Garaged cars- insurance query

[salty-nlv]

If you get a policy with an insurer and state that the car will be garaged at a certain address and then one night you leave it on the street and it gets damaged or nicked would the insurer pay out or would they say you broke the terms of the policy by not garaging it?

Even though you have a garaged polcy, when visiting friends , family etc, it is not going to be able to return home and garage it every time!!!

What are the caveats for this?

[jmorgan]

My policy states that if its at my home address then it must be garaged between 22:00 and 06:00 if not being used.

[Leadfoot]

Think my policy has an increased excess if the car's stolen/damaged whilst at my home address but not garaged overnight, doesn't apply to other locations.

[loaf]

I believe there have been Ombudsman cases where companies have tried to weasel out of paying this sort of claim. The Ombudsman ruled in favour of the claimant, saying that it was unreasonable to reject the claim on the basis of where the car was parked - what happens if you visit friends/family for the weekend and, not unreasonably, they don't have room in their garage/their address is in a different risk band from yours?

In essence, if you state you garage your car overnight at a certain address, you will almost certainly receive a discount from the insurer for doing so. There will probably be an excess waiver clause as well - the (typically) £100 excess for damage by fire of theft will be waivered if the car is damaged while in the garage.

If your car is left outside, you are still covered - but the insurance company may well deduct the amount of discount you received for garaging the car from your settlement. You'll also have to pay the excess.

[cazzo]

Not sure of the exact wording but my bike policy has a clause whereby if the bike is within a certain distance from home (a few hundred yards IIRC) then if not garaged the excess is at a higher rate (about double IIRC). No problem if parked miles away as long as it is MAINLY kept in my garage.

It is not a problem for me as it (almost) always is in my (semi-fortified, alarmed garage), but if travelling away always try to stay in a ground-floor "Motel" room, so it can be in the room although this might prove a problem with a car!

[billh]

My bike policy states that if it is parked at home at night but not garaged it is not insured. At all. It doesn't, however, say how close to home it needs to be parked to be considered "at home". What if, for instance, I ride it to a mates 200 yds away? (Apart from deserving to be the fat bastard I am)

Incidentally, recently bought a Scooby and the best quote was improved by £30 for garaging it (compared to being parked on the street), and £8 for a tracker. In central Bristol.