Michael Eckert

"Unsafe areas" in insurance conditions

Question:

I read in a classic car magazine that you don't have insurance protection against vandalism if you parked the car in an "unsafe area". This news astonished me. Until now I had assumed that Germany was a safe country and not a crisis area. If there are unsafe places in Germany, then surely there must be a map with crisis regions in Germany? Insurance companies always make it very easy for themselves to escape liability by publishing such feeble-minded statements and then referring to them in cases of damage.

And that is what the vintage car lawyer thinks:

You're right. Insurance conditions are often anything but easy to read and even harder to interpret. That is why there has been a specialist solicitor for insurance law for some time now (also with us).

Oldtimer insurance policies have very different regulations in the hull area. Each insurance company has its own "specialities", so that it is also very difficult to compare price and performance reasonably. With the regulation you describe, it depends very much on the wording whether the insurance company has to prove afterwards that the area was unsafe or whether you have to prove that the area was "not unsafe". Of course there is no map and no road signs. Such an arrangement only leads to dispute in the event of damage and therefore makes no sense, even though the aim of the insurance will of course be apparent.

My tip:

Talk to the insurance company and get confirmation that this clause is being deleted. Otherwise, you can change the insurance company on the next cancellation date, although you will of course have to study other insurance conditions (before signing!). Often, however, insurance companies will discuss such individual case regulations with you.

Your classic car lawyer

Michael Eckert

You can reach the lawyers Michael Eckert and Markus Zell as follows:

Anwaltskanzlei EDK Eckert & Kollegen GdbR
Sofienstrasse 17
69115 Heidelberg, Germany
Tel: 06221-91 40 50
E-Mail: info@edk-hd.de, www.edk-hd.de