When you buy insurance direct you MUST READ ALL THAT SPLURGE. In reality not many people do and even if they did they still might not understand things like DISCLOSURE fully.

An example: if you buy a used car you are not necessarily going to know if there are any variations from standard. You might also buy a new one and get Sat Nav thrown in, or alloy wheels; when insuring the car are you going to think about telling the insurer all these details? You might if you use a broker, you might tell him all about it. If you buy on-line though, it would be easy to fail to disclose a material fact without even realising. In the good old days, inadvertent non-disclosure was given the benefit of the doubt by the underwriter who was a person and not a machine. Indeed, if you have a broker, he might know a person that can fix things. If you deal direct, on-line, then you could be in bother. A friend of mine has just sent me a rant about motor insurers turning claims down just because the car has some extra bits and bobs on it that were not in the manufacturers standard specification. Apparently a claim has been turned down due to the presence of a roof rack!

No amount of regulation can deal with this, you can avoid the problems by taking out expensive car insurance with an insurer like Chubb, if you are posh enough!

The best way to buy insurance is through a broker, preferably one that you know or at least know where he is… so what if is costs a bit more! That is so much better than discovering that you are not covered at the worst possible time, i. e. when you just totalled the car. Brokers – for people who don’t have time for small print. Brokers – for people who don’t have an insurance qualification. Brokers – for people!