Ombudsman case reveals possible pitfalls in car insurance small print

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<div class="rxbodyfield" xmlns:o="urn:www.microsoft.com/office" xmlns:st1="urn:www.microsoft.com/smarttags" xmlns:st2="urn:www.microsoft.com/smarttags2" xmlns:w="urn:www.microsoft.com/word" xmlns:x="urn:www.microsoft.com/excel"><p>Motorists are being advised to check exactly what their car insurance covers and importantly, what it doesn&#39;t, after one driver was forced to take his claim to the Financial Ombudsman when his insurers refused to pay up.</p><p>A report for This is Money has revealed that comprehensive car insurance may not be as comprehensive as once thought after Trevor Rutherford clashed with car insurance firm CIS.</p><p>When his son&#39;s vehicle needed to be repaired, Mr Rutherford agreed to let him use his car, assuming that the &#39;drive other vehicles&#39; clause in his son&#39;s policy would cover the cost of any damages if there was an accident.</p><p>However, when his son was involved in a collision, CIS refused Mr Rutherford&#39;s compensation claim on the grounds that the last paragraph of his policy, written in extremely small print, stated that the car could only be driven by someone other than the policy holder in an &quot;emergency situation&quot;.</p><p>Mr Rutherford complained that it was not made clear what justified an &quot;emergency&quot;, but CIS retorted with the fact that under its terms and conditions, policy holders could only drive other cars in &quot;an unexpected urgent situation or sudden state of danger that requires immediate action&quot;.</p><p>Frustrated, Mr Rutherford took his case before the Financial Ombudsman, which agreed that the definition of emergency should have been made clearer on all the insurance documents and not just in the fine print of the full policy wording.</p><p>&quot;The upshot was that the ombudsman agreed it is completely unreasonable to expect the average customer to be able to decipher the small print of the &#39;legal speak&#39; in order to determine whether or not they are covered,&quot; Mr Rutherford told This is Money.</p><p>The cost of car insurance varies widely but you can still get yourself a good deal. Read our tips on finding <a href="http://www.uswitch.com/Car-Insurance/Cheap-Car-Insurance-In-The-UK.html">cheap car insurance and use uSwitch.com&#39;s impartial service to compare providers and switch online. No need to give your details out time and again &#8211; our service is easy and free to use. <a href="http://www.uswitch.com/Car-Insurance/Index.aspx">Compare car insurance today.</p></div>