Deadly during Easter

In a period of just five
days over Easter last year
242 people died in a total
of 201 fatal crashes. This
year Easter falls on April
18-21, and worryingly this
is during the second term
for government schools –
generally people tag on a
day or two either side of
the weekend which helps
to stagger the traffic f low.
Not so this year.
At Eikos, we want to
remind you that in the
event of an accident, your
insurer will only consider
a claim if your vehicle is
completely roadworthy,
and of course it’s also a
good way to ensure your
safety on the road.
This is true for both
private road users and
commercial transport
operators. Contrary to
popular belief, the average
insurer is not looking for
ways to avoid settling
claims, but if a customer
is reckless enough to drive
an unroadworthy vehicle,
an insurance company
is well within its right to
repudiate. Furthermore
you have a common law
duty to disclose anything
that is considered to
be material to the risk
you have insured. If you
don’t, your insurer also
has grounds to reject
your claim. If you are in
any doubt as to what is
material and what isn’t,
rather disclose.
From experience, it’s
clear that many insured
clients don’t consider their
loss/accident history to be
material. Not true; this is
critical information to any
insurer. In the event that
you claim, and previous
accidents and losses have
not been disclosed, your
insurer will look at the
law and make equity
considerations before
paying you ie, what is
fair in the circumstances
and whether the insurer
has been prejudiced by
your non-disclosure.
The question to ask
yourself is whether you,
as an insurer, would have
accepted the risk on the
terms and conditions
provided and at the price
charged had you known
all of the material facts at
the time.
Most of you reading
this will be correctly
insured, drive a safe
vehicle, have a thorough
knowledge of the rules of
the road, and have been
completely transparent
with your insurance
partners, but you need
to be extremely vigilant
of those with whom you
share the roads. Officials
estimate that as many as
250 000 fake roadworthy
certificates have been
issued in the last 18
months. Combine this
worrying statistic with
the fact that many of our
road users do not have a
valid driver’s licence, and
that according to the AA
65% of vehicles have no
insurance cover at all, and
responsible drivers realise
how potentially dangerous
our roads can be...