claims record was on file with them, but it wasn’t transferred to her renewed policy and the company lapsed this policy on the grounds that she failed to send in this detail.
A second defendant was in a similar situation. He changed to a cheaper policy with the same company and because he failed to send in his no-claims details he too had his policy lapsed.
“It’s well beyond time this was taken up with the insurance industry,” Judge Faughnan said, adding “I nearly got caught myself.”
“In the small print it says you have to produce your no-claims details within seven days and this is causing no amount of confusion. It’s well past time the insurance industry got its act together and fixed this ridiculous anomaly,” he said before dismissing both charges.
Judge Faughnan has been frequently critical of insurance companies and has advised all motorists to check their policies for hidden details in the small print.
He has estimated 25% of motor insurance cases coming before him were the result of bureaucratic mix-ups and confusing documentation issued by many insurance companies.
“I nearly got caught myself” he said, referring to a practice of lapsing policies, including policies that have been fully paid for, because of details of no-claims bonus records were not forwarded in time.
Judge Faughnan said insurance companies should arrange to have all necessary paperwork in place before they issue policies, not take the money first and then try and deny liability because some clause in the small print facilitates this.
“They take your money, Judge Faughnan said, “give you insurance, you get informed that you’re covered but unless you send in your no-claims history they take it away again. This is wrong and needs to be dealt with as people are driving around assuming they have the insurance they have paid for, but this is not always the case.
“All information needed by insurance companies should be obtained in advance and an end put to these ambiguities. What some insurance companies are doing, either unintentionally or by design as a ploy of deny liability, is simply wrong and this matter needs to be addressed,” Judge Faughnan said.
