Car insurance confuses

Three-quarters of motorists do not understand what their car insurance policy covers.

12:12 17 June 2004

A new study from Norwich Union reveals that three-quarters of motorists do not fully understand the details of what their car insurance policy actually covers.

For example, four in five people think they are covered for personal injury on their car insurance policy, when in fact they are not.

On top of this nearly three in five (58 per cent) expect their insurers would definitely play a part in their recovery if they were to suffer a whiplash injury in a motor accident that was their fault.

However, David King from Norwich Union Insurance explains that most motor insurance policies do not automatically cover for your personal injury: "Drivers may be getting their priorities wrong when it comes to taking out insurance. They tend to select by price and the level of cover for their car and don't even consider whether the policy covers them for the risk of personal injury."

He continues by saying: "But they need to bear in mind that while it costs an average of 1,000 to repair a car, the average cost of an injury claim is around 2-3,000."

Mr King also adds: "People need to be aware that if the worse does happen, they can't assume that their insurer will look after them."

To compound the problem waiting times for an NHS physiotherapist can be as long as six months to treat complaints such as whiplash.