We also looked at rival insurance comparison site Compare the Market, and its modifications guidance to insurance applicants is similarly vague. It states simply: “Modifications are changes to the car’s original specification. These can be mechanical or cosmetic changes inside or outside the car.” Compare the Market also suggests how owners can find out whether or not their car has been modified: “Check any documents you inherited when you purchased the car. You can also speak to the insurance provider if you’re unsure.”
Neither website’s buying journey provides easy or obvious routes to information about whether a towbar is a relevant modification to a car’s original specification from an insurance perspective. Nor is there any clear link to information about the potentially devastating consequences of not meeting the requirement to notify insurers if your car is fitted with one.
“I am at my wit’s end in a nine-month dispute,” the unfortunate driver told us. “Following a routine vehicle collision, it (Flow) has refused to honour my insurance at the last minute, leaving me with a potential six-figure cost, and the incredible stress and anxiety this has caused me and my family.”
To make matters worse, after the lengthy dispute with Flow/Allianz, a Financial Ombudsman Service (FOS) decision found in favour of the insurance company. The Ombudsman cited the Consumer Insurance Disclosure and Representations Act on ‘misrepresentation’, which applies when information provided by the consumer to the insurer is incomplete or misleading, be it “carelessly, deliberately or recklessly”.
