INSURANCE claims may be rejected if claimants neglect maintenance on their vehicles or homes leading to accidents or losses, Alexander Forbes Insurance said today. "If people allow their vehicles or their homes to fall into a
state of disrepair, such that they become more likely to be
involved in accidents or suffer or cause loss, any insurance claims arising might be rejected as loss arising from poor maintenance," said Gari Dombo, managing director of Alexander Forbes Insurance.
When it came to vehicle insurance it was amazing how many people drove unlicensed, drunk or with worn tyres, failed to renew their vehicle tracker contract or claimed security they did not have, Dombo said in a statement. When it came to home contents, the biggest reason claims were
not paid out was because of a malfunctioning alarm.
"If an alarm does not work because it is poorly maintained, the monitoring contract has been allowed to expire, or it is not switched on when the home is left unattended, your insurer is unlikely to pay," Dombo said. Another common cause for rejecting home contents claims was that very often insured parties did not have all the protection that they claimed on their proposal form, such as burglar bars, electric fences, or security gates on all doors, Dombo said.
With building insurance the most common cause of claim failure was lack of maintenance, making certain types of building damage inevitable. "Roofs collapse because timbers have rotted, tiles blow off because their nails have rusted through, gutters silt up causing walls to become damp and waterproofing is allowed to deteriorate causing water damage," Dombo said. He advised home owners that they could not claim for water damage if their house had a rainwater leak and there had not been a storm.
"The problem must be maintenance since a home should be able to withstand ordinary rain," he said. Dombo said it was important to remember that when people stipulated that they had a tracking device in their vehicle, a home alarm system or a well maintained property their insurer rated, and priced, their risk according to the information received. "If the risk is then changed without notifying the insurer, or was incorrect in the first place, this can lead to claims rejection," Dombo warned.