INSURERS CHARGE YOU EXTRA... FOR DRIVING TO WORK!
...yet will still cover you if you’re in an accident on the daily commute
ONE of Ireland’s most prominent motor insurers is charging its customers a higher premium if they wish to cover their trips to and from work. AXA has policies that exclude cover for work commutes but if motorists want these regular drives included in their premium they will have to pay more than €20 extra. Bizarrely, the insurer said it would not refuse to ‘pay out a claim’ if a person with this specific exclusion on their policy got into an accident.
The little-known set-up has come as a surprise to motor industry veterans who said they were unaware of it.
The issue came to light when a confused AXA customer contacted the Irish Daily Mail after she received a new car insurance certificate after transferring her existing policy to her new car.
She noticed the new policy stated it was ‘excluding cover for commuting to work’. She said she had not been
previously aware of the exemption and contacted her insurer, AXA, to query this. The Dublin-based driver said she was informed by an AXA customer-service agent it would cost her an extra €30 to cover her car for work commutes.
The motorist said that upon querying the reason behind this extra charge with the customerservice agent, she was told it was because travelling to work involves driving at peak hours.
Despite making the point that her daily work commute does not coincide with rush hour, she was told this did not matter.
A Mail analysis of AXA’s online calculator returned a quote for a 2012 Ford Focus for €1,520.91 under the ‘social, domestic and personal’ category including a commute to work. But by excluding the work commute, it brought the premium down by €22.08.
AXA stated that excluding commuting to work is not a standard part of its policy and said: ‘We provide the cover that best suits the customer based on the need of the customer. There are different levels of class-of-use options available to our customers and this depends on the purpose for which the car is being used and which level of cover best suits the customers needs.’ It added: ‘An example of these options include social, domestic and pleasure with commuting, social domestic and pleasure only (excluding commuting), and social, domestic and pleasure with business use.’
When asked whether a customer without commuting cover crashed while driving to work, AXA responded that it would still cover the claim. It said: ‘If it came to light that an inadequate class-ofuse cover was in place on the insurance certificate, AXA would still honour a claim in these circumstances.’
A Mail survey of several other major insurance firms discovered that they do not apply a commuting exclusion. FBD said it ‘deems “commuting to work” as a standard inclusion under social, domestic and pleasure purposes.’.
A spokesperson for Aviva Ireland confirmed the company ‘does not apply this limitation at all’.
Allianz said that if this driver was a customer with it, holding a policy for a private car, ‘the Allianz car insurance policy covers her for use for private car for social, domestic, pleasure purposes and the commute to work’.
The AA’s Conor Faughnan said he couldn’t comment on this specific policy, but said motorists have a ‘tendency to think of insurance comes in two ways; thirdparty or comprehensive, and actually it can be quite a bit more detailed than that’. He encouraged people to be totally honest with their insurer to ensure they are fully covered. He told the Mail: ‘There is nothing wrong with an insurer asking for more detail. The guiding principle for the consumer is firstly, don’t lie to the insurance company. Don’t say one thing when it isn’t true.’ He added: ‘Don’t say you only ever use the car at weekends if in fact you drive from Navan to Dublin and back five days a week in it.’ The Mail also discovered that 123.ie includes ‘commuting to and from work and/or place of study’ as part of its social domestic and pleasure cover for a 2012 Ford Focus, 1.6 litre, fully comprehensive for €1,751.55 per year.
When seeking an online quote for cover for the same car with FBD, 123.ie offered three social and domestic options, including one with commuting. Without commuting, its best online price was €2,102.80. But with commuting, there was no change in price.
Aviva does not ask the customer online if they use their car for commuting, but states in its ‘assumptions, data protection statement’ and T&Cs that your car is ‘used only for social, domestic and pleasure purposes (including commuting to and from work)’.
‘AXA would still honour a claim’